FOREVER YOUNG
MARION McMULLEN looks at how the The Young Ones had the last laugh 40 years ago
ANARCHIC comedy series The Young Ones went out with a bang 40 years ago. The final episode of the BBC sitcom aired in June, 1984, and saw students Vyvyan, Rick, Mike and Neil contemplating the end of the college term. Entitled Summer Holiday, in reference to the 1963 Sir Cliff Richard film, they decided the best course of action was to rob a bank and make their getaway in a bus after landlord Jerzei Balowski (Alexei Sayle) put their student digs on the market and threw them all out. The episode featured John Otway in the music guest slot, as well as appearances by Sir Lenny Henry as a postman, and Jools Holland as a punk. The Young Ones co-writer Ben Elton even popped up as a man in a beer commercial. The finale marked Neil’s birthday, but none of his housemates wanted to join his surprise party. When Mike asked: “What is ugly, smelly, boring and is standing in front of me called Neil?” Neil simply replied: “You all really hate me, don’t you?” Nigel Planer played lentil-loving hippy Neil, Christopher Ryan was shifty Mike, Rik Mayall played Cliff Richard fan Rick, while Adrian Edmondson was violenceprone Vyvyan. After smashing up their student home, and each other, the Young Ones were never going to leave the TV world quietly. Rick shouted: “Look out! Cliff!” just as their getaway bus smashed into a giant billboard advertisement for Cliff Richard. Miraculously they all survived the crash saying, “Phew, that was close,” only for the bus to explode moments later. Nigel said of the series: There are only 12 episodes of it, that’s what’s extraordinary. “Twelve episodes and it seems to have had a long-term effect.”