History Series / TheYoungOnes

* EatTheDog: Vyvyan, not wanting the bother of caring for the plants and goldfish, had Neil cook them on the lads' first day in the house.

** "God, I'm bored. I might as well be listening to ''Music/{{Genesis|Band}}''.

** The ShowWithinAShow ''Nozin' Around'' was a dig at youth-orientated shows of the 1980s.
-->"Did you see that? Did you? 'The voice of youth!' They're still wearing flared trousers. Why don't you try some poetry, ya hippies!"

-->'''Vyvyan''': Do you earn an obscene amount of money for sticking you fist up a duck's bottom?
-->'''Rick''': No, Vyvyan, I'm not Keith Harris.

* AxCrazy: Vyvyan in "Oil" and [[spoiler: Jerzei in "Flood", even contains the line [[Film/TheShining "Heeeeeere's Jerzei!"]].]]

** Notably, the bogie-related trivia questions Vyv answers early in the ''University Challenge'' episode all come up in the final round of the game show [[spoiler: because Rick tampered with Bambi's question cards]].

* DownerEnding: The entire series finale episode is essentially one long TraumaCongaLine for the guys, [[spoiler: Rik finds out his parents are dead from Mike, Neil reveals it is his birthday and nobody cares, Jerzei Balowski evicts all of them from the house, they find out they have failed their exams and are likely unemployable, a botched bank robbery ends with Vyvyan's beloved car and pet hamster both destroyed and finally when, [[HopeSpot they miraculously manage to escape and things seem to be looking up,]] they accidentally [[DestinationDefenestration drive off a cliff]] to their fiery demise.]]

* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: The South African vampire driving instructor from "Nasty" was really Harry the Bastard in disguise, distracting the boys long enough so they can't return their VCR in time, and will thus be forced to pay him.]]

** He can create a potion that makes anyone who drinks it as AxeCrazy as he is, somehow, and is implied by the ending of "Oil" to have manipulated the other lads ForTheEvulz. Then again, he didn't realise the obvious problem that would arise from keeping that potion in a coke can, (sure enough, [[spoiler: the Balowski of the week drinks it and goes librarian]]), and his involvement in "Oil" resulted in a pickaxe to the skull from Neil.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Mike, after watching Neil break several plates in an attempt to nail them to the table, actually ''succeeds'' in doing so. And [[spoiler: also drives the nails through ''his own legs and chair'']] in the process.

* HopeSpot: In the final episode the boys are fleeing the police in a stolen bus, excited about starting their new lives and genuinely acting like true friends for the first time in the series, [[spoiler: then they accidentally [[DestinationDefenestration drive the bus off a cliff]] leading to the series DownerEnding]].

** Mike recovers very quickly from having [[spoiler: nailed his own legs to the table]], and may have felt no pain initially, considering he did it ''twice''.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The South African vampire driving instructor. [[spoiler: Who turned out not to be a vampire at all, but to actually be Harry the Bastard in disguise, as a ploy to distract the boys long enough so they [[EvilIsPetty can't return their rented VCR in time, forcing them to pay him.]] ]]

* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: The protagonists are university students. Good luck trying to catch them going to classes -- although Rick studies occasionally, and all the cast sit their exams [[spoiler: with Neil coming top]].

* TheUnreveal: Vyvyan's sex [[spoiler: (Vyvyan was never pregnant).]]

** "Flood" includes a RunningGag involving literal versions of expressions for rain. First Vyvyan holds a cup out of the window, and when he puts it back in, it appears to have backwash in it - he reports it's "only spitting". Later, he does the same thing and finds it's "pissing" (the cup now full of yellow liquid). Finally, Neil comes in from the outside and is followed by a puppy and a kitten, [[StealthPun which no one says anything about]]: [[spoiler: It's raining cats and dogs]].

->''"What's the difference? There'll be plenty of chicks for these tigers on the road to the promised land. This is it. It's really happening. Who needs qualifications? Who cares about [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Thatcher]] and unemployment? We can do just exactly whatever we want to do. And you know why? Because we're [[TitleDrop Young Ones]]. Bachelor boys. Crazy, mad, wild-eyed, big-bottomed anarchists."''

A demented [[BritCom British comedy]] that ran from 1982 to 1984 about four impoverished nutcases sharing a squalid student house. Episodes were rambling and unstructured, frequently wandering off to unrelated comedy skits or musical numbers. Surreal and/or incomprehensible jokes were aplenty, frequently making light of the acrimonious political climate of 1980s Britain, and violent slapstick abounded. The action would often and suddenly [[MediumBlending shift into animation, claymation or some form of puppetry]]. Bands often appeared on the show to perform, usually completely at random (as a financial device, as the inclusion of music performances got the show classified as variety instead of light entertainment, thereby earning a higher budget). Numerous episodes ended with [[EverybodyDiesEnding everybody dying]].

* (P)Rick (Creator/RikMayall): The hypocritical, Music/CliffRichard-loving [[StrawmanPolitical lefty activist]] who was convinced that he was a Marxist rebel, a poetic genius, [[TheVoiceOfAGeneration the voice of an entire generation]] and the most well-liked and attractive member of the household ([[SmallNameBigEgo and who was spectacularly wrong on all counts]]).
* Vyvyan Basterd (Creator/AdrianEdmondson): The psychotic but strangely [[PsychopathicManChild child-like]] [[TheQuincyPunk punk]] who couldn't go an entire episode without destroying something -- or, usually, ''several'' somethings.
* Neil Pye (Nigel Planer): The whining, put-upon and suicidal [[NewAgeRetroHippie hippie]] who acted as the [[BumblingSidekick dogsbody]] for the entire house and was convinced (accurately) that no one liked him and everyone was out to get him.
* Mike "The-Cool-Person" (Christopher Ryan): The (would-be) [[TheCharmer Charmer]] of the flat; a smooth, flash and mysterious con-artist who tried it on with every girl he came across, but never actually got it to work.
* The Balowski Family (Alexei Sayle): An entire family all played (on separate occasions) by one man; various Balowskis of varying degrees of sanity appeared, but the most common was the boys' Polish-emigre landlord Jerzei.
** The running gag of Sayle playing a Balowski was dropped in the second season as it became harder and harder to write one into an episode. If a one-off character had a large enough number of lines, it was given to Sayle regardless of surname (although this was occasionally lampshaded, as Jerzei appeared twice that season and one of the boys would offhandedly remark [[RunningGag "You look a bit like my landlord"]] to a Sayle character).

* CrystalClearPicture: Taken to extremes -- it's taped to the screen.

** Music/{{Madness}} were the only band to appear twice. This is because BBC 2 was apparently planning to commission a comedy series starring the band, though it wound up never being produced.

* EscalatingBrawl: In "Sick", a misunderstanding between two men outside the Young Ones' house escalates into a full-blown street riot that even manages to draw in the episode's guest band Music/{{Madness}}.

* JackUpWithPhlebotinum: "Flood" has Vyvyan create a potion that turns anyone who drinks it into an axe-wielding, homicidal maniac, which he puts into a can of Coke [[TakeThat so that no one drinks it on accident]]. Later on in the episode, the boys’ landlord shows up and drinks the potion, which turns him into an axe-wielding, homicidal maniac and he chases the boys for the last part of the episode.

* (P)Rick (Creator/RikMayall): The hypocritical, Cliff Richard-loving [[StrawmanPolitical lefty activist]] who was convinced that he was a Marxist rebel, a poetic genius, [[TheVoiceOfAGeneration the voice of an entire generation]] and the most well-liked and attractive member of the household ([[SmallNameBigEgo and who was spectacularly wrong on all counts]]).

So basically, it's ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' meets ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' set in [[TheEighties the early 1980s]]. The show lasted two seasons, for a [[BritishBrevity total of 12 episodes]].

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cextNxZ9KWE Rick is still a virgin!]]

* AttractiveBentGender: Vyvyan is ''far'' too interested in the sight of Neil in [[spoiler: Rick's]] dress.

-->'''Rick:''' [[WhatAnIdiot "IT WAS ME! IT WAS ME...]] [[OhCrap Damn, damn!"]]

[[caption-width-right:341:L to R: [[InSeriesNickname (P)Rick]], Mike[[note]]the cool person[[/note]], Neil Pye and Vyvyan Basterd.]]

** While playing botticelli:

* BigShutUp: Various characters are told to shut up by another character. But the biggest one is the one Vyvyan gives to [[LargeHam rather dramatical]] postman from ''Nasty'', who can't seem to keep his mouth closed even after leaving the scene.

** In Nasty, it is confirmed that all four housemates are virgins. Due to a shared belief that vampires only attack virgins, Mike proposes the only solution: that all four of them lose their virginity to each other, right now.