--- name: "Lise Mayer" canonical: "https://film.one/person/lise-mayer" fi1m_id: "lise-mayer" imdb_id: "nm0562453" tmdb_id: 1236919 wikidata_id: "Q6558727" roles: ["Writer"] born: "29 November 1959" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 74 average_as: "writer" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-10-07T11:25:36.659349+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Lise Mayer ## Identity Lise Mayer - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lise-mayer - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** lise-mayer - **IMDb ID:** nm0562453 - **TMDB ID:** 1236919 - **Wikidata ID:** Q6558727 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Mayer, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6558727, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562453/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1236919 Writer. Born 29 November 1959 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer - **Born:** 29 November 1959, Chicago, Illinois, USA - **Active:** 1982–2006 - **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as writer, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 75 (2), 1990s 81 (1), 2000s 64 (1) - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Comedy 3, Adventure 1, Animation 1, Drama 1, Family 1, Soap 1 - **Screen time:** 1 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $178m across 1 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Mayer, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6558727, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562453/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1236919 ## Streaming the US now - **Apple TV:** [*Casualty*](https://film.one/tv/casualty.md) (68) - **Netflix:** [*Flushed Away*](https://film.one/film/flushed-away.md) (64) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Lise Mayer > Lise Mayer helped give *The Young Ones* its sharp dialogue and appetite for excess. We value the precision beneath the shouting, though the writing sometimes keeps pushing a joke after it has done its job. In *The Young Ones* (1982), Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson deliver outrageous dialogue with little inclination to hold back. We laughed at the excess because the lines give those performances something to work with beyond sheer volume. Mayer, a co-creator and writer, deserves her share of the credit for making student chaos this funny. There are limits: the weaker passages keep pushing after the comic point is clear. Even at 29 minutes, an episode can leave us wishing someone had allowed the first good joke to stand. Mayer’s contribution becomes clearer when we look at how the scripts were put together. She and Mayall worked on scripts together, while Ben Elton wrote his own versions; the scripts were then combined. She co-wrote all twelve episodes across the programme’s 1982–1984 run. The programme’s mixture of sitcom, stand-up and music helps explain its unruliness, without excusing every passage that runs too long. Her contribution to *The Fast Show* (1994) covers two episodes and a rather different way of getting a laugh. The sketches are quick, the characters sharply played, and the cast usually makes familiar routines worth another visit. Repetition can leave recognition doing the work of a joke, but there is more feeling here than the catchphrases suggest. We recommend it warmly, while being careful not to mistake a contributor’s credit for authorship of the whole series. Later work includes writing on the animated film *Flushed Away* (2006), and script editing on *You Me Bum Bum Train* in 2024–2025. Those credits show her working beyond television comedy, but *The Young Ones* remains the clearest reason for our enthusiasm: its good lines can withstand actors determined to overstate them. Start there, though we would leave a pause between episodes. ## Biography Lise Mayer is an American screenwriter. She was the creator and co-writer, with Rik Mayall and Ben Elton, of the BBC comedy series *The Young Ones* (1982). Mayer was born in Chicago, Illinois, to David and Anne Mayer. Her father was a professor at Manchester University, where she met Mayall while at school in Manchester. She has written for programmes including *Casualty* (1986), *The Fast Show* (1994) and *London Underground*, and co-wrote the films *Suite 16* (1994) and *Flushed Away* (2006). She has also written several books and worked as a script editor. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *Flushed Away* (2006), Fi1m 64, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/flushed-away.md) - *The Fast Show* (1994), Fi1m 81, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fast-show.md) - *Casualty* (1986), Fi1m 68, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/casualty.md) - *The Young Ones* (1982), Fi1m 82, Writer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-young-ones.md) ## Complete filmography (14) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Red Dwarf: The First Three Million Years* (2020), series, as Archival Footage Research - *How The Young Ones Changed Comedy* (2018), Actor - *Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule* (2014), as Archival Footage Research - *Flushed Away* (2006), Writer — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/flushed-away.md) - *The Borrowers* (1997), Consulting Producer - *Suite 16* (1994), Writer - *The Fast Show* (1994), series, Writer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-fast-show.md) - *Paper Marriage* (1992), Writer - *Oh No, Not Them* (1989), Creator - *The Last Resort* (1987), series, Writer - *Casualty* (1986), series, Writer — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/casualty.md) - *The Young Ones* (1982), series, as Woman in Hawk advert · Writer, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-young-ones.md) - *Carrott's Lib* (1982), series, Writer - *The Joy of Sex*, Writer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lise-mayer