--- title: "The Young Ones" year: 1982 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-young-ones" fi1m_id: "the-young-ones" imdb_id: "tt0083505" tmdb_id: 4483 wikidata_id: "Q49022" fi1m_score: 82 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-13" updated: "2026-09-20T21:00:10.912861+00:00" region: "US" 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." --- # The Young Ones (1982) Created by Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer · 29m · MPA TV-14 · Comedy ## Identity The Young Ones - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-young-ones - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** the-young-ones - **IMDb ID:** tt0083505 - **TMDB ID:** 4483 - **Wikidata ID:** Q49022 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083505/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/4483, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49022 **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* The house is alive, which seems unfair when it already has students to put up with > *The Young Ones* turns student chaos into sharp, wilfully unreasonable comedy, with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson making the noise worthwhile. Some jokes need less encouragement, and the sheer insistence can tire us out. ## Synopsis Student antics and a sentient house provide the setting for *The Young Ones*. Adrian Edmondson plays Vyvyan, Rik Mayall plays Rick, Nigel Planer plays Neil and Christopher Ryan plays Mike, while Alexei Sayle appears as members of the Balowski family. The comedy moves beyond its human characters to a building that can join in the disturbance, making the students’ surroundings part of the action. The series begins in 1982 and returns in 1984, with six episodes in each season and a running time of 29 minutes. ## Review *The Young Ones* is a funny, abrasive student comedy with little interest in keeping its household believable. It is good enough to recommend even to those of us whose tolerance for shouting has declined. Its willingness to interrupt the students’ antics with absurdity keeps the comedy surprising. It sometimes gives a merely loud idea as much attention as a good one, but the performers usually make that indulgence worth forgiving. The opening episode makes the invitation clear by allowing the house itself to be sentient. We laughed when the house joined in. A building ought to be the one participant in a student comedy that can be relied upon to behave itself. The joke works because the programme treats that absurd possibility as perfectly usable material. It gives the domestic setting something to do beyond accommodating people who are already being difficult. Rik Mayall’s Rick and Adrian Edmondson’s Vyvyan justify much of the commotion. Mayall’s performance is deliberately trying, but he has the precision to make irritation funny rather than simply pass it on to us. Edmondson gives Vyvyan enough force to make the excess feel purposeful, even when the writing is testing our patience. Neither performance would benefit from being made more agreeable. Together they give the programme a level of commitment that helps even some of the less persuasive jokes survive. Nigel Planer’s Neil provides a useful change of comic pace, and Planer makes the character’s presence count amid considerable competition. Christopher Ryan’s Mike is less rewarding, though that owes something to how insistently the other performances demand attention. Alexei Sayle, playing the Balowski family, adds another reason not to expect a settled rhythm. The cast do not make the company appealing, and that helps: the programme would lose something if it asked us to wish we lived there. Mayall, Sayle, Lise Mayer and Ben Elton give the performers dialogue that rewards their appetite for excess. The strongest lines are funny without needing their speakers to explain why they are being outrageous, and the writing is often sharper than its delivery initially suggests. The weaker passages keep pushing after the comic point is clear. That can be tiring across a 29-minute episode, especially when a change of pace would do more than another attempt to top the previous joke. Directors Paul Jackson, Geoff Posner and Ed Bye have to make this disorder legible, and the series works best when the staging gives a ridiculous idea room to register. Colin Jones’s editing helps the interruptions land, though a few jokes could use a quicker departure. The sentient house also demonstrates how much comedy the setting can supply before another line has been spoken. Some stretches feel overworked, with the direction and performances giving us too little space to enjoy the surprise before pressing on. Against the familiar business of a sitcom household, this willingness to let almost anything happen is welcome. It does not always improve a joke, but it makes the programme unusually hard to second-guess, and the strongest performances reward another visit. Its two seasons of six episodes offer enough of that company without requiring a prolonged commitment. Start with a single episode and leave some quiet afterwards; there is no obligation to spend an entire evening being shouted at. *Fi1m score 82, published 13 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is The Young Ones worth watching?** *The Young Ones* is worth watching for anyone who can take half an hour of sustained shouting in return for sharp, wilfully unreasonable comedy, and we scored it 82. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson make the noise worthwhile, though the weaker jokes keep pushing after the point is made. Watch one episode at a time rather than an evening's worth. **How long is The Young Ones, and what is it rated?** *The Young Ones* has episodes of about 29m and is rated TV-14 by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy series. **Where can I watch The Young Ones in the US?** *The Young Ones* is available to buy from Apple TV. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Young Ones, and is it suitable for children?** *The Young Ones* carries a UK 15 certificate, so it is not intended for children, and its comedy is loud, abrasive and deliberately unpleasant rather than frightening. The violence is of the cartoonish kind students inflict on each other and on a house that fights back. Older teenagers with a taste for rudeness will be fine; the squeamish about noise should look elsewhere. **How does The Young Ones compare to Monty Python's Flying Circus?** *The Young Ones* is a student sitcom that lets absurdity wreck its household, while [*Monty Python's Flying Circus*](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus) is sketch comedy that does the same to an orderly scene. Python is the more exactingly performed of the two and the better place for pompous speech; The Young Ones is louder, cruder and easier to follow across an episode. Both have stretches that outstay the joke. **What should I watch after The Young Ones?** After *The Young Ones*, try [*Monty Python's Flying Circus*](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus) (1969, Fi1m 83): For sketch comedy that lets a good interruption wreck an orderly scene. Then [*Daisies*](https://film.one/film/daisies) (1966, Fi1m 85): Two young women cause trouble with a similar disregard for respectable behaviour. ### Reviews we read (2) - **The AV Club**, Jason Heller (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the pilot episode's chaotic energy, groundbreaking absurdity, and quotable dialogue as establishing the series as a cult classic in the vein of Monty Python. The sentient house and anarchic student antics are singled out as central to its appeal. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-young-ones-demolition-1798180898) - **The i Paper**, Jeff Robson (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the series still fresh and fun decades later, praising its anarchic mix of violent slapstick, insults and fourth-wall breaking as a welcome contrast to tame 1980s TV. He highlights the raw punkish energy and inventive casting while noting some dated elements. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/how-the-young-ones-changed-comedy-gold-review-a-stroppy-punk-rock-sitcom-has-aged-well-158607) ## Details - **Created by:** Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer - **Creator:** Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer - **Director:** Paul Jackson, Geoff Posner, Ed Bye - **Writer:** Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer, Alexei Sayle - **Editor:** Colin Jones - **Producer:** Paul Jackson - **Cast:** Adrian Edmondson as Vyvyan; Rik Mayall as Rick; Nigel Planer as Neil; Christopher Ryan as Mike; Alexei Sayle as The Balowski Family; Emma Thompson as Miss Money-Sterling; John Otway as John Otway; Ronnie Golden as Buddy Holly - **Runtime:** 29m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-14 - **Release (the US):** 9 November 1982 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US - Apple TV: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-13.* Also available in: AU, CA, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Monty Python's Flying Circus* (1969), Fi1m 83: For sketch comedy that lets a good interruption wreck an orderly scene — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/monty-pythons-flying-circus.md) - *Daisies* (1966), Fi1m 85: Two young women cause trouble with a similar disregard for respectable behaviour — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/daisies.md) - *The Kids in the Hall* (1988): Another ensemble willing to follow an unreasonable idea past the point of politeness - *Bottom* (1991): Mayall and Edmondson make domestic misery noisier, nastier and more physically punishing - *What We Do in the Shadows* (2014): Shared accommodation remains difficult even when the tenants have had centuries to practise --- © 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/tv/the-young-ones