The Young Ones

The Young Ones thrust a new sort of comedy into the television mainstream in the early 1980s. At first glance The Young Ones seemed to tear up all the rules of sitcom, but despite its enormous energy and anarchic invention it was a more conventional programme than it might have appeared. But alongside Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents... The Young Ones transported a new generation of comedy writers and performers out of the clubs and into the nation's living rooms. And in a few short years the one time young pretenders had become the new comedy establishment. Their number one single for Comic Relief apart, the legacy of The Young Ones includes Saturday Live, Filthy, Rich and Catflap and Bottom. Narrated by Julia Sawalha, interviewees include Nigel Planner, Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, writer Lise Mayer, producer Paul Jackson and director Geoff Posner.