The start of the '80's saw the introduction of the alternative comedy boom, giving us 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', 'A Kick Up The Eighties', 'The Comic Strip Presents' and, of course, 'The Young Ones'. Like 'Only Fools & Horses' and the later 'Spitting Image', 'The Young Ones' was a slow burner. It attracted only moderate ratings when it first aired in November 1982, however when it was repeated a short time later in early 1983, it suddenly skyrocketed in popularity, making household names of its stars - Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Alexei Sayle, Christopher Ryan, and, most notably, the late Rik Mayall.
'Demolition' opens up with Rick ( Rik Mayall ) dancing to 'The Young Ones' on the radio whilst Neil ( Nigel Planer ), overwhelmed by depression, is cooking the lentil casserole for dinner. Indeed, Neil is so depressed he is even planning to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Vyvyan ( Ade Edmondson ) informs his housemates that their house is due to be demolished in the morning by the council as it is considered to be a environmental health hazard, much to the dismay of Mike ( Christopher Ryan ).
The morning of the demolition dawns and the boys do their best to halt the progress, that is until a low flying jet crashes on top of the house, destroying it in the process.
A pretty impressive opener. Its all here, talking rats ( one of which is voiced by Chris Barrie, who is not credited here ), farting hamsters, sudden cutaways to scenes that bare no relevance to the plot and so on. Alexei Sayle makes his debut as the boys deranged landlord Jerzei Balowski. These scenes he wrote himself. Alexei soon went on to find great acclaim in 'Alexei Sayle's Stuff'. A musical interlude ( a condition which was made important by the writers to label the show as light entertainment in order to enable it a higher budget ) is also featured for the first time - here we have Nine Below Zero belting out 'Eleven Plus Eleven'.
Look out, by the way, for a small appearance from a young Gerard Kelly, who later worked with Rik and Ade in the hilarious 'Comic Strip' instalment 'Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door' and later went on to be the star in BBC Scotland's underrated 'City Lights'.
Funniest bit- Rick berating Vyvyan for not washing his hands before dinner. Vyvyan then goes over to the sink, kicks it off the wall and washes his hands from the water gushing out of the overflow pipe!
'Demolition' opens up with Rick ( Rik Mayall ) dancing to 'The Young Ones' on the radio whilst Neil ( Nigel Planer ), overwhelmed by depression, is cooking the lentil casserole for dinner. Indeed, Neil is so depressed he is even planning to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Vyvyan ( Ade Edmondson ) informs his housemates that their house is due to be demolished in the morning by the council as it is considered to be a environmental health hazard, much to the dismay of Mike ( Christopher Ryan ).
The morning of the demolition dawns and the boys do their best to halt the progress, that is until a low flying jet crashes on top of the house, destroying it in the process.
A pretty impressive opener. Its all here, talking rats ( one of which is voiced by Chris Barrie, who is not credited here ), farting hamsters, sudden cutaways to scenes that bare no relevance to the plot and so on. Alexei Sayle makes his debut as the boys deranged landlord Jerzei Balowski. These scenes he wrote himself. Alexei soon went on to find great acclaim in 'Alexei Sayle's Stuff'. A musical interlude ( a condition which was made important by the writers to label the show as light entertainment in order to enable it a higher budget ) is also featured for the first time - here we have Nine Below Zero belting out 'Eleven Plus Eleven'.
Look out, by the way, for a small appearance from a young Gerard Kelly, who later worked with Rik and Ade in the hilarious 'Comic Strip' instalment 'Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door' and later went on to be the star in BBC Scotland's underrated 'City Lights'.
Funniest bit- Rick berating Vyvyan for not washing his hands before dinner. Vyvyan then goes over to the sink, kicks it off the wall and washes his hands from the water gushing out of the overflow pipe!