Watch The Young Ones Online

Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. Soon after, it was shown on MTV in its early days, being one of the first television shows to appear on the fledgling channel when it wasn't showing music videos.

The programme revolved around four undergraduate students sharing a house; violent punk rocker Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson); pompous anarchist Rick (Rik Mayall); long-suffering hippie Neil (Nigel Planer); and mysterious, diminutive Mike (Christopher Ryan). It also featured Alexei Sayle, who played the quartet's landlord, Mr Balowski, and other members of the Balowski Family.

The show combined a traditional sitcom style with very violent slapstick, non sequitur plot-turns and surrealism. In addition, these older styles were mixed with the lower class attitudes of the growing 1980s alternative comedy boom, in which all of the principal performers except Ryan had been involved.

Although the series was set in North London, many of the external scenes were filmed in Bristol. All four characters attended the fictional Scumbag College, although they were never seen attending the institution and were rarely seen studying.

The show was voted #31 in the BBC's Best Sitcom poll in 2004.

• The bbc.co.uk Guide To Comedy: The Young Ones
• BBC: I Love 1982: The Young Ones
• Young Ones locations in Bristol
• The Young Ones Tribute
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• The Young Ones scripts