The Young Ones actor Nigel Planer hadn’t visited the property since the show ended (Picture: Ben Hill / SWNS )
The Young Ones actor Nigel Planer has made a pilgrimage back to the BBC sitcom show’s student house more than four decades after it first aired.
Nigel, 70, played one of the four students sharing a squalid house while studying at the fictitious Scumbag College in London in the comedy first shown in 1982 and 1984.
While in the show, which is credited for bringing alternative comedy to British TV, the gang lives in North London, a home in Bristol was used for exterior shots.
Nigel, who starred as Peace Studies student Neil Pye in The Young Ones,recently accepted an offer from fan of the show, Ben Hill, 45, to revisit the property.
The Filthy Rich & Catflap actor had not been to the house since filming ended in the 1980s – and said he was overwhelmed with memories on his return.
Nigel told Bristol Live: ‘It was years ago but of course a lot comes flooding back when you go back to this house where you spent a lot of formative time.’
Nigel visited the home on Codrington Road with fan Ben(Picture: Ben Hill / SWNS)
Nigel said the memories came flooding back when he returned to the home (Picture: Ben Hill / SWNS)
He added: ‘It’s interesting to look back on it now and see it was possible for everyone to be fun and have a laugh.
Reflecting on The Young Ones, Nigel admitted the programme would not be made today ‘no question.’
The Comic Strip star explained: ‘The younger generation are very different now, there’s a lot more responsibility on their shoulders. You wouldn’t be making something now that’s four guys shouting at each other.
The cast of the Young Ones filming on location at Codrington Road in the 1980s (Picture: Albert Foster/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
The Young Ones helped bring alternative comedy to British TV (Picture: BBC)
‘I don’t think it was a golden age. There was a load of crap made then, you just don’t remember the rubbish ones.’
Last year, ahead of The Young Ones arriving on Britbox the BBC- and ITV-owned streaming platform issued it with a trigger warning due to ‘offensive racial and homophobic language that may offend’.
The warning applied to an episode in the show’s first season that contained racial slurs.
Nigel played Peace Studies student Neil in The Young Ones (Picture: BBC)
Explaining its content warning policy, BritBox previously said: ‘Programming on the service that contains potentially sensitive language or attitudes of their era have carried appropriate warnings since our launch in November 2019 to ensure the right guidance is in place for viewers who are choosing to watch on-demand.’
Ade Edmonson who played Vyvyan, aka Vyv during season one and two, a;so explained in 2021 that the show wouldn’t be brought back today because producers wouldn’t be able to get to grips with the storyline.
‘Not because of cancel culture, but because there are too many executives and they wouldn’t have understood the script,’ he told The Times.
Nigel admitted The Young Ones would not get made today (Picture: Getty Images)
‘In the days of The Young Ones, it was one. Our USP was trying to concoct people that everyone would hate.’
The show also starred the late Rik Mayall as anarchist revolutionary Ric, Christopher Ryan as Mike, and Alexei Sayle as their landlord Jerzei
Mayall, who died suddenly in 2014, co-wrote The Young Ones alongside Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, with Paul Jackson and Geoff Posner as directors.
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It became known for its comic caricature, slapstick, infantile humour, rants and surreal jokes set against Thatcher’s Britain.
The Young Ones is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Britbox.
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He said the memories came flooding back.