The Young Ones (TV series) opening night on 2 November 1982, with "The Young Ones" following a week later on BBC2. The series was written by Mayall, his then-girlfriend Lise Mayer, and Ben Elton (who had attended the University of Manchester with Mayall and Edmondson). Richardson was originally set to play Mike, but clashed with Jackson. He was replaced by Christopher Ryan, the only member of the group who was not a stand-up comedian. The show was voted number 31 in the BBC's Best Sitcom poll in 2004. The main characters were four undergraduate students who were sharing a house: aggressive punk medical student, Vyvyan
Flood (The Young Ones) (Adrian Edmondson); Rick (Rik Mayall) and Neil (Nigel Planer). The episode also features their landlord Jerzei Balowski (Alexei Sayle), a character who was appearing for the second time during the first series, and would appear once more in total. This episode was the only one of the dozen made not to feature a band performing mid-show; the lion-tamer provided the "cabaret" instead. While the boys are playing hide-and-seek, Vyvyan hides in a wardrobe and ends in a Narnia-like world. Mr. Balowski's axe-murdering condition cause by Vyvyan's potion is a reference to Stephen King's novel, "The Shining". The monks at the