Onto The Young Ones, 'Flood'.

Last episode of Series 1 transmitted... but only the second episode shot. The *first* episode shot, if you don't include the pilot. Which is odd: it has a very end-of-series feel.

The stakes are as high as The Young Ones gets this side of Summer Holiday, and that final shot with SPG... it really does feel like an episode designed to go out last.

Maybe it was always intended to, and it was shot early for cast availability reasons.

Incidentally, 'Bomb' was the last episode shot. Which brings up two things:

a) The team didn't have to fix the kitchen set Vyv comes crashing through until the next series in 1984.
b) Now I think about it, maybe Bomb *would* have been a suitably apocalyptic end to the series...

"My wife, she's a terrible cook though. Well she would be - she's dead!"

A prop that deserves to go down in history next to Basil the Rat.

Vyvyan being pleased with himself is one of the funniest things in the world.

"WELL I'M GOING TO GO AND LOOK IN YOUR BIN FOR THE PIPS!" is the most petulant thing anybody has ever said.

I'm all for subtlety in comedy, but I wish this shot had been a little closer. I WANT TO SEE THE DOGGIES PROPERLY.

This really is a beautiful set. Beautifully lit here, too. <insert rant about modern floodlit audience sitcoms again>

For me, the Narnia parody in 'Flood' feels as much like the variety budget making itself shown as anything in the series.

I mean, couldn't you just imagine a song done here, rather than Ade dicking around?

"NOW YOU'VE HURT MY BOTTOM!"

Bluescreen, fire effects, and masses of water. Just another day shooting The Young Ones.

I always forget about the fish flapping around in time to Rick's petulance, but it's brilliant.

Cindy Shelley does a BRILLIANT pratfall here.

(Also: Tenko!)

"Hey, wouldn't it be terrible if we ended up having to eat each other? Like those sailors did in that film... We Ended Up Having To Eat Each Other."

I fucking love that joke.

How *quickly* the gang resort to cannibalism is very funny.

"Well, we're halfway through the show..."

Mate, you're three minutes away from the end!

"Going into the international sphere, they're going to have to face some stiff competition. Especially from the Swedes with their comedy series 'Oh, Where's my Volvo?'. Also, of course, from the French with their comedy series 'Mr Poo-Poo Goes to the Lavatory'."

"Mr Poo-Poo Goes to the Lavatory" is one of those lines which just stuck in my head and never let go.

That one single line shaped my sense of comedy far more than whole episodes of other stuff did.

Also, I bet the line "Oh, sorry Paul" created hundreds of TV nerds across the nation.

"No, not that speaker! Jimi Hendrix once pissed on that!"

You know, the lion tamer stuff does come a little out of nowhere, but they really do make an effort to tie it into the rest of the show.

Most obviously the fate of Balowski. But it also directly ties into the Narnia stuff too. More thought out than some of the band performances!