Interesting (Young Ones episode)

"Interesting" was the fifth episode of British sitcom "The Young Ones". It was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer, and directed by Paul Jackson. It was first broadcast on BBC2 on 7 December 1982.

Characters

As with all episodes of "The Young Ones", the main four characters were student flatmates Mike (Christopher Ryan); Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson); Rick (Rik Mayall) and Neil (Nigel Planer). Alexei Sayle starred as Tommy Balowski, aggressive drunkard and cousin of the students' landlord Jerzei.

Plot

It is an important evening ahead as the quartet host their first house party for their trendy student friends. After initial problems with Vyvyan's car engine-powered vacuum cleaner, which sweeps up a morose hippy friend of Neil's, also called Neil (who is mercilessly shoved by Rick into the refrigerator (during which a chromakeyed title card reading "The BBC would like to remind small children that locking people inside old refigerators is a bloody stupid thing to do." is shown) to join the singing tomatoes and an unexpected visit from an eager Christian, the party gets underway in style, (in a short but memorable bit, Vyvyan tries to impress some girls, asking "Wanna see how many press-ups I can do?"; Vyv's resulting press-ups had the BBC censors--as recalled by Lise Mayer--thinking Vyv was simulating a sexual act rather than badly doing press-ups) as with some interesting furniture to boot.

Meanwhile, two party-crashers attempt to make their way into the house, initially by claiming they know or are related to someone inside ("Big Jan? I'm his dad"), and eventually try to resort climbing down the chimney, where they are interrupted by a young chimney sweep ("I've been stuck down there since the late 19th Century!").

Rick desperately tries to impress his favourite lecturer, Mike pulls a literal fairytale princess, Vyvyan's fellow punks start a riot, and Neil inadvertently gets beaten up. But with a visit from Santa and a well respected fictional character, was it all a dream?

The episode features a performance from Rip, Rig and Panic, featuring a teenage Neneh Cherry on vocals.