The Young Ones/Trivia

• Actor Allusion: In the episode "University Challenge", the challengers from "Footlights College, Oxbridge" are played by Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson. Thompson, Fry and Laurie know each other from their time in the Footlights Club at Cambridge University, and the plotline was inspired by Fry's appearance on the real University Challenge in his student days. "Bambi", whose bias toward Footlights College drives this part of the plot, is played by Griff Rhys Jones, who was also in the Footlights Club. (The real life Bamber Gascoigne was a member in the 1950s too.)
• The Cast Showoff: Alexei Sayle was given an opportunity in each episode to show off his stand-up comedy skills (hence each episode credited him with 'Additional Material').
• Creator Backlash: Alexei Sayle initially wasn't too fond of "Bambi" allegedly because it gave too much focus to the "lighter", college-educated side of the alternative comedy circuit.
• The Danza: Rik Mayall as Rick.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • A very young Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Ben Elton as the Upper Class Twit team in "Bambi".
  • Terry Jones as the drunk vicar in the episode "Nasty".
  • Hale & Pace as the grave-diggers.
  • Lenny Henry as the fascist postman in the last episode, "Summer Holiday".
  • Jennifer Saunders as Helen Mucus ("Time"), and Dawn French as the Easter Bunny and Satan.
  • Paul Merton makes a very brief appearance as a yokel in "Time".
  • Robbie Coltrane as a bouncer in the second episode, "Oil", and a scientist is one of the odd asides.
  • Grif Rhys Jones as 'Bambi' Gascoine.
  • Tony Robinson as Dr Not-the-nine-o-clock-news.
  • Norman Lovett owned the penny arcade across the road.
  • The list goes on. It was chock-full of cameos, all of which are listed in the end credits of the last episode.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor:
  • Ade Edmondson, who played bloody, violent Vyvyan, is much nicer in contrast to his character, and says he only ever gets violent when drunk, and would never reach Vyvyan's levels. He's also famously easy to work with, and asks his fellow actors exactly what they'd ask from him to make it easier to do. When Rik Mayall died, he offered an honest goodbye to his old friend, and even included one last heartwarming joke just because he knew Rik would like it.
  • Rik Mayall was also famously easy to work with, and did many charity runs because of his fame, in part because of what it would draw because of him, and also to show he wasn't like Rick at all.