• Source: Cash (The Young Ones)

      • "Cash" is the eighth 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 15 May 1984. This particular episode is unusual in that it is filmed to enable the wall with the fireplace, which would usually be 'behind camera,' to be in view during internal scenes. In this case, the wall with the living room window becomes the fourth wall.


      Plot


      The quartet are so poor that they are burning their clothes and belongings just to keep warm. Neil prepares meals of snow passed off as risotto, and Vyvyan goes around the neighbourhood to find winter fuel although the episode is set in September. Eventually they decide that someone needs to get a job to bring money into the house, but when the only vacancy advertised in the local paper is for the Army, Rick and Mike both rule themselves out on medical grounds (perforated eardrum and flat feet, respectively), while Vyvyan declares that he is pregnant, leaving Neil the only one to take the job.
      After a poor haircut and a quick loan of Mike's suit, Neil goes to join up, but having been told not to mention it, is rejected for being a pacifist. After spotting a recruitment poster for the police, the other three throw Neil into the police station next door, where he meets Alexei Sayle's character, a Mussolini-lookalike. While the others get lucky when a lorry full of food and expensive furnishings crashes through the front window, Neil takes to his new job – arresting a bunch of his drugged-up hippie friends, where the track Electrick Gypsies by Steve Hillage is playing on the record player until he pulls the plug on it and says – "Oh no, Steve Hillage!"
      Arriving home, Neil tries to arrest his flatmates, assuming they have stolen the luxury items. His harsh use of the baton forces Vyvyan into labour. Mike leaves the room, being afraid of the sight of childbirth. Instead, Vyvyan actually ends up passing wind loudly. Having been handcuffed together with Vyvyan, Rick and Neil frantically try to escape the smell but Neil is unable to find the key. Mike returns and lights a celebratory cigar, unaware of what has just happened; the flame ignites the gas and causes an explosion which destroys the house.


      Characters


      As with all episodes of The Young Ones, the main four characters were student housemates Mike (Christopher Ryan); Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson); Rick (Rik Mayall) and Neil (Nigel Planer). Alexei Sayle appears as a Benito Mussolini cabaret act and police recruitment officer. DJ Alan Freeman plays God, sitting at a radio mixing desk, on the first of two occasions in the series.


      Reception


      Peter Lee said this episode is "deliciously mad".


      References


      Chrissie Macdonald. "Episode 2 - Cash". That's Anarchy! The Story of a Revolution in the World of TV Comedy. Temple House Pty Ltd. Australia. 2002. Pages 83 to 86. See also "Cash" at pages 45, 50, 52 and 56. See also page 154.
      Roger Wilmut and Peter Rosengard. Didn't You Kill My Mother-in-law?: The Story of Alternative Comedy in Britain from the Comedy Store to Saturday Live. Methuen. 1989. Pages 158, 159 and 161. Google
      Helen Davies and Claire O’Callaghan. Gender and Austerity in Popular Culture. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. 2017. Google
      Liz Giuffre and Philip Hayward (eds). Music in Comedy Television: Notes on Laughs. Routldge. 2017. Page 71.
      TV Guide. 1985.
      "S2E2: Cash" in "The Young Ones Music Guide: Series Two". Dirty Feed. 15 November 2020.
      Robert Ham. "8. Ken Bishop’s Nice Twelve—"Subterranean Homesick Blues" (from S02E02)" in "Ranking The Young Ones' Musical Performances". Paste. 9 February 2016.
      Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping. The Guinness Book of Classic British TV. 2nd Edition. 1996. Page 162.
      Kieran Curran. Cynicism in British Post-War Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. 2015. Pages 110 and 111.
      Gary Burns and Robert J Thompson. Television Studies: Textual Analysis. (Media and Society Series). Praeger. 1989. Pages 59, 63, 68, 69 and 75.
      T Mike Childs. The Rocklopedia Fakebandica. Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St Martin's Press. 2004. Page 59.
      Ivan Raykoff. Another Song for Europe: Music, Taste, and Values in the Eurovision Song Contest. Routledge. 2021. Google


      External links


      "Cash" at BBC Online
      "Cash" at IMDb
      "Cash" at British Comedy Guide

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