The Young Ones was a fantastically funny, surreal, and anarchic British sitcom in the 1980s about four students who shared a house. There was punk Vyvyan, anarchist Rick, hippie Neil, and ladies’ man Mike. But if you looked very closely, you might have spotted… another. If you looked very closely you might have spotted a curious hirsute individual hidden in every episode of the first season. Over at the Daily Grail, John Reppion explores this wonderful Easter egg of 1980s cult television. And if you don’t know The Young Ones, hit YouTube now and thank me later. From the Daily Grail:
If, right now, you search for images of The Young Ones, you will find some promo shots from 1982 with the four main characters standing in the kitchen of their house around an empty white wooden chair. Mike is wearing gingham pyjamas with teddy bears printed on them, and in some shots has one foot on the chair. In some variants of these shot though, the chair is not empty. The ghost – or fifth housemate, as she appears here – is once again front and centre and no-one seems to have noticed.
In fact, no-one seems to have noticed to such a degree that this image seems to have been used for years in articles referring to The Young Ones, without anyone questioning it. How can that be? How can you and I never have seen her there? Or behind the sofa? Or sitting in the armchair? Or floating past the window? How has she possibly been RIGHT THERE for thirty-four years?
“The 5th Young One: Pay No Attention to the Girl Behind the Sofa” (Daily Grail)
