For several years now, theories surrounding an eerie, uncredited, unnamed fifth housemate on ‘80s British cult hit The Young Ones have been floating around, a mystery the show’s director has now confirmed.
As Chortle reports, more than 30 years after the BBC2 comedy aired, director Geoff Postner has confirmed to fan/sleuthPeter Farquhar the existence of a creepy fifth character that lived alongside Vyvyan, Rick, Neil and Mike.
It was an idea that he and producer Paul Jackson developed, with Postner reportedly telling Farquhar they thought “it would be fine to have some ghostly figure in the background of some scenes that was never explained or talked about.”
“Hair all over the face so you shouldn't be able to decipher gender either,” he added.
'The fact that we forgot to do it consistently through the series shows what a bunch of amateurs we were in them days.”
The same fan reached out to co-writer Ben Elton before receiving confirmation from Postner, who reportedly denied any knowledge of such character.
“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, I'm afraid. There were four housemates plus the landlord,” Elton said.
The character can be seen lurking in the shadows and background in all six episodes of series one and once in the second series as well as appearing in a press shots.
