Vivian, Rick, Mike and Neil are four college students who share a house in North London: Vivian is a violent punk who smashes everything to pieces, Rick is a political fan of Cliff Richards, Mike is the serious and bossy cool person and Neil is the depressed hippie who does most of the cooking and cleaning in the house and his only desire is to commit suicide. Vivian, Rick, Mike and Neil's pay their rent to their Russian landlord Jerzey Bolowski and his various family members. The world of "The Young Ones" is surreal, hilarious and violent as the show also interacts with other characters in "The Young Ones" world and features live performances from bands.

Despite being set in North London, the external scenes were actually filmed in Bristol, just over 100 miles away; the show's producer, Paul Jackson, lived in Bristol at the time. The house used for the external scenes is in Codrington Road, Bristol.