Neil Pye

Neil Wheedon Whatkins Pye is a clinically depressed, pacifist, vegetarian pessimistic, paranoid Hippie. Described as "the most boring person in the whole world" by Rick and an "ugly poo faced git" by Vyvyan. He constantly and often correctly believed everything hated him and tried to commit suicide many times.

He is played by Nigel Planer

Fictional Character Biography
Neil comes from a fairly wealthy conservative family who look down him for starring in such a crude nasty sitcom. He is working towards a peace studies degree, and supports Vegetable rights. He is regularly abused by the other three housemates because he almost never stands up for himself. Neil is a pessimist and constantly believes that everyone and everything hates him. Not only do his housemates reinforce this view but several other people and even inaminate objects take an intense dislike to him. A keetle blows itself up rather than be used by him, a light bulb leaves because it thinks he smells and several of vyvyans punk friends beat him up for no reason and the demon futumnch electrocutes him and stabs a needle into his head, he is told by a complete stranger (who is several miles away) that he is smelly. Despite this however there is evidence that he is not quite as hated as he believes. Mike for instance does not necessarily despise him he more just dosen't care about him, showing no concern for him when he is depressed or even suicidal and saying flat out that he dosen't care about his birthday. However he never goes out of his way to attack him or bully him, Vyvyan also appears to be quite fond of Neil at times, even introducing him as a friend to his mother and at other times trying to impress him. Although it has been noted that Vyvyan doesn't like many of his friends so their friebdship does not mean he likes him. He has showing signs of both liking and disliking Neil depending on his mood. Neil however is subject to Vyvyans extreme violence frequently, though it is often because Vyvyan is either bored or mad at Neil for not having made the tea, and is never because Vyvyan just hates him. The only member of the flat who absoloutly despises Neil is Rick who will often bully Neil in order to keep in with Vyvyan and Mike (though ironically Vyvyan and Mike both completely hate Rick and will often go out of their way to be horrible to him) Rick abuses Neil both physically and mentally, he regularly mocks his beliefs and personality, calls him a number of horrible names including facist, killjoy, bore and drip, and has even destroyed his possessions such as his guitar. Ricks hatred of Neil reached boiling point in the episode Sick when he became so frustrated at Neil he hit him over the head with a frying pan killing him. Neil was later returned to life when Rick in his attempt to bury the body planted and sowed him. Rick did not actually intend to kill him and was shown to be horrified when he realised what he had done (though was more likely out of fear for what would happen to him than any guilt over Neils death.) Neil has actually gotten the better of Rick many times. Not only has he occasionally joined in Vyvyan and Mikes bullying of Rick but he also exposed Rick as a transvestite, and after being goaded on by Vyvyan attacked Rick nearly smashing his face in. Neil has also occasionaly inflicted violence on Vyvyan, when he became a police officer he arrested all four of the housemates and beat Vyvyan with a nightstick, on another occasion he changed into the incredible hulk and attacked all of his housemates including even Mike. Neil actually has a small group of friends including another clinically depressed hippie called Neil (whom Rick almost freezes to death when he pushes him into a freezer), and an unamed woman who has shown an interest in him many times (this makes him the only one of the group aside from Mike who not only has a female friend but has had a woman show even the slightest bit of interest in them) Though the others may bully Neil they do aknowledge that they need him as he is the only one who does the cooking and cleaning (though Neil is an inept cook always cooking lentils and on one occassion giving them snow to eat)  he is often treated as the surrogate mother of the group.

Neil along with his other three housemates was evicted by his landlord Jertzey Balowfski. On the streets and with no qualifications the foursome tried to rob a bank and succedded (despite Neil himself revealing that they only had water pistols and not guns) They escaped in a double decker bus and for once all got along with each other. However Vyvyan the driver of the bus accidently drove it over the edge of a cliff where it exploded killing all four of them.

Neil however along with his other three housemates would later return from the dead to record a charity single, a cover of living doll with Sir Cliff Richard which got to number one in the charts. However Neil along with the rest did not recieve any money for it as it all sadly went to charity. Neil would however later release an album on his own which was very successful, he also released a book called "Neils Book of the Dead" and later became a host of MTV.

Notes and Trivia

 * Neil is arguably the only member of the Young Ones to have a happy ending as he was shown to become a successful host of MTV and released a best selling album. It is not known what became of the other 4 after their number 1 single with Cliff Richard.
 * Though he is often portrayed as a pushover Neil has inflicted violence on the other house members a few times. He once accidently stuck a pick axe in Vyvyans skull, beat Vyvyan with a night stick on another occasion and changed into the incredible hulk and attack all of the other 3 after they kept abusing him, though this may have just have been a fantasy of Neil's.
 * Nigel Planer played a similar character on stage many years earlier opposite Peter Richardson who was to have originally played Mike.
 * Nigel Planer would later go on to play a similar spaced out hippie character opposite Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson in the Comic Strip presents Bad News Tour episodes.