Writing

Lise Mayer

Born

1959-11-29 (66)

Place of birth

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Known for

Writing

Credits

9 titles

Lise Mayer (born 29 November 1959) is an American television and film writer. She was creator and co-writer, alongside Rik Mayall and Ben Elton, of the BBC comedy series The Young Ones. Mayer was born in Chicago, Illinois, to David and Anne Mayer. She met Rik Mayall when she was at school in Manchester and Mayall came to study drama at Manchester University, where her father was a professor. Her mother is a theatre publicist. In addition to The Young Ones, she has written for television programmes including The Last Resort, Paramount City, London Underground, The Fast Show, Saturday Zoo and Casualty, and produced Denis Leary's No Cure For Cancer. She was a writer/consultant for the film Th…

Known for

Flushed Away poster
6.3

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.

Flushed Away

2006

The Young Ones poster
7.9

The misadventures of four lunatic students who live in a shared student house. There's Rick, the overblown political one addicted to Cliff Richard, Vyvyan the experimental scientific one/part-time anarchist, Neil the worried hippy, and Mike the ladies' man (at least he is in his mind).

The Young Ones

1982

No artwork available
NR

Alex Comfort, a British science professor specialised in the lifelong study of molluscs, thought he was writing ‘an antidote to war’. He, his wife Ruth, and her best friend Jane, an unconventional throuple in the quiet suburbs of 1970s North London, challenged societal norms, lasting a decade. It was the laboratory where recipes outlined in the manual, as well as the instantly recognisable hand-drawn sketches of hirsute hippies having sex, were born. The book was erotic, funny, and wholesome, reinventing sex and love for ordinary people and giving them permission to enjoy sex for the first time ever.

The Joy of Sex

—

How The Young Ones Changed Comedy poster
7.0

This documentary explores the legacy of one of the most notorious British sitcoms of all time. Launching alternative comedy onto our screens, the show made household names of its performers and writers and proved to be a huge influence, despite the BBC reportedly being baffled by what they'd commissioned back in 1982. Never before had a flagship comedy show contained so much violence, depravity and anarchy - it was a shot across the bow to mainstream comedians that things would never be the same again.

How The Young Ones Changed Comedy

2018

Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule poster
7.5

Comedian Rik Mayall died suddenly on 9 June 2014. Mayall's blend of rocket-fuelled physical comedy, surrealism, subversive satire and pompous punk wit left a body of work that spanned four decades. Mayall's characters include the Black Country's investigative nerd Kevin Turvey, Felicity Kendal-adoring student and 'People's Poet' Rik in The Young Ones, ruthless MP Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman, seedy loser Richie in Bottom and larger-than-life characters Robin Hood and flying ace Lord Flashheart from Blackadder. Narrated by Simon Callow, this programme salutes Rik Mayall and celebrates his part in the UK's comedy history using rare and unseen archive footage. It also features contributions from people who knew or admired him, including Michael Palin, Simon Pegg, Lenny Henry, Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Christopher Ryan, Tim McInnerny, Jools Holland, Ruby Wax and Greg Davies.

Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule

2014

Suite 16 poster
5.8

After an argument and fight with a wealthy one night stand in a posh hotel, young hustler Chris finds himself trapped inside. With nowhere to go and the cops closing in on the hotel fast, he wanders into "Suite 16" in a fit of despair. Inside, a handicapped and wheelchair bound Glover is held captive for the evening once discovered by Chris. However, things change the next day when Glover informs Chris that the woman he slept with is now dead; and that he surely will be sought out for her murder. Lonely and bored, Glover offers to shelter Chris for awhile while the cuts and bruises from the previous nights escapades have time to heal.

Suite 16

1994

Film credits

2010s · 2 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Flushed Away poster
6.3

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.

Flushed Away

2006

No artwork available
NR

Alex Comfort, a British science professor specialised in the lifelong study of molluscs, thought he was writing ‘an antidote to war’. He, his wife Ruth, and her best friend Jane, an unconventional throuple in the quiet suburbs of 1970s North London, challenged societal norms, lasting a decade. It was the laboratory where recipes outlined in the manual, as well as the instantly recognisable hand-drawn sketches of hirsute hippies having sex, were born. The book was erotic, funny, and wholesome, reinventing sex and love for ordinary people and giving them permission to enjoy sex for the first time ever.

The Joy of Sex

—

Suite 16 poster
5.8

After an argument and fight with a wealthy one night stand in a posh hotel, young hustler Chris finds himself trapped inside. With nowhere to go and the cops closing in on the hotel fast, he wanders into "Suite 16" in a fit of despair. Inside, a handicapped and wheelchair bound Glover is held captive for the evening once discovered by Chris. However, things change the next day when Glover informs Chris that the woman he slept with is now dead; and that he surely will be sought out for her murder. Lonely and bored, Glover offers to shelter Chris for awhile while the cuts and bruises from the previous nights escapades have time to heal.

Suite 16

1994

Paper Marriage poster
4.4

Alice, a young Polish woman, arrives in England to marry a doctor. However, she faces an obstacle when her fiance changes his mind and leaves her in need of citizenship in Britain.

Paper Marriage

1992