The Young Ones (TV series) Basterd (Adrian Edmondson); conceited wannabe anarchist sociology student, Rick (Rik Mayall); oppressed paranoid hippie peace studies student, Neil Wheedon Watkins Pye (Nigel Planer); and the suave, charming would-be underground mob boss, Mike The-Cool-Person (Christopher Ryan). It also featured Alexei Sayle, who played various members of the Balowski family—most often Jerzei Balowski, the quartet's landlord—and occasional independent characters, such as the train driver in "Bambi" and the Mussolini-lookalike Police Chief in "Cash". The show combined traditional sitcom style with violent slapstick, non-sequitur plot turns, and surrealism. These older styles were mixed with the working and lower-middle class attitudes of the growing
Nasty (The Young Ones) of gravediggers that the lads tell their story to. Arnold Brown appears as the man in the opening scene playing chess against Death. Dawn French and Helen Atkinson-Wood appear in the pain reliever commercial set in Hell. The opening scene of a man playing chess with Death is a reference to Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film, "The Seventh Seal". At the grave site when the vicar says "Ashes to ashes," Rick responds with "Funk to funky, we all know Major Tom's a junkie", referencing lyrics from the David Bowie song 'Ashes to Ashes'. Later in the episode, Rick proclaims to Neil