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
Flood (The Young Ones) comics, leading to an argument with Rick over the comic's content. After Neil prepares to go on a shopping trip for "Everything except Green Globules and Super Mousse", Vyvyan mentions that he had concocted a 'homicidal axe-wielding maniac' potion disguised in a Coca-Cola can, that transforms the drinker into said person, under the guise of a "cure for not being a homicidal axe-wielding maniac", to which Vyvyan mentions the potential size of the market for such an invention. However, the monsoon-like rain outside soon traps everyone in the house and a game of hide and seek gets underway to pass