Episode Guide (Series 3)
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1: Dish And Dishonesty (17 Sep 87)
Regency England. King George III is mad and his son George is Prince Regent. Edmund Blackadder, the Prince's butler, discovers that Prime Minister Pitt the Younger is planning to bankrupt the Prince. The Prime Minister only has a small majority in favour of his plans, so Blackadder arranges for his servant, Baldrick, to stand for Parliament in a rotten borough. His opponent will be the Prime Minister's brother, Pitt the Even Younger. Baldrick is elected and told to vote against the Prime Minister's proposed curbs on payments to the Prince Regent. Unfortunately, Baldrick is tricked into voting in favour. Blackadder conspires to get himself into the House of Lords, but it's Baldrick who gets to wear ermine.
Also appearing:
Vincent Hanna (Himself), Denis Lill (Talbot Buxomly), Dominic Martelli (Pitt the Even Younger), Geoff McGivern (Ivor Biggun), Simon Osborne (Pitt the Younger)
2: Ink And Incapability (24 Sep 87)
The Prince Regent agrees to become literary patron to Dr Johnson, who's spent ten years writing a dictionary. Meanwhile, Edund has been busy writing a magnum opus of his own - "Edmund, A Butler's Tale", written using the pseudonym Gertrude Perkins. Dr Johnson lends his manuscript to Prince George. Unfortunately, Baldrick uses it to light the fire. Edmund must rewrite the entire dictionary in a few days.
Also appearing:
Robbie Coltrane (Dr. Samuel Johnson), Lee Cornes (Shelley), Steve Steen (Byron), Jim Sweeney (Coleridge)
3: Nob And Nobility (1 Oct 87)
English society is obsessed with the French Revolution and particularly with the exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Blackadder is sick of the hero worship of the children of dead French aristocrats. Then Edmund is persuaded to become personally involved in the French Revolution by a £1,000 wager.
Also appearing:
Chris Barrie (Ambassador), Tim McInnerny (Lord Topper), Nigel Planer (Lord Smedley)
4: Sense And Senility (8 Oct 87)
Edmund is planning a masque for Prince George's birthday celebrations. The Prince wants some coaching to help him deliver his speech, so he recruits Keanrick and Mossop, the country's most eminent tragedians.
Also appearing:
Kenneth Connor (Mossop), Ben Elton (Anarchist), Hugh Paddick (Keanrick)
5: Amy And Amiability (15 Oct 87)
Edmund is down to his last 9 pence, so he decides to ask Prince George for a pay rise. Unfortunately, the Prince is also broke, having recently been introduced to a wonderful pastime called "cards". The object, according to Prince George, is to give away all of your money as quickly as possible. Blackadder decides to look for a rich wife for the Prince. He settles on Amy Hardwood, the daughter of a Northern industrialist, but changes his mind when he discovers that she and her father have no money. In desperation, Blackadder puts on a mask and a cape and sets off to try his hand at highway robbery. Baldrick has to act as the horse. Edmund's plans are thwarted when he becomes a victim of a notorious highwayman called "The Shadow"
Also appearing:
Roger Avon (Duke of Cheapside), Warren Clarke (Mr. Hardwood), Miranda Richardson (Amy Hardwood), Barbara Thorne (Sally Cheapside)
6: Duel And Duality (22 Oct 87)
Prince George spends a night of ecstacy with "a pair of Wellingtons". Unfortunately, the Wellingtons in question are the young nieces of the Iron Duke, who challenges the Prince to a duel. Baldrick hatches a "cunning plan" which involves Edmund taking the Prince's place in the duel. Edmund has a much better idea - he'll persuade his cousin MacAdder to fight the Duke of Wellington.
Also appearing:
Stephen Fry (Duke of Wellington), Gertan Klauber (King George III)
Special
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
(23 Dec 88)
The late 1800's. Ebenezer Blackadder, unlike his eminent ancestors, is a kind, generous man. One Christmas Eve, he's visited by a ghostly apparation who shows him how awful his famous ancestors were. He also gives Ebenezer a preview of things to come. Blackadder comes to the conclusion that his ancestors were right to be horrid, and vows to change his ways and become as awful as them.
Also appearing:
David Barber (Enormous Orphan), Jim Broadbent (Prince Albert), Nicola Bryant (Millicent), Robbie Coltrane (Spirit of Christmas), Ramsay Gilderdale (Ralph), Denis Lill (Beadle), Miriam Margolyes (Queen Victoria), Pauline Melville (Mrs Scratchit), Erkan Mustafa (Enormous Orphan), David Nunn (Enormous Orphan), Philip Pope (Lord Nelson)