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| "Potato" | |
|---|---|
| Blackadder episode | |
| Episode no. | Series 2 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Mandie Fletcher |
| Written by | Ben Elton Richard Curtis |
| Original air date | 23 January 1986 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Tom Baker (Captain Rum) Simon Jones (Sir Walter Raleigh) | |
"Potato" is the third episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II , the second series of Blackadder , which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.
The episode opens with Blackadder at home, while the rest of London is celebrating the return of Sir Walter "Oooh what a big ship I've got" Raleigh. Blackadder is typically sarcastic and unimpressed, refusing a ridiculously dressed Percy's repeated invitations to join in the festivities, eventually throwing him out, and likewise refusing to let Baldrick have the day off to celebrate.
The reason for Blackadder's bitterness is his envy of Sir Walter and explorers in general who "ponce off to Mumbo-Jumbo Land, come home with a tropical disease, a sun tan and a bag of brown lumpy things" and return to be showered with fame and adoration. He is equally annoyed with Sir Walter apparently making a fortune from potatoes, with people smoking them or building houses of them, scoffing that "they'll be eating them next". In addition, he has to endure taunting from children outside his house, to which he retaliates by shooting one with an arrow.
Melchett arrives, also dressed in a ridiculous fashion and asks if Blackadder will join him at the royal palace to welcome Sir Walter, which Blackadder initially declines, though he eventually relents.
At court, Sir Walter greatly impresses the Queen with his tales of daring exploration and discovery, and the court join to mock Blackadder for lacking the bravery of an explorer. During his boasting, Sir Walter reveals that sailors do not count the sea around the Cape of Good Hope as part of the "Seven Seas", being known instead as "the sea of certain death" owing to its dangerous nature. Blackadder, in an attempt to upstage the explorer, suddenly announces his imminent plans to make that very journey, to the delight and admiration of the royal court, with the Queen even suggesting she will marry Blackadder when he returns. Sir Walter is disbelieving, stating that only one sailor would be "mad enough" to attempt the journey: Captain Redbeard Rum.
Blackadder seeks out Rum, who, despite being both legless and ramblingly insane, he employs as captain for the voyage, bringing Baldrick and Percy along as well. On the evening before setting off, Blackadder, along with Rum and Baldrick, visits the court once again, and Nursie is quite taken with the captain, agreeing to marry him once he returns. Once their journey starts, Blackadder reveals his real plan: sailing to France for a few months, then going back home and falsely claiming to have sailed to the Cape of Good Hope. Rum then admits that the plan is very fortunate, as he does not know the way to the Cape of Good Hope and intended to resort to his usual trick of "circling the Isle of Wight until everybody gets dizzy". Unfortunately, after sailing for three days, they run into a serious problem; Rum does not know how to get to France either, and in fact does not know how to navigate at all.
Blackadder suggests a member of the crew will know how to navigate, but Rum reveals that with the exception of Blackadder, Percy and Baldrick, there is no crew on the ship, stating opinion is divided on having a crew being standard maritime practice. Specifically, "all other captains say it is", and Rum says it is not.
Utterly lost, they sail for six months, having run out of food and water and reduced to drinking their own urine (joining Rum, who has been "swigging his with abandon" even before the water ran out) when their ship finally runs aground. Unfortunately, rather than returning to England, they have arrived on a tropical island with lava streams, mangroves and cannibalistic natives.
Two years later, they somehow land back in Britain, and return to meet the Queen, though they reveal to Nursie that her beloved Captain Rum was eaten by natives and she is given his beard as a memento. When Blackadder then brings up the subject of marrying the Queen, he finds that in their absence, she has become completely fed up with explorers, having spared Raleigh execution only because he "blubbed on his way to the block", and has had him reduced to serving as the stick in a game of ring toss. When she demands a souvenir from his travels, Blackadder offers Queenie a stick that, when thrown away, comes back. She is displeased until she witnesses an offhanded throw of the boomerang return and strike Percy in the back of the head. Having been commanded to also present Melchett and Raleigh with a gift, Blackadder offers a bottle of "fine wine" (which is actually Baldrick's urine), which he states is in "inexhaustible supply".
Tom Baker has described his own performance as "appalling". Baker was quoted: "Someone should have taken away my Equity Card. It was terrible and the buggers keep playing it." [1] In an interview with Radio Times , Baker said his memories of working with Atkinson were "a little tainted." He stated that Atkinson told him to play his role as "boring" as possible, which was advice he gave to all guest actors. However, after playing his role as "boring" in the final rehearsal, Baker was told not to by the show's producer against Atkinson's advice. [2]
Blackadder is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, e.g., Melchett and Lord Flashheart.
Edmund Blackadder is the single name given to a collection of fictional characters who appear in the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder, each played by Rowan Atkinson. Although each series is set within a different period of British history, each character is part of the same familial dynasty and is usually called Edmund Blackadder. Each character also shares notable personality traits and characteristics throughout each incarnation. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Edmund Blackadder was ranked third on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Baldrick, and George in a trench in Flanders during World War I, and followed their various doomed attempts to escape from the trenches to avoid death under the misguided command of General Melchett. The series references famous people of the time and criticises the British Army's leadership during the campaign, culminating in the ending of its final episode, in which the soldiers are ordered to carry out a lethal charge of enemy lines.
Blackadder II is the second series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 9 January 1986 to 20 February 1986. The series is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), and sees the principal character, Edmund, Lord Blackadder, as a Tudor courtier attempting to win the favour of the Queen while avoiding execution by decapitation, a fate that befell many of her suitors.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol, a one-off episode of Blackadder, is a parody of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), and is narrated by Hugh Laurie. Produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on BBC1 on 23 December 1988.
Blackadder: Back & Forth is a 1999 British science fiction comedy short film based on the BBC period sitcom Blackadder that marks the end of the Blackadder saga. It was commissioned for showing in the specially built SkyScape cinema erected southeast of the Millennium Dome on the Greenwich peninsula in South London. The film follows Lord Edmund Blackadder and his idiotic servant, Baldrick, on a time travel adventure that brings the characters into contact with several figures significant to British history.
"The Black Adder" is the unaired pilot episode of the BBC television series Blackadder. Taped on 20 June 1982, it features the original incarnation of the character Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson. Following this pilot, The Black Adder eventually went into production and the first six-part series was broadcast in 1983, but with a number of changes to the casting, characterisation and plot; while the transmitted series was set in 1485 and the years following the Battle of Bosworth Field, this untransmitted pilot was set in 16th century, apparently during the Elizabethan Era.
"Goodbyeee", or "Plan F: Goodbyeee", is the sixth and final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth and final series of British historical sitcom Blackadder. The episode was first broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom on 2 November 1989, shortly before Armistice Day. Apart from the one-off short film Blackadder: Back & Forth made a decade later, it was the last episode of Blackadder to be produced and transmitted.
"Corporal Punishment", or "Plan B: Corporal Punishment", is the second episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder. It was first broadcast on BBC1 on 5 October 1989. In the episode, Blackadder faces a court-martial, and later execution by firing squad, for shooting a carrier pigeon.
"Bells" is the first episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Although "Bells" was the first to be broadcast on BBC1, it was originally destined to be the second episode.
"General Hospital", or "Plan E: General Hospital", is the fifth episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.
"Head" is the second episode of the BBC period comedy Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.
"Chains" is the final episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Power-mad and self-professed "master of disguise", Prince Ludwig the Indestructible kidnaps Lord Blackadder and Lord Melchett. They escape his clutches but Prince Ludwig infiltrates the palace during a fancy dress ball. The episode was recorded 14 July 1985.
"Beer" is the fifth episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. In the episode, an embarrassing incident with a turnip, an ostrich feather and a fanatically Puritan aunt leads to a right royal to-do in the Blackadder household. The episode marks Hugh Laurie's first ever Blackadder appearance, and Miriam Margolyes's second. Laurie would go on to appear in every subsequent episode of the show.
"Money" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.
"Captain Cook", or "Plan A: Captain Cook", is the first episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.
"Major Star", or "Plan C: Major Star", is the third episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder. It originally aired on 12 October 1989.
"The Queen of Spain's Beard" is the fourth episode of the BBC historical sitcom The Black Adder, the first serial in the Blackadder series. Set in late 15th-century England, the episode parodies the practice of political marriages between the royal houses of Europe which characterised European politics during the Middle Ages. Its bawdy humour also deals with taboos surrounding premarital sex, gay stereotypes and the practice of child marriage.
Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil to the lead character. Each series of Blackadder is set in a different period in British history, and each Baldrick character is a descendant of the Baldrick from the preceding series. Just as Blackadder exists in many incarnations throughout the ages, so does Baldrick; whenever there is a Blackadder there is a Baldrick serving him. They are all portrayed by Sir Tony Robinson.
