Blackadder

Pitt the Younger has just been elected Prime Minister. His priorities are war with France, tougher sentences for geography teachers and a right royal kick up the Prince's backside. But he hasn't counted on the Prince's wily butler, E. Blackadder Esq. To stop Parliament from voting away all George's money, Blackadder hatches a fiendish plan.

Prince George decides he needs to shake off his reputation as England's greatest thicky, so he agrees to patronise Dr Johnson's new dictionary. Unfortunately, Baldrick doesn't recognise the infinite value of the manuscript, which took the finest mind in England 10 years to complete, and he throws it on the fire.

Everyone in Britain is mad with admiration for the Scarlet Pimpernel, who has been bravely rescuing French aristocrats from the clutches of evil revolutionaries. The scornful Blackadder accepts a bet from the foppish lords Smedley and Topper that he can rescue an aristo himself. But actually going to France would be insanely dangerous, so Blackadder opts for an alternative solution.

The Prince is understandably worried about his popularity after an anarchist throws a bomb at him. He agrees to recite a brilliant speech by Blackadder and decides that he wants his two favourite actors, Mr David Keanrick and Mr Enoch Mossop, to coach him. But things take a turn for the worse when Baldrick overhears the actors plotting against the Prince.

As ever, the Prince is terminally short of cash, so he is persuaded to marry the fantastically wealthy heiress, Miss Amy Hardwood. Having wooed her heart for the Prince with a lot of drippy poetry, Blackadder is disgusted to learn that the Hardwoods have been lying about their fortunes from industry, and in fact have been living off lard butties for five years.

The Duke of Wellington challenges the Prince to a duel after the latter made sexual advances to the Duke's nieces. Blackadder agrees to fight the Duke in the Prince's place, in exchange for the Prince's entire fortune, an amusing clock and a stack of French erotica. When a plan for his mad Scottish cousin to take his place falls through, Blackadder must face the duel himself.