Blackadder

Edmund, the mostly forgotten son of Richard Duke of York, oversleeps and arrives late for the Battle of Bosworth. After accidently cutting off the head of Richard III and saving the life of the opposition leader Henry Tudor, he finds himself installed as the Duke of Edinburgh. In a bid to be taken more seriously, he changes his name to The Black Adder, and a legend is born.

The supreme commander of the King's army, Lord Dougal McAngus, arrives home early from the crusades and is awarded Blackadder's Scottish lands as a reward for his bravery in battle. Enraged, Blackadder hatches a plot for revenge, but soon changes his mind when McAngus offers him documents showing that Harry is illegitimate.

The King has murdered three successive Archbishops of Canterbury so Blackadder is understandably terrified when he is the next appointment. Determined not to be the next prelate to be brutally slain in a freak accident, he brilliantly persuades a rich nobleman to donate all his lands to the King and not the Church. However, the King accidentally orders Blackadder's murder anyway.

It is a time of wars and political upheaval, and the King decides to make an alliance between England and Spain by marrying Blackadder to the Spanish Infanta. Blackadder is keen to end his appalling run of luck with women, that is until he meets the Infanta. His schemes to thwart the marriage all fail, until news comes of a new alliance between France and Switzerland.

It is a time of plague and omens in the kingdom. In this atmosphere of paranoia, the Witchsmeller Pursuivant is called to court, to sniff out the chief witch and bring an end to the country's bad luck. Inconveniently, the Witchsmeller decides that Edmund is the Chief Witch, and that Percy and Baldrick have something a bit witchy about them, too.

Blackadder decides that he can wait no longer to seize his destiny. He sets out to recruit the six most evil men in the Kingdom - The Black Seal - to help him take control of the country. His plans are thwarted by the arrival of his oldest enemy: the Hawk. This implacable foe throws Edmund into a dungeon and goes off to take over the kingdom himself.