In 1648, King Charles was in flight from the wrath of Cromwell and his Roundheads. Only two men remained faithful, risking certain death by their fidelity to the crown. One was the sole descendent of a great historical English dynasty — his name, Sir Edmund Blackadder. The other was the sole descendent of an unfortunate meeting between a pig-farmer and a bearded lady. History has, quite rightly, forgotten his name.
A fifteen-minute special made for Comic Relief, it focuses on Sir Edmund Blackadder, a seventeenth-century member of the family and follower of the Royalist cause. With the English Civil War lost, Sir Edmund, as a known Cavalier, along with his ever-faithful/eternally-put-upon dogsbody Baldrick must find a way to keep the defeated King Charles I alive and simultaneously keep his own head on his shoulders.
Tropes
- Artistic License – History:
- Charles I gives Blackadder custody of his infant son and heir, the future Charles II. Historically, Charles II was 19 and had long since fled to the continent by the time his father was executed.
- Blackadder laments being on the wrong side of the only civil war in English history. There had actually been a couple of prior ones — the Anarchy in the mid-twelfth century and the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century. The latter, of course, had served as the basis for the first Blackadder series.
- Brick Joke: When Blackadder hears Baldrick's cunning plan to save King Charles (namely balancing a pumpkin on the King's head and cutting that off), he rather accurately says that when he holds it up and shouts "This is the head of a traitor", the crowd will likely yell back "No, it's not! It's a large pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it!". When Blackadder later has to use the plan (rather than explain to the King that he only showed up to rob Charles blind before the execution), three guesses what the crowd shouts out?
- Call-Back: In the Elizabethan episode "Head", Baldrick moonlighted as the executioner. His Civil War descendant applies for, and gets, the same job.
- Cue the Flying Pigs: Blackadder assures Charles that the Roundheads will never find a man willing to execute him. "And if they do, may my conjugal dipstick turn into a tennis racquet." Moments later, they receive a message. After Blackadder reads it, he drops the orange he was holding, which bounces back into his hand.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Played for laughs when Stephen Fry plays the king like a modern media-friendly royal instead of the kind of man who would stubbornly rule as an absolutist monarch to the point of starting a civil war.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Averted. Initially, Blackadder is appalled Baldrick took the job of beheading the King, but abruptly changes his mind when he discovers how much he's being paid to do it.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Blackadder has a moment when he discovers Parliament has found an executioner for King Charles I.Blackadder: I just don't understand it. Where on Earth did they find a man so utterly without heart and soul, so low and degraded as to accept the job of beheading the King of England?! [his own words sink in] Baldrick?
- Fate Worse than Death: How Blackadder sees the prospect of living in Puritan England.Blackadder: We will enter a hideous age of Puritanism. They'll close all the theatres, lace handkerchiefs for men will be illegal, and I won't be able to find a friendly face to sit on this side of Boulogne.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Blackadder considers Baldrick's singing this, complaining it's making his already bad situation worse.Baldrick: [singing] "There's a tavern in the town, IN THE TOWN-!"Blackadder: For God's sake, Baldrick, stop that! It’s bad enough having one’s life in utter ruins without being serenaded by a moron with all the entertainment value of a tap-dancing oyster!
- Last Stand: At the end, with Blackadder Hall surrounded by Roundhead soldiers commanded by Oliver Cromwell himself, it seems that Sir Edmund will go out with one of these, since it's what a man of honour would do. Of course, being a Blackadder, he never had any honour to begin with...Blackadder: At times like this, Baldrick, there is no choice for a man of honour. He must stand and fight and die in defence of his future sovereign. Fortunately, I am NOT a man of honour. [Blackadder tosses the baby to Baldrick, then pulls off his fake beard and wig to reveal a blond, clean-shaven face; he now looks like a Roundhead. At that moment, Cromwell bursts in] Thank God you've come! [points to Baldrick] Seize the Royalist scum!
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Stephen Fry's performance as Charles I is basically a Prince Charles impression.
- Noodle Implements: This exchange after Blackadder realises Baldrick might have taken the job of beheading King Charles (see Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! above)...Blackadder: Baldrick? That little job that fell into your lap, it wasn't, by any chance, something to do with an axe, a basket, a little black mask, and the King of England?Baldrick: No...Blackadder: Go on.Baldrick: I couldn't find a basket.
- One I Prepared Earlier: Said by Baldrick when he explains his plan to save King Charles by making a fake head using a pumpkin.
- Upper-Class Twit: King Charles I (as played by Stephen Fry) is very much this.
