Amazon.com reviews for
"Blackadder the Third" (1987)

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Black Adder Series 3 Part 2 (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: Part two of this third Black Adder series features the great "Sense and Senility," in which the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie), for whom Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is butler, takes in a pair of actors as a show of cultural strength--and Edmund sets a trap to get them removed. Also in this collection are "Amy and Amiability," in which the prince is broke and can't marry (meaning that Edmund can't get on with his life, either), and "Duel and Duality," in which a duel between the Duke of Wellington and the prince has far-reaching consequences. Costarring Tony Robinson as Baldrick. This is a particularly strong collection, a must for Black Adder fans. --Tom Keogh

Complete Black Adder (8pc) (vhs):

Amazon.com Essentials: One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Bean triumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury--a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch smellers (who root out spell makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favor from mad Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund--as with his ancestor--can never quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson, Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger. With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is a career Army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. No small mention can be made of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny. --Tom Keogh

Black Adder Series 3, Part 1 (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: The Black Adder saga makes a leap to the late 18th century and Regency England. A little less fortunate this time out, the new incarnation of Edmund Blackadder is now a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly farcical performance). Of course, there's another Baldrick (Tony Robinson) around, and of course, he's far below Edmund on the food chain of life. This collection includes "Dish and Dishonesty," in which Edmund helps the prince out of bankruptcy in order to retain his own cushy job; "Ink and Incapability," in which Samuel Johnson seeks patronage from the prince for his dictionary only to meet (temporary) resistance from Edmund; and "Nob and Nobility," in which Edmund's weariness with things French runs contrary to the spirit of "Scarlet Pimpernalia" running through England. Now at its creative peak with this third series, Black Adder deserves to be considered a television classic. --Tom Keogh