"Blackadder the Third"
Duel and Duality (1987)

Director:

Mandie Fletcher

Writers:

Richard Curtis (written by) &
Ben Elton (written by)

TV Series:

"Blackadder the Third" (1987)

Original Air Date:

22 October 1987 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Blackadder's militant cousin McAdder arrives in London as the Prince Regent seduces some relatives of the fiery Duke of Wellington.

Plot Keywords:

Cult Favorite | Cunning Plan | Role Reversal | 1700s | 1790s

Cast

Rowan Atkinson	...	Edmund Blackadder / Mad McAdder
Tony Robinson	...	Baldrick
Hugh Laurie	...	The Prince Regent
Helen Atkinson-Wood	...	Mrs. Miggins
Stephen Fry	...	The Duke of Wellington
Gertan Klauber	...	King George III

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Goofs:

Factual errors: Although King George III of Great Britain was also Elector (later king) of Hanover, he was more British than German. George probably spoke English without an accent since he was born in England and never visited Germany.

Quotes:

Prince George: I spent a night of ecstasy with a pair of Wellingtons and I loved it.

A good close to a good series - "Duel and Duality" delivers.

Another series of Blackadder comes to a close at last. It has had its generally great moments, hilarious lines, and great new characters, but the best one-episode-only character in Series 3 must have been Stephen Fry's Duke of Wellington in this - he was absolutely hilarious and hugely vicious - the most memorable one-off character of Blackadder so far. Blackadder at last gets a taste of glory, whereas the Prince feels how it is like to be down in the dumps - another great scenario. The duel at the end is pretty scrawny, and should have been far more epic and meaningful, but like I have said about 50 times - this is light-hearted comedy. McAdder's Scottish accent was pretty convincing - not as good and cheesy as Mel Gibson's in Braveheart, but good enough. His quick appearance in the film was pretty good. The plot is once again predictable, but they all are, and as long as the episode itself is good, that is all that matters. This episode is a worthy close to the series - not quite a ten-star job because it spent so much time repeating the same scenarios, but good enough for me to say that this series has stayed strong throughout, and is worthy of the name "Blackadder". A great and hilarious episode. 9/10

But Blackadder will reach its best with Series 4 - that was easily the best series of them all. I hope to have my Series 4 comments ready soon - and they will be very much better than these. Blackadder Goes Forth is the best - I always watch it, and shall enjoy watching it over and over again. Watch your screens for more!