Blackadder the Third (1987)

The third incarnation of Blackadder jumped forward to the years leading up to the British Regency period (sometime in the late 18th or early 19th Century), making Edmund the personal butler of the Prince of Wales.

The cast was lessened considerably, to just four regulars, and to compensate the dialogue was given even more importance. There seems to have been a conscious effort to make almost every word of Edmund's have some hilarious snide or sarcastic humour attached to it. He really is an acerbic git.

Baldrick is as important to the show's structure as Blackadder himself, so it's no surprise to see him return.

We finally get to see Mrs Miggins, who, no disrespect to actress Helen Atkinson-Wood, was the only new addition that felt de trop. The character simply didn't get anything noteworthy to do.

The final regular is the son of King George III, the Prince Regent who's also called George, played by Hugh Laurie. Laurie is a natural born comedian. He's utterly believable as the epitome of the thick-as-shit, silver spoon-fed toff; he even managed to make Baldrick look relatively smart.

The Royal setting again enabled critique of the upper class and the monarchy, both of whom deserve all they get. Hurrah!

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each.

3½ turnips out of 5