Other Doctor Lives: Blackadder: Series 2, Episode 3 – “Potato” (1986)

For today’s Other Doctor Lives, we’re going classic Who! I’ve been rewatching Blackadder, and I’d forgotten that Tom Baker guest-starred in this series 2 episode. Baker really is quite the character, and just like with Four, he brings that certain Bakery quality to everyone he plays.

Edmund Blackadder feels jealous and irritated at the triumphant arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh to Queen Elizabeth’s court. The whole country has explorer fever, and everyone can’t get enough of Sir Walter’s tales of his travels to far-off lands. In a bid for Queenie’s attention, Blackadder announces a sailing expedition of his own, but things don’t quite go as planned.

Series 1 of Blackadder remains kind of the odd one out for the show—while it has some sparks of good humor and hints of what will make it into the show it eventually becomes, it’s not until series 2 that it really comes into itself. In series 2, we trade the doofy Prince Edmund for the sleeker Lord Blackadder, perpetually annoyed by the idiocy around him, hatching cunning plans that often don’t work out. Here, it’s fun to watch him struggle to balance his seething contempt for all the fawning over Sir Walter while still trying to appeal to the explorer-mad Queenie

Speaking of which, Queenie, Nursie, and Lord Melchett are great additions to the show for series 2 as well. I like the new Baldrick and Percy (well, Baldrick is basically Baldrick in any season, but Tim McInnerny is a hoot as the dandified Percy,) but these new characters add something extra. Stephen Fry is especially entertaining as Melchett, whose nonstop sycophancy makes a great foil for Blackadder’s attempts to stay on Queenie’s good side while maintaining his own dignity. In this episode, there’s a great sequence where Melchett shamelessly flatters Queenie for her laughable pirate impression as Blackadder looks on in disgust.

Tom Baker joins the action as Captain Rum, a “bluff old cove with no legs and a beard you could lose a badger in.” Blackadder hires the captain for his ill-conceived expedition, and Rum immediately starts annoying the hell out of Blackadder with his ludicrously-macho notions of seafaring. At the slightest provocation, he exclaims how delicate and feminine the landlubbing Blackadder is. “You have a woman’s hand!” he cries with a gasp as Blackadder offers to shake, which is soon followed with observations about Blackadder’s woman’s purse, mouth, and leg. Each is accompanied by an increasingly-ridiculous anecdote about the sort of things a real man’s hand/purse/mouth/leg has been called on to do on the sea. For instance, Rum bemoans, “I’ll wager that purse has never been used as a rowing boat” to escape a capsizing ship. As Blackadder, Rowan Atkinson’s threadbare annoyance is excellent in response to Rum’s kooky antics.

Baker is in prime Baker mode here, combining his overdramatic, plummy line delivery with his wild-eyed mugging. It’s a definite shtick, but it works for him, and it fits well into the overall style of the show—part of what makes Blackadder’s even-heeled sarcasm so delightful is the over-the-top silliness of those around him.

I will note that, in rewatching Blackadder, the uglier parts of the humor are standing out to me a lot more. This episode doesn’t rely as much on homophobic, misogynistic, or xenophobic jokes as some do, but it does demonstrate the show’s wild abandon for having ablebodied characters mockingly play characters with disabilities. Captain Rum being “legless” isn’t just a reference to his drinking; he’s a double amputee, a fact which is revealed in a tacky sight gag. Part of this brand of humor for the show is about leaning into the unenlightened attitudes of the historical periods in which it’s set, but it’s also about using those historical periods as “permission” to make as many of those kinds of jokes as they want.

Accent Watch

Baker’s usual voice, a rather resonant RP.

Recommend?

In General – I would, with a caveat that the show is very much a product of its time and that some of the humor is regrettably offensive.

Tom Baker – I think so. It’s a quick, silly part, but it’s highly-entertaining, and Baker looks to be having a lot of fun doing it.

Warnings

Gross-out humor, sexual references, language, drinking, offensive humor, and an ablebodied actor playing a character with a disability.

Blackadder (1983, 1986-1989, 1999)

 

I didn’t take to Blackadder until my second try.  The first series of this historical Britcom is far and away its weakest; I made it through maybe two episodes before giving it up as not worth my time.  It wasn’t until I got into Fry & Laurie in a big way that I saw anything from later series, and that made all the difference.

 

This inventive comedy takes the same basic character templates – unscrupulous Blackadder, dull-headed Baldrick, exuberant George, etc. – and places them in different periods of English history over the course of the show.  So, we get Middle Ages Blackadder, Elizabethan Blackadder, Regency Blackadder, and World War I Blackadder, with a few detours to other eras for specials.  There’s a little reshuffling, but the cast largely remains the same across the seasons. 

 

Like I said, series 1 is mostly forgettable.  The show was still finding its footing, and it hadn’t yet hit on Blackadder’s foxlike conniving and imperious attitude.  Rather, he’s just a hapless dope like fellow characters Baldrick and Percy, and it all feels really unspecific.  Series 2 through 4, however, are definitely Blackadder, offering up some fun historical satire, hilarious dialogue, and terrific acting.

 

The assorted historical backdrops are what set Blackadder apart from many comedies.  The show mines its different eras for humorous potential, taking advantage of fads, fashions, and conventions of the day for each series.  Over the ages, it skewers topics as varied as medicinal leeches, the French Revolution, and flyboys.  Even the first series is at its most successful in this aspect – there’s a witch hunt that’s an absolute scream. 

 

And then, there’s the cracking dialogue.  The series thrives on insult comedy, and it’s always a pleasure to listen to the intricate diatribes the sharp-tongued Blackadder lets loose on his dimwitted friends.  Lest I spend four posts worth cataloguing favorite lines, I’ll limit myself to one:  “You wouldn’t see a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing ‘Subtle plans are here again.’”

 

In addition to the always-great Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, other regulars include Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder (hard to believe he’s the same guy who does Mr. Bean,) Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny.  Also, Miranda Richardson is a delight as Queen Elizabeth in series 2, and she makes guest appearances in later seasons as well.

 

If I had to pick a favorite era of the show, I’d go with series 4’s World War I setting.  I’m not sure that it’s necessarily the strongest overall, but the gallows humor is excellent and the satire is particularly biting (not to mention, it’s the only series in which both Fry and Laurie are featured prominently throughout the whole thing.)  And after all the fantastic comedy of the first five episodes, the finale has a lot of genuine heart and emotion.  Just all-around great television.

 

Warnings

 

Swearing, sexual language and references, smoking, drinking, some exaggerated violence, and gross-out humor.