Black Adder The Third

• Cert:
• Cat.no: BBCDVD 1039
• Running time: 176 minutes
• Year: 1987
• Pressing: 2000
• Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
• Chapters: 36 plus extras
• Sound: Stereo
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-enhanced: No
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: None
  

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  Director:

  Mandie Fletcher

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Mr Blackadder: Rowan Atkinson
Baldrick: Tony Robinson
Prince Regent: Hugh Laurie
Mrs Miggins: Helen Atkinson-Wood

If I was to say that Black Adder The Thirdwas the third series of Black Adder, that may throw up no surprises foranyone. Now entering the Regency period (1760-1815), Edmund Blackadder (RowanAtkinson) is accompanied once again by his dimwitted servant Baldrick(Tony Robinson) and both serve under the “thick as a whale omelette”Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie), with occasional interruptions from MrsMiggins (Helen Atkinson-Wood).

Six more episodes are presented, starting with Dish and Dishonesty wherethe new Prime Minister Pitt The Younger (Simon Osborne) wants thePrince Regent out and the only way out is to control the single-voter consistuency of Dunny-on-the-Wold is to make Baldrick its MP, but he’ll havesome competition from Pitt The Even Younger; Ink and Incapability findsthe arrival of Doctor Johnson (Robbie Coltrane) with his manuscript fora new tome entitled, the dictionary. However, a slight accident involving fireleaves Edmund with the unenviable task of rewriting the entire work; andin the Nob and Nobility the French Revolution brings about The ScarletPimpernel and two poncy aristocrats (Tim McInnery and Nigel Planer)to the Prince’s side, much to Edmund’s disgust.

Sense and Senility is the episode where anarchists are out to kill thePrince, so a couple of idiotic actors are hired to help out, but beware ofmentioning the real name of “the Scottish play”, that is Macbeth. In Amyand Amiability, the Prince must marry for financial conveniencebut when everything goes all to cock, Edmund changes career to become ahighwayman with Baldrick as his horse; and in Duel and Duality afterthe Prince has slept with the Duke of Wellington’s two nieces, it is Black Adderwho finds himself in a duel in place of his master.

The picture is better than the first two discs, with a few scratches on theprint from time to time but nothing major. It’s presented in its originalfullscreen ratio and the average bitrate falls between 5.5-6.0Mb/s,depending on which episode you’re watching. The soundtrack is in stereothis time, but again it’s purely functional, giving clear dialogue.

36 chapters spread out the series, the menus have some animation showingclips from the episodes but only the main one has the theme tune, whileEnglish-only applies to both the dialogue and subtitles.

As with the second series, there are no extras, but it’s still worth£19.99 for the full series.