Chains was the final episode of Blackadder II and features a dramatic escape from the clutches of a ruthless villain. In this podcast Gerry and Iain consider an unfortunate incident with a sheep in the nighttime and look back on the series.
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The Blackadder II finale featured appearances from Max Harvey as a torturer and Mark Arden and Lee Cornes as soldiers, but it was ultimately about the return of Hugh Lawrie as the master of disguise, Prince Ludwig, along with an expanded role from the wonderful Stephen Fry as series regular Lord Melchett. Melchy and Blackadder are kidnapped by Ludwig and with the Queen unable to choose which to random, must escape from captivity on their own wits.
Blackadder II was written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis and all six episodes were directed by Mandie Fletcher. John Lloyd produced the series and Howard Goodall was responsible for the music.
Chains was released in 1986. It is 29 minutes long and originally aired on the BBC. Blackadder II can be viewed on Netflix in the UK and Ireland and a remastered set of the whole series is available on DVD around the world (Region 1) (Region 2).
Great podcast as always Gerry & Iain! Love this episode, especially Percy! Love it when the Queen asks him to “play a while to calm my spirits” and he puts his instrument down and starts playing playground games! Great trivia from Stephen Fry’s commentary too – thank you. Blackadder II is my favourite of all the Blackadder series.
I think I agree with that Sooz. Gerry prefers III, as I recall.
Another good episode, Gerry and Iain. As for the fur coat, my guess (and it is an educated one) is that the coat is intended to be beaver. In Elizabeth’s time, the North American fur trade was opening up and was based on beaver pelts. So the rich fashionable sort would show off their beaver coat. This is the case as late as the Victorian period (Dickens has a reference to a beaver hat that a character is proud of).
The French and the English fought wars for dominance in what is now Canada in particular (but also parts of Eastern US). It’s also why I was born in Canada rather than in a small French town (on my father’s side) or small English/Irish town (on my mother’s side). And that’s your history lesson for the day. ?
Listened to the episode again! It totally is Robbie Coltrane!
It definitely is!
Imprisoned in a commode… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21a0dc9294f39753ce6c79c9e67e79d34d8c31c591517ca133afb209dd9fa756.jpg
Stylish, yet practical.