Kurt at 12:49, 14 March 2023

2023-03-14T12:49:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:49, 14 March 2023
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	==External links==		==External links==
	~~{{Wikiquote\|Blackadder#Head\|Head}}~~
	* {{BBC episode\|p00bf5gw\|Head}}		* {{BBC episode\|p00bf5gw\|Head}}
	* {{IMDb episode\|0526718}}		* {{IMDb episode\|0526718}}

Kurt at 03:35, 23 November 2022

2022-11-23T03:35:19Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:35, 22 November 2022
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	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=August 2022}}~~
	~~{{Unreferenced\|date=August 2008}}~~
	{{Infobox television episode		{{Infobox television episode
	\| series = [[Blackadder]]		\| series = [[Blackadder]]

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2022-08-19T18:14:29Z

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← Older revision	Revision as of 13:14, 19 August 2022
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en>Dawnseeker2000: date format audit, minor formatting

2022-08-12T09:21:00Z

date format audit, minor formatting

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Unreferenced|date=August 2008}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[Blackadder]]
| image =
| caption =
| series_no = 2
| episode = 2
| director = [[Mandie Fletcher]]
| writer = [[Ben Elton]]<br>[[Richard Curtis]]
| airdate = {{Start date|1986|01|16|df=yes}}
| guests = Holly de Jong<br>[[Bill Wallis]]<br>Linda Polan<br>Patrick Duncan
| prev = [[Bells (Blackadder)|Bells]]
| next = [[Potato (Blackadder)|Potato]]
}}

"'''Head'''" is the second episode of the [[BBC]] period comedy ''[[Blackadder II]]'', the second series of ''[[Blackadder]]'', which was set in [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan England]] from 1558 to 1603.

==Plot==

[[Lord Blackadder|Blackadder]] is attempting to teach [[Baldrick (Blackadder)|Baldrick]] the basic concepts of addition when he is summoned to court, and is informed that the Lord High [[Executioner]] has died, having signed his name on the wrong dotted line and so accidentally ordered his own execution. With the Queen's ongoing persecution against the Catholics, a new Lord High Executioner must be appointed and Melchett has assembled a list of suitable candidates for the job, with only one name on it: Lord Blackadder.

Saddled with a position he sardonically describes as "Minister in charge of Religious Genocide", Blackadder sets about organising the various executions to be carried out, and meets up with his staff: The Jailor Mr. Ploppy, the prison cook Mrs. Ploppy (no relation) and the executioner, revealed to be [[Baldrick]]. To give himself the middle of the week off, he makes a simple change by moving up the date of execution for Lord Farrow from Wednesday to Monday, quipping that Farrow got time off for good behaviour.

However, this simple change goes completely awry when [[Queenie (Blackadder)|the Queen]] allows Farrow's wife to visit her husband in prison on Tuesday, the day before his originally scheduled execution, not aware that he has already been executed. As he is already too late, Blackadder pretends to be Farrow, disguising himself with a bag over his head, as the Queen had given Lady Farrow a death warrant to give to Edmund should he refuse her. He is nearly thwarted, first when he discovers that Farrow had many individual traits, such as a deep voice, being much taller than him, and missing half an arm, and then when Lady Farrow attempts to take the bag off his head. Nevertheless, he manages to go undetected.

Afterward, the Queen decides to pardon Farrow, saying 'He probably is innocent anyway', and everything looks bleak for Blackadder. Deciding that the only way to get around this problem is to pretend that they had been taking Farrow to see the Queen, when he said something traitorous in the hallway, and he and Percy had cut his head off there. Upon searching for the head in Traitor's Cloister, they realise the plan will not work, as the head already looks decomposed. However, Lord Percy notices that the head that Blackadder found on Farrow's spike is not actually Lord Farrow's, but rather that of Lord Ponsonby, another death row inmate whose execution was scheduled for Friday, meaning that Baldrick had killed the wrong man.

Blackadder is relieved, until he remembers that the Queen is on her way to the prison at that very moment to visit Lord Ponsonby, and he hurries there just in time to pretend to be Ponsonby for the Queen, just as he had done with Farrow, despite Ponsonby only having one leg and a speech impediment.

== Cast ==
* [[Rowan Atkinson]] as [[Edmund Blackadder]]
* [[Tim McInnerny]] as [[Lord Percy Percy]]
* [[Tony Robinson]] as [[Baldrick]]
* [[Miranda Richardson]] as Queen [[Elizabeth I]]
* [[Stephen Fry]] as Lord [[Melchett (Blackadder)|Melchett]]
* [[Patsy Byrne]] as [[Nursie]]
* Holly de Jong as Lady Farrow
* [[Bill Wallis]] as Ploppy the [[Prison officer|Gaoler]] (son of Ploppy the Slopper)
* Linda Polan as Mrs. Ploppy
* Patrick Duncan as Earl Farrow

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Blackadder#Head|Head}}
* {{BBC episode|p00bf5gw|Head}}
* {{IMDb episode|0526718}}

{{Blackadder}}

[[Category:Blackadder episodes]]
[[Category:1986 British television episodes]]
[[Category:Television shows written by Ben Elton]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Elizabeth I]]
[[Category:Television shows written by Richard Curtis]]

Head (Blackadder) - Revision history

Kurt at 12:49, 14 March 2023

Kurt at 03:35, 23 November 2022

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Dawnseeker2000: date format audit, minor formatting