Chains (Blackadder)
Encyclopedia
"Chains" is the final episode of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 sitcom Blackadder II
Blackadder II
Blackadder II is the second series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 9 January 1986 to 20 February 1986...

, the second series of Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...

, which was set in Elizabethan England
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...

 from 1558 to 1603. Power-mad and self-professed "master of disguise", Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
Prince Ludwig the Indestructible is a fictional character played by Hugh Laurie in the BBC sitcom Blackadder II. He appears in "Chains", the final episode of Blackadder II, as a German master of disguise who kidnaps Lord Blackadder and Lord Melchett, in 1566 and imprisons them in his dungeon under...

 kidnaps Lord Blackadder
Lord Blackadder
Edmund Blackadder, Lord Blackadder is the main character in the second series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder. He is played by Rowan Atkinson.The second series is set in Elizabethan England, and Edmund is a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I...

 and Lord Melchett. They escape his clutches but Prince Ludwig infiltrates the palace during a fancy dress ball.

Plot

Blackadder and Melchett are kidnapped by the Spaniards and held for ransom
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...

. Blackadder does not speak Spanish, so he and the Spanish torturer engage in a lengthy game of charades
Charades
Charades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to...

 to determine the exact threats and mode of torture ("If I admit that I'm...head-over-heels in love...with Satan and all his little wizards, then you will...remove my testicles with a blunt instrument [which he learns moments later is a scythe]...and roast them over a large fire." "Si! Si!"). Prince Ludwig the Indestructible, a German pretender to the throne who mispronounces English words, interrupts just as the torturer is about to get started on Edmund; when Edmund does not recognise him, Ludwig reveals that he was once disguised as Big Sally, a waitress at The Old Pizzle in Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

. Edmund is horrified: "But I went to bed with you, didn't I?"

Lord Melchett is dragged in screaming. Melchett does not recognise Ludwig, until Ludwig tells him that he once impersonated Flossie, a sheep at a monastery in Cornwall. Melchett is aghast: "But didn't we...?"

Queenie
Queenie
"Queenie" is a caricature of the historical figure Queen Elizabeth I of England, played by Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II, the second series of the BBC historical sitcom Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England...

 replies that she has decided to spend the requested ransom money on "a big party." Ludwig agrees to imprison them for life instead of killing them in exchange for information on how to get into the palace
Richmond Palace
Richmond Palace was a Thameside royal residence on the right bank of the river, upstream of the Palace of Westminster, to which it lay 9 miles SW of as the crow flies. It it was erected c. 1501 within the royal manor of Sheen, by Henry VII of England, formerly known by his title Earl of Richmond,...

 during the costume party. When he leaves, Blackadder and Melchett escape and make their way back to England, arriving just in time for the party. Queenie is dressed as Henry VIII, while Baldrick
Baldrick
Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil to the lead character...

 is a pencil case. Edmund promptly stabs "Nursie", who is revealed to be Prince Ludwig masquerading as Nursie dressed as a cow, Ludwig however is still alive and leaves, swearing revenge. Blackadder throws a dagger at him stating "you will die and be buried". Every one asks how Blackadder knew the cow was Ludwig. Blackadder explains that Ludwig was a master of disguise while Nursie is a "sad, insane old woman with an udder fixation". Everyone then asks if Blackadder missed them. He tells Percy he wished it was him who was being tortured instead. To Baldrick he says he was not missed at all, and as for the Queen, he states that life without her is like "a broken pencil"; she asks him to explain, and he replies "pointless".

After the credits, we see that Blackadder has been murdered by a surprise attack, along with Baldrick, Percy, Queenie, Melchett and Nursie. Ludwig stands over the corpses disguised as Queenie and holding a blood-soaked dagger. He claims that impersonating Queenie is a role he will enjoy...if he can "just get the voice right."

Cast

  • Rowan Atkinson
    Rowan Atkinson
    Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...

     as Lord Edmund Blackadder
  • Hugh Laurie
    Hugh Laurie
    James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...

     as Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
    Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
    Prince Ludwig the Indestructible is a fictional character played by Hugh Laurie in the BBC sitcom Blackadder II. He appears in "Chains", the final episode of Blackadder II, as a German master of disguise who kidnaps Lord Blackadder and Lord Melchett, in 1566 and imprisons them in his dungeon under...

  • Stephen Fry
    Stephen Fry
    Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

     as Lord Melchett
    Melchett
    Melchett is a family line of fictional characters appearing in the British television sitcom series Blackadder, played by Stephen Fry. There were two main Melchetts: Lord Melchett and General Melchett.- Blackadder II :...

  • Tim McInnerny
    Tim McInnerny
    Tim McInnerny is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth...

     as Lord Percy Percy
    Lord Percy Percy
    Lord Percy Percy is the name given to a pair of related fictional characters, played by Tim McInnerny, in the first two series of the popular British sitcom Blackadder. The Lord Percy of Blackadder II is the descendant of that seen in The Black Adder...

  • Tony Robinson
    Tony Robinson
    Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...

     as Baldrick
    Baldrick
    Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil to the lead character...

  • Miranda Richardson
    Miranda Richardson
    Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....

     as Queen Elizibeth I
    Queenie
    "Queenie" is a caricature of the historical figure Queen Elizabeth I of England, played by Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II, the second series of the BBC historical sitcom Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England...

  • Patsy Byrne
    Patsy Byrne
    Patsy Byrne is an English actress.-Biography:She was educated at Ashford School for Girls, and attended the school around the same time as Lorna Fendall, and Joanna Brough, daughter of Arthur Brough...

     as Nursie
    Nursie
    Nursie is a fictional character in the second series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder II. She was played by Patsy Byrne and appeared in all six episodes. She also appeared in two of the Blackadder specials; Blackadder's Christmas Carol and Blackadder: Back & Forth...

  • Max Harvey as the Torturer
  • Mark Arden
    Mark Arden
    Mark Arden is an English comedian and actor, best known for being one half of comic double act "The Oblivion Boys" with Stephen Frost....

     as the 1st Guard
  • Lee Cornes
    Lee Cornes
    Lee Cornes is a British actor.He appeared in three series of Blackadder, as a talking extra, in two episodes of The Young Ones and in the TV show Bottom, as barman, 'Dick Head'. He made an appearance in the first episode of Filthy, Rich & Catflap as a binman. He also starred in children's drama...

    as the 2nd Guard
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