"Duel and Duality" | |
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Blackadder episode | |
The duelling theme of the episode is illustrated by the titlecard artwork.
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Episode no. |
Series 3 (Blackadder the Third) Episode 6 |
Directed by | Mandie Fletcher |
Written by |
Ben Elton Richard Curtis |
Original air date | 22 October 1987 |
Guest appearance(s) | |
Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington |
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Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington
Gertan Klauber as King George III
"Duel and Duality" is the sixth and final episode of the third series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.
Prince George has finally had a sexual encounter, but to Blackadder's astonishment, it emerges that it was with the two nieces of the Duke of Wellington (Stephen Fry). Blackadder warns the Prince that Wellington has always threatened to kill any who take sexual advantage of his relations. The Prince believes that "Big Nose" Wellington will not find out because he is still fighting in Spain against Napoleon Bonaparte. Unfortunately, Blackadder informs George that Wellington triumphed six months ago and the Prince soon receives a message that shows the Duke's intentions of challenging him to a duel. Horrified, the Prince enlists Blackadder's help and Baldrick suggests that the Prince finds someone else to take his place, as Wellington does not know what the Prince looks like. Blackadder prompts Baldrick to answer the Prince's objection that his face is known due to portraits hanging on every wall. Baldrick replies that his cousin (who serves as Thomas Gainsborough's butler's dogsbody) told him that all portraits looked the same these days, because they were "painted to a romantic ideal rather than the true depiction of the idiosyncratic facial qualities of the person in question". In a second reply, Baldrick suggests Blackadder as the one to fight the duel. Edmund is not keen on the idea, threatening to cut Baldrick into long strips and claim that he walked over a very sharp cattle grid wearing an extremely heavy hat, but realises that his mad Scottish cousin MacAdder (also played by Rowan Atkinson), who has come down to London, could take his place.