Mrs. Miggins

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Mrs. Miggins is a fictional character from the second and third seasons of the television series Blackadder, played by Helen Atkinson-Wood.

[edit] Blackadder II

Blackadder character
Mrs. Miggins
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	{{{occupation}}}
First appearance	Bells
Last appearance	Beer
Episode count	?
Played by	no-one, as she is never actually seen

In series two, Mrs. Miggins is the proprietor of a Pie Shop. She is often mentioned but never seen. Percy claims that she is "Bed-ridden from the nose down". It was also revealed that she planned to celebrate the return of Sir Walter Raleigh by making a commemorative pie in the shape of a giant pie, prompting Lord Blackadder to remark, "What an imagination the woman has." Blackadder claims the cost of a 'slap up binge' at Mrs. Miggins' is three pence. She was effectively nothing but an unseen running gag.

[edit] Blackadder the Third

Blackadder character
Mrs. Miggins
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	{{{occupation}}}
First appearance	Dish and Dishonesty
Last appearance	Duel and Duality
Episode count	6
Played by	Helen Atkinson-Wood

In series three we meet her descendant, who now owns a coffee shop. Mr Blackadder is a regular visitor here, despite referring to her coffee as brown grit in hot water, and she in return regularly pops in to deliver buns to the royal kitchen. Mrs Miggins' coffee shop tends to move with the times and is generally inhabited by whichever group are 'in' at that moment in time, be it actors, poets etc. The customers tend to reflect the theme of the episode. Like her Elizabethan ancestor, Mrs Miggins also sells pies, although in an episode revolving around the French revolution she briefly stops selling pies and offers Chicken Pimpernel in a Scarlet sauce, Scarlet Chicken in a Pimpernel sauce or huge suspicious looking sausage in a Scarlet Pimpernel sauce. The Shop is also a favourite visiting spot for celebrities such as famous actors Mossop and Keanrick, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Samuel Johnson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Mrs. Miggins displayed a level of affection for Blackadder, although it was often returned with cold hearted abuse. In one episode she sobs "I'd always hoped that you'd settle down and marry me, and that, together we might await the slither of tiny Adders" To this outpouring of emotion, Blackadder responds "If we were the last three humans on earth, I'd be trying to start a family with Baldrick!". In another scene where she jokingly calls Blackadder "only a little butler" Blackadder laughingly retorts "They do say, Mrs M, that verbal insults hurt more than physical pain.... They are, of course, wrong, as you will soon discover when I jam this toasting fork in your head."

Prince George never visits the coffee shop during the series, and only sees her when he is disguised as Blackadder in the palace's kitchen, where she makes insulting remarks about his intelligence, or lack thereof.

Mrs Miggins left the coffee shop in the final episode of series three to pursue a relationship with Blackadder's mad Scottish cousin McAdder. She was impressed by his skill with his 'claymore' (which she later discovers is a type of sword) and his ability to make her a set of wooden teeth. Though her fate is not known, McAdder claimed that she would have to battle his wife Morag in the old highland way - bare breasted and each carrying an eight pound baby. However, McAdder added that he looked forward to burying her in the Highland manner - cynics would suggest this indicates that Morag would probably slay Mrs Miggins during the fight, while the more romantically inclined will prefer to believe McAdder referred to burying her after spending the rest of her life with him.

There is one last mention of this character in the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth. When trying to pass the time before the final 'big push', Lieutenant George suggests singing songs, and refers to one called "Whoops, Mrs. Miggins, You're Sitting On My Artichokes." Whether this character was descended or related to the others, and whether she was real or made up, was never said.