Nob and Nobility
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| Blackadder Episode | |
| Nob and Nobility | |
 Le Comte du Frou Frou and Mrs Miggin's specialty, Willy du Jour |
|
|---|---|
| Air date | 01/10/1987 |
| Writer(s) | Ben Elton, Richard Curtis |
| Director | |
| Guest star(s) | Tim McInnerny |
| ← Prev Ink and Incapability |
Next → Sense and Senility |
Nob and Nobility is an episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Blackadder is disgusted with the English obsession with the Revolution underway in France (London is full of "garlic-chewing whoopsies crying 'ooh la la' and looking for sympathy all the time just because their fathers had their heads cut off"). After Blackadder disparages The Scarlet Pimpernel, two noblemen, Topper and Smedley, bet him a thousand guineas that he can't go to France, rescue an aristocrat and present him at the French Embassy Ball. Blackadder accepts, but instead of actually going to France takes the far safer course of going to Mrs. Miggins' coffee house to find a French aristocrat willing to pretend he's been rescued. Le Comte de Frou Frou agrees, but to pretend he was rescued. Meanwhile a revolutionary (played by Chris Barrie), seizes the Embassy and Blackadder, Frou Frou and Baldrick are captured. They are rescued by Smedley, claiming to be the real Scarlet Pimpernel, whom Blackadder accidentally poisons. Frou Frou also manages to escape, and they all manage to make it home. Frou Frou then reveals himself to be Topper in disguise, and almost exposes Blackadder's treachery, however he is poisoned by Blackadder the same way as Smedley. Blackadder convinces Prince that he is The Scarlet Pimpernel, and collects an "enormous postal order".
[edit] Significance
This is one of the few episodes in which Blackadder actually comes out on top. He has escaped from the French anarchists, poisoned two fellow Englishmen without being caught, and actually manages to claim his reward.
[edit] Trivia
- This episode is no longer aired due to a dispute over the rights to the use of the "Scarlet Pimpernel" name, though it is available on the video and DVD versions.[1] This is not actually true in the UK, it is broadcasted on UKTV Gold regularly.
- This was the only occasion Tim McInnerny makes an appearance other than as a regular character.
- There is a line cut from video and DVD releases, and often from television repeats. Baldrick talks about the Scarlet Pimpernel, saying "They seek him here, they seek him there, the Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in Heaven? Is he in Hell?..." and Blackadder chips in with "...and what's that revolting garlic smell?" The line is intact on the BBC Radio version, which rebroadcast the audio portions of the episodes, and which has been released on CD.
