Head (Blackadder)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Head
Series =Blackadder II


Caption = Farrow's wife
Airdate = 16/01/1986
Writer = Ben Elton
Richard Curtis
Director = Mandie Fletcher
Guests = Holly de Jong
Bill Wallis
Linda Polan
Patrick Duncan
Season = 2
Episode = 2
Prev = Bells
Next = Potato

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

Plot

Blackadder is attempting to teach Baldrick the basic concepts of addition when he is appointed Lord High Executioner and Minister for Religious Genocide. To give himself a long weekend, he moves up the date of execution for Lord Farrow (From Wednesday to Monday), but when the Queen allows Farrow's wife to visit her husband in prison before his originally scheduled execution, Blackadder has to pretend to be Farrow, disguising himself with a bag over his head. When the Queen then decides to pardon Farrow, it looks bleak for Blackadder. Fortunately, after searching for Farrow's head in Traitor's Cloister, Lord Percy informs Blackadder that the head wasn't Farrow's and Baldrick hadn't killed Farrow, but another man named Ponsonby. Blackadder remembers that the Queen had gone to the prison area to visit Ponsonby before he 'will' be executed. The credits begin after Blackadder is seen pretending to be Ponsonby in front of the Queen with a bag on his head.

Trivia

*"Head" and "Bells" were shown in the wrong order, Percy has a beard in "Bells" but shaves it off, however in "Head" he has a beard again. Also, the song during the end credits of Head re-cap the final events of the previous series and set the scene for Blackadder II, which would be more appropriate at the beginning of the series.
*When Blackadder writes the execution schedule, he mentions Sir Francis Drake.
*Later in the episode, when Queenie professes her fondness for Blackadder, he replies "As you were fond of Essex...right up until you had his head cut off."
*The unique locations of this episode were the dungeon and Traitor's Cloister, where the heads of prisoners were displayed.
* It is revealed that Blackadder is 30 years old.

Music

As with all the episodes in this season, there is a distinct song sung describing the story in that particular episode. In this episode, it goes:: His great-grandfather was a king,: Although for only thirty seconds.: When put in charge of beheading,: He felt that fame and glory beckoned.

: Black Adder, Black Adder. No such blooming luck.: Black Adder, Black Adder, Elizabethan shmuck.

: Black Adder, Black Adder. Nothing goes as planned.: Black Adder, Black Adder. Life deals him a bum hand.

See also

*List of Blackadder episodes