Born To Be King

In episode 2 of The Black Adder (Born To Be King) we learn that King Richard IV (Brian Blessed) is leaving to go on a Crusade and Prince Harry (Robert East) is to rule as Regent in his absence. Meanwhile, Prince Edmund (The Black Adder, played by Rowan Atkinson) is determined to seize his '...chance for some real power.' We also see a little more of Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and Percy, Duke of Northumberland (Tim McInnerny).

After twelve months of herding sheep, Black Adder is thoroughly miffed, to say the least. At last, we hear news that the King is to return on 6 November, which coincidentally is also the feast of St Leonard. In carving up their duties for the big event, Harry tasks himself with handling the visiting royals, the papal legate and other dignitaries. Edmund on the other hand will attend to the feast's entertainment and the storm drains. As Harry points out, the traditional St Leonard's Day frolics will include morris dancers, bearded women and of course, eunuchs.

Things go from bad to worse during the organisation of the acts. First we see that the bearded woman has shaved off her beard and then the eunuchs cancel. Their replacements are revealed to be a travelling troupe of actors performing Death of a Pharaoh, Jerry Merryweather and his four chickens ('What do they do? Lay eggs?'). Black Adder cancels the Morris dancers himself and at Percy's suggestion they engage the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem, one of whom is a bearded Angus Deaton, wearing a false beard.

Dougal McAngus (played by Alex Norton) soon arrives with news of Richard IV (he last saw him heading into Constantinople armed only with a small fruit knife and in the company of 10,000 Turks). For his part in assisting the king, Harry is disposed to offer McAngus anything he wants. He chooses some small parcels of land, namely Roxburgh and Selkirk. When Black Adder complains that these are in fact his lands and he would be left with just Peebles, McAngus asks for that as well. Thus his fate is sealed...

During his frantic planning for McAngus' death, Black Adder is presented with the first of Baldrick's many cunning plans. This one is to ask McAngus to put his head into a large canon and blow him up. Black Adder declines, coming up with his own, more subtle plan - i.e. to replace the Pharaoh in the play with a Scotsman, to have McAngus play him and to use real knives rather than the fake stage ones.

But, McAngus then comes up with some letters, which he tells Black Adder will prove that Harry is illegitimate and that he, Edmund is in the true heir to Richard's throne. The race is on then to prevent the on stage death of McAngus. This achieved, Edmund reveals the letters to court, just as Richard returns and Angus reveals that it is he, Black Adder, who is illegitimate and not Harry. A duel then ensues during which, as McAngus is about to kill Black Adder, he is persuaded not to by the promise of (amongst other things) Black Adder's collection of wigs. The two become good mates but on the last day of McAngus' stay at the castle a terrible accident occurs with a rather large cannon. Hearing the explosion and fearing that it is the drains, Harry rushes off to find his plunger...