Ironically Pitt the Younger was one of our best Prime Ministers. He became PM at the age of 24. Everybody thought his administration would only last a few months. It lasted for seventeen years.
He became an MP at 21 - He first attempted to gain the University of Cambridge seat then having lost that got parachuted into a rotten borough a few months later. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer at 23 and PM at 24. He resigned in 1801 but became PM again in 1804 before dying in office in 1806 at the age of just 46.
I love the actor's portrayal of Pitt. The terms are quite right (e.g., Lower Middle-class Yobbo). The speeches are hysterical. Great acting by Hugh Laurie, too.
@@lisakaz35 Yob is backslang for boy, Yobbo of course is just a lengthened version just like the Welsh Boyo. Backslang is thought to have originated in VICTORIAN London and the word Yobbo is not attested prior to 1922! So NO....The terms are NOT "quite right" at all - The use of the word "Yobbo" is at least 100 and possibly 140 years too EARLY! - As for Middle Class - That term is first attested in 1745 but probably wasn't common till much later, still I'll give you that one in 1783 which is when Pitt the Younger first became PM.
Ivor Biggun of the Standing At The Back Dressed Stupidly And Looking Stupid Party is a parody of (mainly) the very real Screaming Lord Sutch, of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Geoffrey Mcgivern who plays him was better known at this time as Ford Prefect in the original Hitchhikers' Guide To The Galaxy radio series. Vincent Hanna who interviews him was playing a version of himself, in real life he was a well-known television political correspondent and really did cover by-elections like this.
The 'beach hut in Brighton' referred to is The Royal Pavilion. A lavish building developed for the Prince but sold by Queen Victoria. It is built in a Indian style, with domes and minarets. Worth a look!
“I want you to go back to your kitchen sink, you see & prepare for government!” Is a play on David Steel of the Liberal Party’s overconfident speech round-up at a conference in 1981. He ended his speech with “I want you to go back to your constituencies and prepare for government”
Series 3 was set in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. Also the British prime minister William Pitt the younger had a city in the USA named after him. It's called Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
Vincent Hanna was at the time this was filmed (1987) a prolific political journalist in the UK synonymous with elections. Sadly he died before his years in 1997 from heart disease.
You probably know more about this time period than you realise, just that it's set after the American revolutionary war. Prince George's dad (George III) lost the colonies!
It's funny, this is how Brits see Hugh Laurie & House is a brilliant but unusual departure from the norm. Across the pond you know him as a serious actor playing a fairly dark character. It must be a trip seeing his old characters like this. 🤣
I actually think new statesman is a bit much at this point in their British comedy journey. Perhaps one when they are a little further down the rabbit hole.
@@jonathanmorgan1882definitely plenty of relatable humour (I’m a big fan and own it all on dvd, yes dvd!), but sometimes you’ve got to ease into things I think, it’s a bit like going straight from ‘IT crowd’ to ‘jam’ because of Chris morris, too big of a jump! Brainwave overload!
You will love this series. If it helps during this time period George III is considered to be insane. George III's son, Prince George (Hugh Laurie) is playing the Regent, who rules instead of his father at times when George III cannot rule. This is the period when George III lost the United States and The French Revolution also happened.
This is the period when George III lost the United States and The French Revolution also happened. As always Blackadder plays very loose with historical dates - William Pitt the Younger became PM in 1783 but George didn't become Prince Regent till 1811, he was only 20/21 in 1783....2 years younger than the then Chancellor of the Exchequer but soon to become PM!
@@tommcewan7936 Oh I love Blackadder, always have done. My point is that too many people and especially reactors seem not to understand that it takes big liberties with actual history. - The Pitt the Younger joke is a perfect example where I've seen too many American reactors take it as read that Pitt the Younger actually was a 16 year old kid rather than the 24 year old man he was at that time. Yes he was just out of University when he got parachuted into a rotten borough but he wasn't PM at 21 either, that took him another three years :). - This episode conflates Pitt leaving Uni and being parachuted into that rotten borough and him becoming PM. But another issue is that the episode clearly treats George IV {born in August 1762} as being much older than Pitt the Younger when in fact he was three years younger than the PM who was born in May of 1759. - Again, too many people just take Blackadder as historically factual because they don't already know where things are off and don't think to check either.
For any non-UK viewers, the silly candidate is actually a British tradition (and therefore taken seriously). The longstanding one is Screaming Lord Sutch (yes, the one who made records) who stood for the Monster Raving Looney Party. There was also a nod towards this in a Monty Python sketch. He's probably getting on a bit now so I would think the tradition is falling by the wayside..
I really like Blackadder the Third. As you say, there’s a lot going on in this episode and don’t worry, not all the episodes are so historically dense. But to explain a little of the context of what is happening here. ‘Rotten Boroughs’ were absolutely real and came about as the distribution of seats in the House of Commons had not changed for hundreds of years by the early 1800s when this is set. That meant that population movements had not been accounted for resulting in examples like an uninhabited hill called Old Sarum (just one of the rotten boroughs) sending two members to the House of Commons, and a huge city like Manchester sending zero! As the electorates were so tiny in the rotten boroughs they were often entirely beholden to the landowner (there was no secret ballot at the time either) or easily bribed. Rotten boroughs were finally abolished in the Great Reform Act 1832. Prince George is the Prince Regent, who ruled as Regent in place of his father, the King (also called George), who was incapacitated by mental illness at this point. So this is technically between 1811 and 1820. Pitt the Younger was a real Tory Prime Minister, but they play a bit fast and loose here as, although he was startlingly young to be a Prime Minister, he wasn’t a teenager - he was in his early twenties I think - and also he died in 1806, so a little before the exact Regency period (at the young age of 46). There’s some other date mangling in the series, so just think of it as late 1700s/early 1800s.
Hee hee, Old Sarum. Takes me back to A level history. Some pretty mad things going on pre 1832. Wasn't all in the right direction though. Potwalloper boroughs had been reduced for years and the franchise reduced until the Third Reform Act returned the right to all males that existed in some places beforehand for centuries.
Obligatory mention that the Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party is a reference to the actual Monster Raving Looney Party whose platform is completely silly but have had several policies adopted by major parties
Still remember having to rush home on a night to watch this, because if it was missed, it was gone forever 🤣 Same as Red Dwarf, life had to be planned around it.
Pitt the Elder was Prime Minister during the 7 Years War (the North American theatre being the final French and Indian War), Pittsburgh was named for him. They're exaggerating how young Pitt the Younger was, but the top politicians were all really unpopular following the war because they had to pay off the massive war debts through high taxes (everyone was angry with them, not just the 13 colonies). So the next generation of politicians were able to get to the top much younger than normal.
I think the missing element is there was no rival for Edmund this season. Season 2 had Melchitt, Season 4 had Captain Darling, but this one Blackadder pretty much ran the house. That was the other element season 2 and 4 had: someone above him. Blackadder usually has a superior he has to keep happy, Baldrick below him, and a rival in equal standing as him. Even the first season had _those_ elements. George is _technically_ his superior, but he's such a harmless idiot he's more of a second Baldrick. Queenie could have him beheaded, his general could have him shot for insubordination or send him to his certain death. The antogonists were all external in this season.
@@Meritania And ironically probably lived better than all the other three, and held in greater esteem from the rest of London. A butler wasn't just the guy who answered doors and served tea. Not in those days. He ran the house and all the staff, it was more like managing a business with dozens of employees. It was a valued and respected trade. Look at say, Downton Abbey.
For historical context, the Prince regent's father was king George iii, as featured in the movie "the madness of king George" and the musical " Hamilton " btw you *need* to see and react to both of these
Hi guys! Prince George replaces the Lord Percy character in this series but Hugh Laurie's portrayal is pretty much on the money as George both as Prince Regent and as George IV was one of the worst Kings of Britain. He was a spendthrift and a gambler. A drunkard and a glutton and a womaniser. His reign was dogged by scandal. The Standing at the back dressed stupidly party is a reference to Screaming Lord Sutch and the Monster Raving Looney Party. Emma Hamilton was Lord Horatio Nelson's mistress.
Like his father, Laurie rowed at school and university.[7] In 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets[20] coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. He also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.[21] Cambridge lost that year by five feet.[22] During this time, Laurie was training for up to eight hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower.[23] He is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and was a member of the Hermes Club and Hawks' Club.[7]
During series 2, you both mentioned wishing that the program had been used in schools. I know that this episode was shown in England for history lessons during the early 90s at least.
The next episode is a classic, watching Blackadder wind up Dr Samuel Johnson cracks me up every time I see it...and if you're a Harry Potter fan then Dr Johnson is likely to look or at least sound familiar.
You realise the Prince of Wales is Dr. House. You should also look at the tv series Yes Minister, it is a very clever satire exposing how politics works.
Blackadder the Third is my personal favourite, and I think this episode is my top Blackadder episode of all time. King George III does make a brief appearance at the very last episode, though he is not in his best condition - King George III was insane (I think it was discovered more recently that the cause of his mental illness was a liver disorder), which is why his son, the prince regent (so funnily portrayed by Hugh Laurie here) reigns on his father's behalf. The real prince regent was known for spending money and partying like crazy, and he did have a dispute with prime minister Pitt the Younger who did not want prince George to become regent. There's also a 1994 comedy-drama movie called The Madness of King George that portrays the king and his illness, and it stars none other than Nigel Hawthorne of Yes, Minister as the king. Looking forward the see the reactions to the next season III episodes!
First series based in middle evil Britain 2nd series is based in the first Elizabeth era, (1600) 3rd series based in the Georgean era (1700s) 4th series based in first world war Hugh is my favourite in this series playing Prince George of Wales son of king George
The "Rotten Boroughs" were a real thing, many once important towns over time had people move away or had natural disasters that meant they became empty but their adminstrative power remained. For example Dunwich was once the most important port in the East of England, large enough even to be represented in parliament by several ministers. However coastal erosion meant that by the 1700's the town had entirely disappeared beneath the sea with a tiny village now spread along the old road into the town...this didn't prevent several members of parliament being elected due to the towns historic importance by living there and being voted for by handful of fellow people. Other examples existed such as Old Sarum, once a major city with a large cathedral but the bishop moved the people to a new city, Salisbury, in 1226, due to lack of space and little water. Old Sarum continued to deliver a member of parliament even though zero people lived there until 1832, some 600 years after the population had moved out.
What you have to remember is that all of the Blackadder series, although loosely based on history, they are in fact satire/comedy. Take any historic reference with a pinch of salt.
The series gets better as it goes along and you'll see some more of the Blackadder ensemble take part...Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson and even Ben Elton.
This is a close parody of the coverage of general elections in the UK. The man playing the reporter is a real news anchor who was known for covering our elections.
Hiya Spencer and Daniel, I enjoyed this episode, I thought you were going to show the Blackadder episodes on a weekly basis, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England
George III was the Monarch at the time of the American war of Independence and Prince George acted as Regent given George III was mentally unwell at some parts of his reign. Prince Regent went on to be George IV.
I always thought Blackadder 3 was a slight step down from 2, but could never understand why. In hindsight I think it's because the actor Tim McInnerny (who played Percy) wasn't a main character in it. I always felt that his contribution to the Blackadder series was never appreciated. He's brilliant!
I thought that at first, because I didn't know much about the time period. However I now regard the third series as 'the fine wine' of the show it just gets better with age!
I thought that too at first, but I think S3 is the dark horse. It actually has some of my favourite eps even if it wasn't as iconic as 2 and 4. It took me time to appreciate it though, but after learning a bit more about the Georgian period I came to love it.
Series 3 is my favourite. I think the reason is that in Series 2 & 4, no matter how clever Blackadder was or how well thought out his plans were, he had the crazy Queen or General Melchett to override him whereas in Series 3 Prince George was so easily manipulated that Blackadder often ended up winning. (Though not in this episode of course). I think that caused me to enjoy it even more than the others, great though they were. Or maybe I just overanalyse everything!
I agree Percy should have been in it but I do think this series has some of the strongest writing and social commentary in the whole show. It used to be my least favourite but nowadays it’s probably my favourite.
Guys, look up the ‘monster raving looney’ party. You will get an idea of the ‘standing at the back looking stupid’ idea. I remember one election where one of their hilarious policies was to introduce a ‘99p coin’ I always thought that if this episode had been 20 years later, as in filmed 20 years later, they could’ve used David Walliams for that character
Standing in the back party is a nod to a few parties in UK, who just go in the fun. Most memorable being "the monster raving looney party" We get that because literally anyone can set up a party. Just pay the fees.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is named after Willian Pitt the Elder, the father of Pitt the Younger, who were both British Prime Ministers. The Pitt seen in this episode is obviously Pitt the Younger.
This time period is the same (roughly) as the TV series SHARPE... which are all (mostly) up on youtube, star Sean Bean at his best, fighting in the Napoleonic wars, and are well worth adding to your list of shows to react to.
Loved Sharpe. The Author of the original books is one of my favourites. I read all the books the Last Kingdom was based upon and many other books of his.
Last Kingdom's another excellent show, I'm a bit behind on it due to it shifting to a network I don't get, but loved every minute of what I did see. @@KarlXByrne
England might have been rife with corruption and inequality back then, but things were constantly evolving. Over the course of Pitt's leadership, the slave trade was abolished, then slavery altogether and the British began sending out ships to enforce it by freeing any slaves they came across, whilst America (which at times was equally corrupt) wouldn't abolish it for decades. And that is because, while the UK has no written constitution (which means it can be altered and improved upon to reflect the times), the US struggled to keep up with the rest of the world as they treated their Constitution like gospel. That is why you guys still have 200 year old laws - like a law pertaining to militias - which are frankly out of date in a modern society
There may be one or two more things to unpack here than in earlier episodes. The time is a little mixed up and Prime Minister Pitt would not have been quite as young as shown (he was in his early 20s, so the writers just exaggerated his youth) but it does quite a good job of explaining how politics worked at the time and satirising it accordingly. A "rotten borough" was indeed what it is described as ("a constituency where the owner of the land corruptly controls the voter"- also known as a "pocket borough" if it was a powerful family doing it and the voters were larger in number) and it was a time when the legality of which people in society voted was far more restrictive. It was long before there was any such thing as a private vote, which meant that the landowner could see whether you'd backed their candidate or not and as such, the idea of democratic governments being by and for the people- though true as compared to absolutist monarchies elsewhere in Europe at the time- was still, to all intents and purposes, foreign: it was feudalism with certain democratic overtones. The only other thing to add is that Vincent Hanna, the town crier who reports on the the imaginary constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, was played by a real journalist of the same name. He was well known for broadcasting during by-elections and was obviously enough of a good sport to appear on Blackadder and play his own ancestor.
Since there was no secret ballot (the voter publicly announced who they cast their vote for), candidates would ply the voters with beer and food to get them to vote for them (“treating”) - that’s when treating was made illegal, and it still is.
That little dog looks like my little dog, she thinks she rules the neighbourhood, I suspect that if she ran in a local election...she'd win. Tony Robinson (AKA Baldrick)does alot of history documentries, The Worst Jobs in History is one of the best, he doesnt mind giving the jobs a go either.
This show is a bit generous with its exact year. They see and react to events that in real life took place decades apart. But the second season did that, too. But screw it; it's funny. 😁
So, the 'Dressed Stupidly' party is a reference to a real political party we have here called the Monster Raving Loony party. While the Tories (Conservatives), Labour (Social-Democrats/Left Moderates) and Liberal-Democrats (Fuck knows at this point) might be the main 3 parties on the ballot, there's a handful of smaller parties as well, and not just independents either. For example there's the Green party (Enviromentalists), the British National Party (I'm sad to say, more or less neo-nazis) and of course, the infamous Monster Raving Loony party. If you take a look at any election result reading, the MRL's are the the ones wearing the colourful outfits, or sometimes dressed as clowns. They're more or less seen as the 'protest vote', so if the current government is doing something people don't like, a ton of people just vote for the Loonies during by-elections.
They still do that with elections over there: the candidates all have to gather in one spot as the result of the election is read aloud. Can you imagine if OUR candidates had to do that? Imagine Hillary and Trump standing three feet apart as all the state results came in.
3&4th series were by far the best,Hugh laurie vastly underated.bald rick is too stupid rowans monologue abit ott,learn your history boys but it's not really about the history.
@@Mr.NiceUK Absolutely I'm going to be that pedantic. You are talking about pronunciation not an accent. In Great Britain there are three accents, English, Scottish and Welsh, along with multitudes of different dialects. I speak with an English accent, but in a London dialect. Let's not forget British isn't an ethnicity it's a nationality.
@@trytellingthetruth.2068 hilarious, claiming there's only one accent in England. If you're going to bring in dialect, dialect is "above" accent not below. Anyway, done here.
@@Mr.NiceUK What on earth are you going on about? Is there only one Scottish accent in Scotland, yes, but what ever the DIALECT in Scotland that is being spoken it's spoken in a Scottish ACCENT. Gordon Brown speaks RP but in a Scottish accent. You can say someone speaks American English (not American British) because of the way words are pronounced and spelt, but because Britain has the most local accents of any English speaking country, as such a single "British accent" does not exist. English ACCENT, regional DIALECT. Now we are done here.
![Tee Grizzley - Detroit (Feat. 42 Dugg) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aeKfTtt0x14/mqdefault.jpg)
Ironically Pitt the Younger was one of our best Prime Ministers. He became PM at the age of 24. Everybody thought his administration would only last a few months. It lasted for seventeen years.
He became an MP at 21 - He first attempted to gain the University of Cambridge seat then having lost that got parachuted into a rotten borough a few months later.
He was Chancellor of the Exchequer at 23 and PM at 24.
He resigned in 1801 but became PM again in 1804 before dying in office in 1806 at the age of just 46.
I love the actor's portrayal of Pitt. The terms are quite right (e.g., Lower Middle-class Yobbo). The speeches are hysterical. Great acting by Hugh Laurie, too.
@@lisakaz35 Yob is backslang for boy, Yobbo of course is just a lengthened version just like the Welsh Boyo.
Backslang is thought to have originated in VICTORIAN London and the word Yobbo is not attested prior to 1922!
So NO....The terms are NOT "quite right" at all - The use of the word "Yobbo" is at least 100 and possibly 140 years too EARLY!
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As for Middle Class - That term is first attested in 1745 but probably wasn't common till much later, still I'll give you that one in 1783 which is when Pitt the Younger first became PM.
@@franohmsford7548Obviously very bright (and privileged). Started Uni before he turned 14.
@@jspettifer Well his dad was Prime Minister
Baldrick (Tony Robinson) is a historian and archaeologist at heart. And is also a Knight of the Realm. Perfect casting.
Well, he wasn't a knight at this time.
@@MGrayl-ib5fo Of course not. Still worth mentioning though.
Ivor Biggun of the Standing At The Back Dressed Stupidly And Looking Stupid Party is a parody of (mainly) the very real Screaming Lord Sutch, of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Geoffrey Mcgivern who plays him was better known at this time as Ford Prefect in the original Hitchhikers' Guide To The Galaxy radio series. Vincent Hanna who interviews him was playing a version of himself, in real life he was a well-known television political correspondent and really did cover by-elections like this.
The 'beach hut in Brighton' referred to is The Royal Pavilion. A lavish building developed for the Prince but sold by Queen Victoria. It is built in a Indian style, with domes and minarets. Worth a look!
Stunning building in and out
“I want you to go back to your kitchen sink, you see & prepare for government!” Is a play on David Steel of the Liberal Party’s overconfident speech round-up at a conference in 1981. He ended his speech with “I want you to go back to your constituencies and prepare for government”
Hugh Laurie's finest hours as the Stupid as a Stupid thing Prince George :o)
Love it. Thank you.
Series 3 was set in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. Also the British prime minister William Pitt the younger had a city in the USA named after him. It's called Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
Nope, after his father - Pitt the Jaded 20-something
You sure its not Youngstown, Ohio.
Actually, Glint, Michigan
@@ianstopher9111 No, that was the even younger.
Love this series, the Duke of Wellington scenes left me in tears the first time I watched it.
Tony Robinson was indeed Knighted. And I believe the headline was Arise, Sir Baldrick.
He also talked to the knighting Prince William about Prince George.
Vincent Hanna was at the time this was filmed (1987) a prolific political journalist in the UK synonymous with elections. Sadly he died before his years in 1997 from heart disease.
You probably know more about this time period than you realise, just that it's set after the American revolutionary war. Prince George's dad (George III) lost the colonies!
It's funny, this is how Brits see Hugh Laurie & House is a brilliant but unusual departure from the norm. Across the pond you know him as a serious actor playing a fairly dark character. It must be a trip seeing his old characters like this. 🤣
Especially teamed with Mr Bean!😊
@@kevanwillis4571 oh yeh. I didn't think of that. 🤣🤣
@@kevanwillis4571 They loved Flasheart, wait until they go down the Rik Mayall rabbit hole.
He was pretty funny in Veep
If you're enjoying political satire you'd love 'The New Statesman'. Starring Rick Mayall as Tory MP Alan B'Stard
Definitely!!! I find it sad that New Statesman has been somewhat forgotten over the years. My favourite Rick Mayall performance.
Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
I actually think new statesman is a bit much at this point in their British comedy journey. Perhaps one when they are a little further down the rabbit hole.
@@Live-by2vk You could be right there, plenty of UK specific references but still plenty of relatable humour too.
@@jonathanmorgan1882definitely plenty of relatable humour (I’m a big fan and own it all on dvd, yes dvd!), but sometimes you’ve got to ease into things I think, it’s a bit like going straight from ‘IT crowd’ to ‘jam’ because of Chris morris, too big of a jump! Brainwave overload!
You will love this series. If it helps during this time period George III is considered to be insane. George III's son, Prince George (Hugh Laurie) is playing the Regent, who rules instead of his father at times when George III cannot rule. This is the period when George III lost the United States and The French Revolution also happened.
Hugh Laurie is the Prince Regent who went on to be George IV
Hugh Laurie is playing the regent, it was his characters father who was the mad king. A regent rules in the place of one who can't.
This is the period when George III lost the United States and The French Revolution also happened.
As always Blackadder plays very loose with historical dates - William Pitt the Younger became PM in 1783 but George didn't become Prince Regent till 1811, he was only 20/21 in 1783....2 years younger than the then Chancellor of the Exchequer but soon to become PM!
@@franohmsford7548 think of it this way: if history were art, Blackadder would be more impressionism than realism!
@@tommcewan7936 Oh I love Blackadder, always have done.
My point is that too many people and especially reactors seem not to understand that it takes big liberties with actual history.
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The Pitt the Younger joke is a perfect example where I've seen too many American reactors take it as read that Pitt the Younger actually was a 16 year old kid rather than the 24 year old man he was at that time.
Yes he was just out of University when he got parachuted into a rotten borough but he wasn't PM at 21 either, that took him another three years :).
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This episode conflates Pitt leaving Uni and being parachuted into that rotten borough and him becoming PM.
But another issue is that the episode clearly treats George IV {born in August 1762} as being much older than Pitt the Younger when in fact he was three years younger than the PM who was born in May of 1759.
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Again, too many people just take Blackadder as historically factual because they don't already know where things are off and don't think to check either.
For any non-UK viewers, the silly candidate is actually a British tradition (and therefore taken seriously). The longstanding one is Screaming Lord Sutch (yes, the one who made records) who stood for the Monster Raving Looney Party. There was also a nod towards this in a Monty Python sketch.
He's probably getting on a bit now so I would think the tradition is falling by the wayside..
he's been dead since 1999!
There is Count Binface in the modern era, who always stands against the Prime Minister in their seat.
Nigel Farage was once beaten by Flipper the Dolphin. A proud night in British politics!🤣
I really like Blackadder the Third. As you say, there’s a lot going on in this episode and don’t worry, not all the episodes are so historically dense. But to explain a little of the context of what is happening here. ‘Rotten Boroughs’ were absolutely real and came about as the distribution of seats in the House of Commons had not changed for hundreds of years by the early 1800s when this is set. That meant that population movements had not been accounted for resulting in examples like an uninhabited hill called Old Sarum (just one of the rotten boroughs) sending two members to the House of Commons, and a huge city like Manchester sending zero! As the electorates were so tiny in the rotten boroughs they were often entirely beholden to the landowner (there was no secret ballot at the time either) or easily bribed. Rotten boroughs were finally abolished in the Great Reform Act 1832. Prince George is the Prince Regent, who ruled as Regent in place of his father, the King (also called George), who was incapacitated by mental illness at this point. So this is technically between 1811 and 1820. Pitt the Younger was a real Tory Prime Minister, but they play a bit fast and loose here as, although he was startlingly young to be a Prime Minister, he wasn’t a teenager - he was in his early twenties I think - and also he died in 1806, so a little before the exact Regency period (at the young age of 46). There’s some other date mangling in the series, so just think of it as late 1700s/early 1800s.
Hee hee, Old Sarum. Takes me back to A level history. Some pretty mad things going on pre 1832.
Wasn't all in the right direction though. Potwalloper boroughs had been reduced for years and the franchise reduced until the Third Reform Act returned the right to all males that existed in some places beforehand for centuries.
Dunny on the Wold, dunny is Aussie slang for the outhouse!
Hugh Laurie is a revelation in this series. He had reservations about becoming a main character, but this turned out to be his breakout moment.
the presenter at the election was actually a guy that presented real elections back in the 80s
Obligatory mention that the Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party is a reference to the actual Monster Raving Looney Party whose platform is completely silly but have had several policies adopted by major parties
Comedy candidates in general too. Lord Buckethead stood against a number of PMs including Margaret Thatcher.
Compulsory use of seat belts in cars was one of theirs originally I think.
Passports for pets so you could take them on holiday and they wouldn't have to be quarantined when they came back..@@SoupDragonish
Still remember having to rush home on a night to watch this, because if it was missed, it was gone forever 🤣 Same as Red Dwarf, life had to be planned around it.
I think S3 is my favourite Blackadder series. Especially the end credits song
Volume a little low yet seen so many times, happy watching your faces. Thank you for sharing this ❤
Pitt the Elder was Prime Minister during the 7 Years War (the North American theatre being the final French and Indian War), Pittsburgh was named for him. They're exaggerating how young Pitt the Younger was, but the top politicians were all really unpopular following the war because they had to pay off the massive war debts through high taxes (everyone was angry with them, not just the 13 colonies). So the next generation of politicians were able to get to the top much younger than normal.
I think the missing element is there was no rival for Edmund this season.
Season 2 had Melchitt, Season 4 had Captain Darling, but this one Blackadder pretty much ran the house.
That was the other element season 2 and 4 had: someone above him. Blackadder usually has a superior he has to keep happy, Baldrick below him, and a rival in equal standing as him.
Even the first season had _those_ elements.
George is _technically_ his superior, but he's such a harmless idiot he's more of a second Baldrick. Queenie could have him beheaded, his general could have him shot for insubordination or send him to his certain death.
The antogonists were all external in this season.
The ironic thing is that Blackadder is at his lowest social standing here.
@@Meritania And ironically probably lived better than all the other three, and held in greater esteem from the rest of London.
A butler wasn't just the guy who answered doors and served tea. Not in those days. He ran the house and all the staff, it was more like managing a business with dozens of employees. It was a valued and respected trade.
Look at say, Downton Abbey.
For historical context, the Prince regent's father was king George iii, as featured in the movie "the madness of king George" and the musical " Hamilton " btw you *need* to see and react to both of these
The journalist covering the election is the serious and very respected real-life political editor Vincent Hanna who was brilliant in this
Hi guys! Prince George replaces the Lord Percy character in this series but Hugh Laurie's portrayal is pretty much on the money as George both as Prince Regent and as George IV was one of the worst Kings of Britain. He was a spendthrift and a gambler. A drunkard and a glutton and a womaniser. His reign was dogged by scandal.
The Standing at the back dressed stupidly party is a reference to Screaming Lord Sutch and the Monster Raving Looney Party.
Emma Hamilton was Lord Horatio Nelson's mistress.
Like his father, Laurie rowed at school and university.[7] In 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets[20] coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club. He also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.[21] Cambridge lost that year by five feet.[22] During this time, Laurie was training for up to eight hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower.[23] He is a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and was a member of the Hermes Club and Hawks' Club.[7]
Might want to edit out the reference numbers before cutting and pasting from Wikipedia 😂
During series 2, you both mentioned wishing that the program had been used in schools. I know that this episode was shown in England for history lessons during the early 90s at least.
The next episode is a classic, watching Blackadder wind up Dr Samuel Johnson cracks me up every time I see it...and if you're a Harry Potter fan then Dr Johnson is likely to look or at least sound familiar.
The Macbeth episode is esp. good, too.
You realise the Prince of Wales is Dr. House. You should also look at the tv series Yes Minister, it is a very clever satire exposing how politics works.
Love how you're loving this!
Genuinely one of the best episodes ever of Blackadder 😂
That line about the high court judge, and your faces! Laughed until I cried
S3 & S4 are the best seasons in my opinion.
I first saw this episode in A Level History. I absolutely love it.
Blackadder the Third is my personal favourite, and I think this episode is my top Blackadder episode of all time. King George III does make a brief appearance at the very last episode, though he is not in his best condition - King George III was insane (I think it was discovered more recently that the cause of his mental illness was a liver disorder), which is why his son, the prince regent (so funnily portrayed by Hugh Laurie here) reigns on his father's behalf.
The real prince regent was known for spending money and partying like crazy, and he did have a dispute with prime minister Pitt the Younger who did not want prince George to become regent.
There's also a 1994 comedy-drama movie called The Madness of King George that portrays the king and his illness, and it stars none other than Nigel Hawthorne of Yes, Minister as the king.
Looking forward the see the reactions to the next season III episodes!
Probably my favorite series from all 4. Classic
This is my favourite season of the whole series. :D Many fond memories of watching this after dinner. ^_^
Pitt the Younger is a contemporary of George Washington
Oi Oi geezer's, really enjoying all your reactions, this show gets better and better every episode, three cheers to you both
I missed percy in this series
First series based in middle evil Britain 2nd series is based in the first Elizabeth era, (1600) 3rd series based in the Georgean era (1700s) 4th series based in first world war
Hugh is my favourite in this series playing Prince George of Wales son of king George
This program is better education on British history than school !
I can see you two have a CUNNING PLAN to watch the rest of the series!
Blackadder and Baldrick aprove!
“the only fresh thing on the menu” was a Conservative (Tory) party election slogan from the 80’s
The "Rotten Boroughs" were a real thing, many once important towns over time had people move away or had natural disasters that meant they became empty but their adminstrative power remained. For example Dunwich was once the most important port in the East of England, large enough even to be represented in parliament by several ministers. However coastal erosion meant that by the 1700's the town had entirely disappeared beneath the sea with a tiny village now spread along the old road into the town...this didn't prevent several members of parliament being elected due to the towns historic importance by living there and being voted for by handful of fellow people. Other examples existed such as Old Sarum, once a major city with a large cathedral but the bishop moved the people to a new city, Salisbury, in 1226, due to lack of space and little water. Old Sarum continued to deliver a member of parliament even though zero people lived there until 1832, some 600 years after the population had moved out.
Had a fantastic air show too!
Love it . Blackadder even more cunning than before 😂
6:09 you dress like a mad parrot and talk like a plate of
beans negotiating their way out of a cow’s digestive system. Never Gets Old 😂😂😂😂😂
What you have to remember is that all of the Blackadder series, although loosely based on history, they are in fact satire/comedy. Take any historic reference with a pinch of salt.
As fun a character as he was in Blackadder II, Baldrick pretty much comes into his own in Blackadder III.
The series gets better as it goes along and you'll see some more of the Blackadder ensemble take part...Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson and even Ben Elton.
Not to mention The late great Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) who was also in the Christmas Special based on Dickens Christmas Carol.
This is a close parody of the coverage of general elections in the UK. The man playing the reporter is a real news anchor who was known for covering our elections.
Hiya Spencer and Daniel, I enjoyed this episode, I thought you were going to show the Blackadder episodes on a weekly basis, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England
You guys do know that Hugh Laurie is English, when he played House he put on an American accent.
SEE BALDRIC.....INCREDIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY
Just one of the best episodes.
It’s funny but in series 1 Baldrick was the clever one.
All the titles are a spin on Jane Austin’s “Sense & Sensibility” published in 1811 which was the very year Prince George’s regency began.
Ink and incapability 😂😂😂 best episode.
I think lots of British people wouldn't know the history of the time either
Dual and duality with Stephen fry is the one for me. But I love em all
George III was the Monarch at the time of the American war of Independence and Prince George acted as Regent given George III was mentally unwell at some parts of his reign. Prince Regent went on to be George IV.
His natural ENGLISH accent. Fking 'British' accent....😂
I always thought Blackadder 3 was a slight step down from 2, but could never understand why. In hindsight I think it's because the actor Tim McInnerny (who played Percy) wasn't a main character in it. I always felt that his contribution to the Blackadder series was never appreciated. He's brilliant!
Oh come on Darling! :)
I thought that at first, because I didn't know much about the time period. However I now regard the third series as 'the fine wine' of the show it just gets better with age!
I thought that too at first, but I think S3 is the dark horse. It actually has some of my favourite eps even if it wasn't as iconic as 2 and 4. It took me time to appreciate it though, but after learning a bit more about the Georgian period I came to love it.
Series 3 is my favourite. I think the reason is that in Series 2 & 4, no matter how clever Blackadder was or how well thought out his plans were, he had the crazy Queen or General Melchett to override him whereas in Series 3 Prince George was so easily manipulated that Blackadder often ended up winning. (Though not in this episode of course). I think that caused me to enjoy it even more than the others, great though they were.
Or maybe I just overanalyse everything!
I agree Percy should have been in it but I do think this series has some of the strongest writing and social commentary in the whole show. It used to be my least favourite but nowadays it’s probably my favourite.
Guys, look up the ‘monster raving looney’ party.
You will get an idea of the ‘standing at the back looking stupid’ idea. I remember one election where one of their hilarious policies was to introduce a ‘99p coin’
I always thought that if this episode had been 20 years later, as in filmed 20 years later, they could’ve used David Walliams for that character
Standing in the back party is a nod to a few parties in UK, who just go in the fun.
Most memorable being "the monster raving looney party"
We get that because literally anyone can set up a party. Just pay the fees.
It's funny because his Elizabethan ancestor was a Lord, and his 15th century ancestor was a prince and 2nd in line for the throne of England.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania is named after Willian Pitt the Elder, the father of Pitt the Younger, who were both British Prime Ministers. The Pitt seen in this episode is obviously Pitt the Younger.
This time period is the same (roughly) as the TV series SHARPE... which are all (mostly) up on youtube, star Sean Bean at his best, fighting in the Napoleonic wars, and are well worth adding to your list of shows to react to.
Bastard
Loved Sharpe. The Author of the original books is one of my favourites. I read all the books the Last Kingdom was based upon and many other books of his.
Last Kingdom's another excellent show, I'm a bit behind on it due to it shifting to a network I don't get, but loved every minute of what I did see. @@KarlXByrne
England might have been rife with corruption and inequality back then, but things were constantly evolving. Over the course of Pitt's leadership, the slave trade was abolished, then slavery altogether and the British began sending out ships to enforce it by freeing any slaves they came across, whilst America (which at times was equally corrupt) wouldn't abolish it for decades. And that is because, while the UK has no written constitution (which means it can be altered and improved upon to reflect the times), the US struggled to keep up with the rest of the world as they treated their Constitution like gospel. That is why you guys still have 200 year old laws - like a law pertaining to militias - which are frankly out of date in a modern society
You guys should try "Bottom"
Pitt the younger worked tirelessly against the slave trade.
There may be one or two more things to unpack here than in earlier episodes. The time is a little mixed up and Prime Minister Pitt would not have been quite as young as shown (he was in his early 20s, so the writers just exaggerated his youth) but it does quite a good job of explaining how politics worked at the time and satirising it accordingly. A "rotten borough" was indeed what it is described as ("a constituency where the owner of the land corruptly controls the voter"- also known as a "pocket borough" if it was a powerful family doing it and the voters were larger in number) and it was a time when the legality of which people in society voted was far more restrictive. It was long before there was any such thing as a private vote, which meant that the landowner could see whether you'd backed their candidate or not and as such, the idea of democratic governments being by and for the people- though true as compared to absolutist monarchies elsewhere in Europe at the time- was still, to all intents and purposes, foreign: it was feudalism with certain democratic overtones.
The only other thing to add is that Vincent Hanna, the town crier who reports on the the imaginary constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, was played by a real journalist of the same name. He was well known for broadcasting during by-elections and was obviously enough of a good sport to appear on Blackadder and play his own ancestor.
Since there was no secret ballot (the voter publicly announced who they cast their vote for), candidates would ply the voters with beer and food to get them to vote for them (“treating”) - that’s when treating was made illegal, and it still is.
Refreshing to hear Americans say "series" & not "season" :-)
This explains why Hugh Laurie had to go to yhe US to get a serious dramatic part 😂
This is their best Blackadder….. wait till the dictionary episode. It’s genius..
yeah that's a belter
That little dog looks like my little dog, she thinks she rules the neighbourhood, I suspect that if she ran in a local election...she'd win. Tony Robinson (AKA Baldrick)does alot of history documentries, The Worst Jobs in History is one of the best, he doesnt mind giving the jobs a go either.
Can't wait for you to see the dictionary episode 😁
Time period, shortly after US independence around 1812
This show is a bit generous with its exact year. They see and react to events that in real life took place decades apart.
But the second season did that, too.
But screw it; it's funny. 😁
So, the 'Dressed Stupidly' party is a reference to a real political party we have here called the Monster Raving Loony party. While the Tories (Conservatives), Labour (Social-Democrats/Left Moderates) and Liberal-Democrats (Fuck knows at this point) might be the main 3 parties on the ballot, there's a handful of smaller parties as well, and not just independents either. For example there's the Green party (Enviromentalists), the British National Party (I'm sad to say, more or less neo-nazis) and of course, the infamous Monster Raving Loony party. If you take a look at any election result reading, the MRL's are the the ones wearing the colourful outfits, or sometimes dressed as clowns. They're more or less seen as the 'protest vote', so if the current government is doing something people don't like, a ton of people just vote for the Loonies during by-elections.
You guys need to watch the film 'The Madness of King George' with Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren...about King George 3rd
Over the 4 seasons, Baldrick becomes less capable, whilst Balckadder becomes more capable. Deliberately so i believe
They still do that with elections over there: the candidates all have to gather in one spot as the result of the election is read aloud.
Can you imagine if OUR candidates had to do that? Imagine Hillary and Trump standing three feet apart as all the state results came in.
Adder party: 11,780 votes.
3&4th series were by far the best,Hugh laurie vastly underated.bald rick is too stupid rowans monologue abit ott,learn your history boys but it's not really about the history.
Omg 😱 first! what a sad git I truly am.
19:18 "so a normal teenager" ahahah did you write poems when you were teenager?
Well done on this as I can see you didn't pause as much or cut them out but i really enjoyed you WATCHING this and talking after. Please keep it up
Really hope you guys checkout "Jeeves & Wooster" ....
And A Bit of Fry & Laurie, too.
Pleas stopp cutting the end resultat!
You guys do realize that you are watching House?
SAUSAGE!!!...
I think you'll find Baldrick hes left sausage out of his dictionary.
Couldn’t you wait?
House on too many drugs
That was like watching a Biden vs Trump race though this episode features more honesty and less corruption 😉
In a few generations US. politics will reach these levels hopefully.
Hugh Laurie speaks with an English accent. There's no such thing as a British accent.
You going to be that pedantic, there isn't such a thing as an English accent either (RP or SSB is usually the actual accent meant)
@@Mr.NiceUK
Absolutely I'm going to be that pedantic. You are talking about pronunciation not an accent.
In Great Britain there are three accents, English, Scottish and Welsh, along with multitudes of different dialects. I speak with an English accent, but in a London dialect. Let's not forget British isn't an ethnicity it's a nationality.
@@trytellingthetruth.2068 hilarious, claiming there's only one accent in England. If you're going to bring in dialect, dialect is "above" accent not below. Anyway, done here.
@@Mr.NiceUK
What on earth are you going on about? Is there only one Scottish accent in Scotland, yes, but what ever the DIALECT in Scotland that is being spoken it's spoken in a Scottish ACCENT. Gordon Brown speaks RP but in a Scottish accent.
You can say someone speaks American English (not American British) because of the way words are pronounced and spelt, but because Britain has the most local accents of any English speaking country, as such a single "British accent" does not exist.
English ACCENT, regional DIALECT.
Now we are done here.
I wan t tro