Bells (Blackadder)
| "Bells" | |||
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| Episode no. | Series 2 (Blackadder II) Episode 1 |
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| Directed by | Mandie Fletcher | ||
| Written by | Ben Elton Richard Curtis |
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| Original air date | 9 January 1986 (1986-01-09) | ||
| Guest actors | |||
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Rik Mayall |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Blackadder episodes | |||
"Bells" is the first episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Although "Bells" was the first to be broadcast on BBC1, it was originally destined to be the second episode. It was the only episode of the series to feature location filming, at Wilton House in Wiltshire.
The episode also marks the first appearance of the Bob/Kate and Flashheart archetypes that appear again in Blackadder Goes Forth. Rik Mayall, who played Lord Flashheart, allegedly designed the character's costume himself. John Lloyd has said that Mayall virtually rewrote his part to feature "loads of jokes", which annoyed the writers, Curtis and Elton.
The plot of the episode, of a young woman disguising herself as a man to go into service and falling in love with her employer, is particularly based on a significant plot thread of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Read more about Bells (Blackadder): Plot, Comic Relief, Music, Cast
Famous quotes containing the word bells:
“You owe me ten shillings,
Say the bells of St. Helen’s.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
Pray when will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I am sure I don’t know,
Says the great bell of Bow.”
—Unknown. The Bells of London (l. 13–22)