The Queen of Spain's Beard

In order to form an alliance in Europe, Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is to be married off to the Spanish infanta; but when she turns out to be a less than attractive proposition (ie., fat with a moustache), Edmund and his cronies, Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and Lord Percy (Tim McInnerny), cook up some cunning plans to avoid the forthcoming nuptials.

Set in the year 1492, The Queen of Spain's Beard is the fourth episode of the first series chronologically, but was originally shown as episode 2, and proves to be something of a disappointment when viewed immediately after the excellent opening episode: the script is still rather salacious, but relies more on pure silliness than on clever writing, and there is none of the grisly violence that made part one so much fun. Instead, we get racial stereotypes, gay jokes, and fat jokes, all of which are fine by me (political correctness be damned), but which just aren't all that funny considering the talent involved.

I like the bit where the dogs bit him on the neck but he said it was a woman

"In 24 hours I'll be married to a walrus!"

"The Queen of Spain's Beard" is perhaps the funniest Blackadder Series 1 episode yet, but is bettered by Witchsmeller Pursuivant and The Black Seal. The humour is more funny this time - the Spanish translator's role was probably one of the funniest in the whole episode. Baldrick's intelligence was once again a main point in the episode (Balders actually kills someone after 20 minutes of the episode - when a certain cunning plan is put into action), and the hideous Edmund is back at his best. His best line in this episode is when he says sarcastically to Baldrick: "Little boy with big job to do!"

"The Queen of Spain's Beard" misses out on a 10 due to the slightly poor ending, but you can't have everything, and it is only a comedy. It is funny, well done, well acted, and with better deliveries of humorous lines from all the characters. I therefore give it a 9, and recommend it strongly.

"The Queen of Spain's Beard" is a terribly funny episode, where our 'hero' Edmund gets the chance to get married.

King Richard is not very happy with France, and decides to marry Edmund to the Spanish Infanta to get some connections with Spain (whatever that means, as Spain did not really exist back then; but we don't watch "The Black Adder" for its historical accuracy). As they say at the beginning of the episode, marriage was used to create alliances, and Edmund is thrilled with the prospect of his marriage. Till he discovers the infanta doesn't look as he imagined she would, and decides to do anything, but anything, not to marry her.

Cue a very funny episode, where jokes (all very, but very silly, and some maybe not very politically correct) keep flying, non-stop. The dialogues are very funny, the acting great, and the plot development hilarious. Edmund makes a fool of himself constantly, and the historical inaccuracies only add to the fun (the 'traditional' Spanish attire comment is hilarious). Totally worth watching.

For the sake of a strategic alliance with Spain, the King arranges for Edmund to marry the Spanish Infanta.

This is another strong episode where the historical context to the comedy is the medieval ruler looking to consolidate power via marriage arrangement. Through this theme Edmund is put into another humorous predicament that he must somehow try to weasel his way out of whilst attempting to stay in his father's good books.

It contains a number of funny scenes involving sexual humour, language barrier issues and jokes that would likely be considered insensitive or politically incorrect by today's standards. From the start of the wedding sequence onwards it is fantastic, particularly the ingenious use of the interpreter in the dark.

All performances are superb as always with Rowan Atkinson, Miriam Margolyes, Jim Broadbent and Brian Blessed on top form.