The Archbishop

Edmund gets caught up in the struggle between the church and crown for the inheritance of British land.

I enjoyed this episode for themes of greed and corruption portrayed, along with the hilarious position Edmund is put in by his father.

The plot is excellent, serving as a great way to put Edmund in difficult situations that he has to try to worm his way out of in comical ways.

Most of the humour is strong but it does taken certain amount of appreciation for the historical context and the darkness of the subject matter. Not all the delivery is perfect, but I still enjoyed all jokes.

Performances are excellent with Rowan Atkinson on top form along with Brian Blessed. Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson also have great moments, particularly the scene involving religious relics.

I like the bit where a simple misunderstanding set the scene for an hilarious turn of events

The Archbishop of Canterbury is a dangerous office to hold when a bloodthirsty King is in competition with the church for land and riches. When the latest Archbishop meets with a terrible accident (impaled on a two foot long spike on a Turkish helmet), Edmund is appointed to the post and understandably fears for his life.

Although it's blatantly obvious that it is Edmund who will be made the next Archbishop, the moment when the announcement is made by the king (Brian Blessed) is still bloody funny thanks to the fact that Edmund is sporting an outrageously daft outfit that includes his enormous 'Black Russian' codpiece. And this is just one of the many hilarious scenes in what proves to be a consistently very funny episode: a pathetic, grovelling Edmund tries to worm his way out of his new job; the slimy prince concocts a cunning money making scheme selling fake religious artifacts, pardons and curses; Brian Blessed tucks into a roast horse leg for lunch; and the appearance of two drunken knights fresh from the crusades results in some brilliant moments of pure farce involving nuns.

I'd totally forgotten about how homophobic the jokes are from time to time but more so in this episode. It makes me very torn between love and hate with Ben Elton and Curtis. But not impressed with the Sodomy jokes a bit too much even for 1983