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"'Amy and Amiability'" is the fifth episode of the third series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder''.

Contents

Plot

Historical and cultural references

Plot

Having lost vast amounts of money playing a game called 'cards', where a player is dealt five cards and the goal is to give away your money away to your opponents as quickly as possible, the Prince Regent is forced to search for a rich wife. Blackadder begins to look through the newspapers, but notices a portion removed by Baldrick which is an article about The Shadow, (Baldrick's favourite highwayman).
Amy Hardwood (played by Miranda Richardson), daughter of a powerful industrialist, seems the only option despite the fact that she says things like, "what about George's lovey-wovey poems that won my hearty-warty?". The Prince, whose idea of a love letter includes the line "You'll be staring at my bedroom ceiling from now til Christmas, you lucky tart!" doesn't seem likely to succeed on his own, so Blackadder writes his lines for him.
All goes well until Blackadder discovers that Amy's father is broke, upon which he breaks the engagement, though too late to prevent the Prince spending several thousand pounds on wedding gifts. Blackadder puts on a mask and cloak and saddles up Baldrick and turns to the life of a highwayman. He soon discovers that Amy Hardwood is in fact herself the notorious highwayman, The Shadow. She pretends to be in love with Blackadder to steal the Prince's money and the wedding gifts, but Blackadder turns her in for a £10,000 reward. He stows the reward in the biscuit tin where the prince finds it. He was shocked when he found out. However, Black Adder convinces the twit to a game of cards...

Historical and cultural references

★ This episode contains a reference to the Prince's eventual real-life bride, Caroline of Brunswick, who is dismissed as a candidate for having a horrible personality. The real George did in fact marry Caroline of Brunswick and the marriage was an unmitigated disaster.

★ The balcony scene is adapted from a scene in the play ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', in which Christian de Neuvillette uses Cyrano's words to court the beautiful Roxanne.