The Black Adder

Set in England at the end of the War of the Roses, we soon find out that the history we know is a Tudor fiction. In fact, Henry VII did not actually win the battle of Bosworth Field; he lost and though Richard III died in the battle, his nephew King Richard IV (who certainly was not smothered while still a boy in the Tower of London) reigned on for some years. The story focuses on Richard IV's younger son Prince Edmund, a sniveling coward who calls himself the 'Black Adder'. Assisted by his grungy servant Baldrick and the moronic Lord Percy, Edmund plots his rise to greatness. King Richard IV is the insane monarch ruling England during the really dark part of the Dark Ages. He has two sons: one, Harry, his elder son and the Prince of Wales. Although highly respected by the court and overly favored by his father, Harry is rather looney, as well... and two, Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, who is loathed by his family and detested by the court. Despite this, the slimy, cocky, foolish and sarcastic Edmund, donning a costume and the alias of "The Black Adder", is out to inherit the throne, assisted by two sidekicks: Percy, the only nobleman stupid enough to respect him, and Baldrick, a street-wise peasant with inspired "cunning plans".