Private Plane

Blackadder, George and Baldrick join the Royal Flying Corps.

I love this episode for the great dialogue, character moments and most of all the two cameo performances.

The plot is reminiscent of previous incarnations of Blackadder going on a mission and ending up captured, but it works very well for the World War I setting. As ever the dialogue is sharp and features Blackadder's trademark wit and cynicism.

What makes it great is the satire of the glamour associated with Flying Corps and the lifestyle of the pilots. In doing so Curtis and Elton resurrect the Lord Flashheart character that worked so well in the series two episode 'Bells' and also his German counterpart, who is naturally a caricature of the real life Barron Von Richthofen.

All the main characters have great moments with Blackadder, as always, scheming to get out of the trenches, George as blindly devoted to duty and loyalty as ever and Darling as much of a jobsworth as you'll ever see.

All performances are excellent with Rowan Atkinson as entertaining as ever, Hugh Laurie on superb form and Tony Robinson chipping in with some great lines and visual gags. Tim McInnerny is brilliantly antagonistic as he does smugness and pomposity effortlessly.

The stars of this one for me are the great Rik Mayall and his long time comedy partner Adrian Edmondson. When Mayall has centre stage he dominates it with incredible energy, charisma and wonderful physical and verbal expression. Edmondson plays Richthofen as a hilarious German stereotype that would probably not see the light of day in the modern comedy world.

In fact there is a substantial amount of sexism and homophobia on display in this episode, but it comes from such certifiably mad characters it's hard to disapprove too much. The one sane character of Blackadder holds none of them in very high regard.