Edmund Blackadder is notorious throughout the court of Queen Elizabeth I for not being able to hold his ale. In order to disprove the commonly held notion (and to win a bet against Lord Melchett), he throws a raucous drinking party – which unfortunately clashes with a visit from his puritanical aunt and uncle Lord and Lady Whiteadder, with predictably disastrous consequences.

Heading forward in time now to the Regency period and Blackadder the Third, where our erstwhile hero is butler to the incomparably dim Prince George (played by a pre-House Hugh Laurie). The Prince is suitably perplexed upon meeting Dr. Samuel Johnson (guest star Robbie Coltrane) by the latter’s verbosity, although Blackadder treats the good Doctor’s quest to list every word of the English language in his new ‘dictionary’ with less respect than most…

Running Prince George a close second for densest Blackadder character – Lord Percy, of Blackadder II. In a commendable effort to help ease poor Blackadder’s financial worries, Percy tries his hand at the dark and mysterious practice of alchemy. Alas, just when he believes he has succeeding in creating pure gold from base metals, a none too grateful Edmund arrives to point out that Percy’s ‘gold’ is in fact, a not quite so traditional green.

[Clip contains sexual language and innuendo] Rik Mayall has livened up several Blackadder episodes with his raucous cameos as the arrogant, silver-tongued, and, err, flash, Lord Flashheart – none more so than his first appearance in Blackadder II. Stealing the show (as well as Blackadder’s bride-to-be), he swoops in late to Edmund’s wedding, charms the pants off everyone and has disappeared within three minutes.

Sticking with the second series, here’s a look at one of the most memorable of all Blackadder characters – Miranda Richardson’s Queenie. When Blackadder returns from a two year voyage (he only meant to sail to France and back, but got lost), Queenie, being the spoilt brat with unlimited power that she is, demands gifts for everyone present - or Edmund will have his head cut off. Luckily Blackadder manages to rustle up satisfactory presents, with a little help from Baldrick’s overactive bladder…

Prince George displays his sensitive side, composing a letter to potential bride that leaves nothing to the imagination. Luckily for him, Blackadder is on hand to clear up the Prince’s mess - even if he only has his own best interests at heart, as always.

Blackadder’s long-suffering dogsbody Baldrick is notorious for the devising of ‘cunning plans’, which in reality are not quite so cunning as he believes, and in any event tend to have scorn poured over them by Blackadder not long after being uttered. Here is one such example from Blackadder Goes Forth, with Baldrick taking the phrase ‘bullet with your name on it’ altogether too literally.

Baldrick may have come up with the odd cunning plan or two, but he really is rather thick. In this clip Blackadder struggles in vain to teach Baldrick the basics of addition, and is only left exasperated by the latter’s inability (or perhaps refusal) to understand how many beans he will have if he adds three beans to one bean…

[Clip contains sexual language and innuendo] Another appearance for the dashing Lord Flashheart – This time from Blackadder Goes Forth, where he pops up as World War One flying ace Squadron Commander The Lord Flashheart. Blackadder has agreed to join The Royal Flying Corps “20 Minuters” squadron with George, scheming for an easy way out of the war as per usual. However, no one has explained to them exactly where the squadron’s nickname comes from, until now.

As per usual, Edmund’s Machiavellian schemings have got him into a spot of bother – upon being given the post of Lord High Executioner by Queenie, his cunning plan to give himself “half the week off” by executing the traitor Lord Farrow ahead of schedule backfires spectacularly, when Queenie pardons her old friend and demands to see him alive and well.

Things don’t get any easier or less complicated for Blackadder and poor Percy when the Queen decides to take a casual stroll through Traitor’s Cloister, where she is likely to spot the severed head of Lord Farrow. Blackadder does his best to salvage the situation however, and everything seems to be solved via the unlikely source of Baldrick’s incompetence. That is, until Blackadder spots one minor potential stumbling block…

Way, way, back (in the very first series in fact) there existed a time when a medieval Edmund was the incompetent, bumbling idiot and Baldrick his sly, cunning sidekick. Here, in the very first Blackadder episode ever, Baldrick is having to coax his master through explaining his part in the Battle of Bosworth to Prince Harry, preferably without mentioning that he accidentally killed King Richard III.

Blackadder is struggling with his feelings for his young servant “Bob”, who he has hired after firing the hapless Baldrick. However Edmund need not worry, as unbeknownst to him is in fact a young lady named Kate. Will this be the start of true love and a fairy story for the cynical Lord Blackadder? It seems unlikely….

In Blackadder the Third, Edmund spends much of his time trying to get his hands on the idiotic Prince George’s vast fortune, via whatever underhand means necessary. In this scene dastardly Blackadder attempts not only to extort £400,000 from his master, but tries to get a lordship for himself thrown into the bargain as well.