Potato

"Potato" is the third episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Plot The episode opens with Blackadder at home, while the rest of London is celebrating the return of Sir Walter "Oooh what a big ship I've got" Raleigh. Blackadder is typically sarcastic and unimpressed, refusing a ridiculously dressed Percy's repeated invitations to join in the festivities, eventually throwing him out, and likewise refusing to let Baldrick have the day off to celebrate. The reason for Blackadder's bitterness is his envy of Sir Walter and explorers in general who "ponce off to Mumbo-Jumbo Land, come home with a tropical disease, a sun tan and a bag of brown lumpy things" and return to be showered with fame and adoration. He is equally annoyed with Sir Walter apparently making a fortune from potatoes, with people smoking them or building houses of them, scoffing that "they'll be eating them next". In addition, he has to endure taunting from children outside his house, to which he retaliates by shooting one with an arrow. Melchett arrives, also dressed in a ridiculous fashion and asks if Blackadder will join him at the royal palace to welcome Sir Walter, which Blackadder initially declines, though he eventually relents.