Rotten and pocket boroughs MacDonald Fraser's "The Flashman Papers" series, the eponymous antihero, Harry Flashman, mentions that his father, Sir Buckley Flashman, had been in Parliament, but "they did for him at Reform," implying that the elder Flashman's seat was in a rotten or pocket borough. In the episode "Dish and Dishonesty" of the BBC television comedy "Blackadder the Third", Edmund Blackadder attempts to bolster the support of the Prince Regent in Parliament by getting the incompetent Baldrick elected to the fictional rotten borough of "Dunny-on-the-Wold". This was easily accomplished with a result of 16,472 to nil, even though the constituency had only one
Dish and Dishonesty Dish and Dishonesty "Dish and Dishonesty" is the first episode of the third series of the BBC sitcom "Blackadder". Due to the thorough parody of the conventions of a British electoral declaration, it has been shown several times on the dates of real General Elections. The newly appointed Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (portrayed by Simon Osborne as a petulant teenager), wants to declare war on Napoleon Bonaparte; give "tougher sentences" for his geography teacher "Banana-Breath" Scrigshanks; and, most of all, strike the idiotic Prince Regent from the Civil List. Despite hearing this, the Prince is nonetheless convinced that