Edmund Blackadder to a lord ("Blackadder II"), a knight (""), a royal attendant ("Blackadder III"), a shopkeeper ("Blackadder's Christmas Carol"), to an army captain ("Blackadder Goes Forth"). Throughout each series, Blackadder is a self-serving, cynical opportunist concerned solely with increasing his own influence, status and wealth. His character is symbolized by the adder, the United Kingdom's only native venomous snake, which sometimes appears in the series as a visual motif. With the exception of the first Blackadder incarnation, Prince Edmund, each Blackadder is generally cynical, charismatic and intelligent. While he is haunted by bad luck, he is usually very capable of manipulating
Blackadder the Third the Duke of Wellington. The series aired for six episodes broadcast on Thursdays at 9.30 on BBC One. The titles of the episodes are always a noun paired with another, derived from an adjective beginning with the same letters, based on the Jane Austen novel "Sense and Sensibility" ("Pride and Prejudice" is a similar example). On the first broadcast, "Amy and Amiability" was billed in the "Radio Times" under its working title of "Cape and Capability". <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Although this series reduced the size of the show's cast, the programme featured a number of guest appearances in each episode. Tim McInnerny