Bells (Blackadder) marks the first appearance of the Bob/Kate and Flashheart archetypes that appear again in "Blackadder Goes Forth". Rik Mayall, who played Lord Flashheart, allegedly designed the character's costume himself. John Lloyd has said that Mayall virtually rewrote his part to feature "loads of jokes", which annoyed the writers, Curtis and Elton. It was the only episode of the series to feature location filming, at Wilton House in Wiltshire. The music performed as Blackadder courts "Bob" is Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Greensleeves". In 1993, in conjunction with Comic Relief, this episode was given away free on cassette tape with boxes of
Blackadder the Third the series was nominated for three further awards; Rowan Atkinson for "Best Light Entertainment Performance", Antony Thorpe for "Best Design" and Victoria Pocock for "Best Make Up". The four series of "Blackadder" were voted into second place in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004. "Blackadder The Third" is available on a variety of BBC Worldwide-distributed DVD and VHS video releases, either as an individual series or as part of a boxset with the other series of "Blackadder". In addition, a BBC Radio Collection audio version created from the TV soundtrack is available on Cassette and CD. All four seasons