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 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