Blackadder from this series ranked number three in a list of the top 25 television "putdowns" of the last 40 years by the "Radio Times" magazine: "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?" "Blackadder the Third" is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency. In the series, Edmund Blackadder Esquire is the butler to the Prince Regent, the Prince of Wales (the prince is played by Hugh Laurie as a complete fop and idiot). Despite Edmund's respected intelligence and abilities, he has no
Blackadder Goes Forth there are left-wing academics all too happy to feed those myths." Robinson responded "to categorise teachers who would introduce something like "Blackadder" as left-wing and introducing left-wing propaganda is very, very unhelpful. And I think it's particularly unhelpful and irresponsible for a minister in charge of education." Tristram Hunt also criticised Gove's comments, but Andrew Murrison compared the series to "Oh, What a Lovely War!" as a take on history that had "sadly been in the ascendant for the past 50 years." Esther MacCallum-Stewart of Sussex University noted in her essay "Television Docu-Drama and The First World War" that ""Blackadder