A prologue introduces the episode with a narrative describing the Tudor King Henry VII as one of history's greatest liars and establishes the show's premise that he rewrote history to suit his own ends. The narrator dispels the popular depiction of King Richard III of England as a scheming murderer; he appears as a villainous hunchback, hobbling towards his young nephews with a dagger, but the dagger is revealed to be a toy and the hunchback is a sack of presents. A close-up of one of the children fades to a shot of the bearded Richard, Duke of York (Brian Blessed) roaring with laughter, as the narrator declares that he grew up to be "a big, strong boy", and that it was he who was crowned king after winning the Battle of Bosworth Field, not Henry.