The first in a four-series run of historical comedies written by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, `Black Adder' tells a revisionist tale of events at the end of the British Middle Ages. After a triumphant King Richard III emerges from the Battle of Bosworth Field, only to be accidentally assassinated by Edmund Plantagenet (a snivelling, dim-witted Atkinson), the king's nephew, the Duke of York, takes the throne and is crowned Richard IV. A startling coincidence, however, is the fact that Edmund is the son of the new king, although he's barely acknowledged by his own father. Edmund, in concert with pathetic sidekick Lord Percy and disgusting manservant Baldrick, attempts to overhaul his image - he takes on the title `The Black Adder' - and plot ways to gain more power.