History Recap / BlackadderS1E5WitchsmellerPursuivant

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

At the end, the King gets better, the three survives, and everybody is happy. Except the Witchsmeller.

* KickTheDog: The Witchsmeller not only burnt an old lady, but her cat as well, as Percy repeatedly notes. He also tortures Black Satin to death. He also interrogates Edmund's ''horse'' to death in order to obtain a signed confession that Edmund is the servant of Satan.

* NoodleIncident: The "Swiss Invasion", which is mentioned in passing by one of the lords at the start of the episode, but never elaborated on. It could, of course, have been an attempt by the Swiss to get revenge for the international treachery displayed by the King

* LaserGuidedKarma: The Witchsmeller Pursuivant is depicted as a sadistic maniac who falsely accuses and burns people for witchcraft in droves, [[DisproportionateRetribution intentionally out of personal spite]] using pure lunacy. [[spoiler: He ends up burned alive by what is heavily implied to be real witchcraft he overlooked.]]

* NoodleIncident: The "Swiss Invasion", which is mentioned in passing by one of the lords at the start of the episode, but never elaborated on.

* EvilIsPetty: It is heavily implied what trials the Witchsmeller doesn't order out of [[InsaneTrollLogic pure lunacy]] are intentional frame ups to take revenge on people for making slights or insults against him.

England, 1495. The Black Plague is ravaging Europe, leaving millions dead on its wake and rendering King Richard IV [[UpToEleven even crazier than usual]]. Being the educated, logical, reasonable bunch of fellows they are, the Privy Council concludes that the plague is the work of a witch. And when you're in the [[TheDungAges Middle Ages]] and have witch problems, [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} who you gonna call?]]

* KangarooCourt: Edmund's trial by the Witchsmeller Pursuivant is this UpToEleven. Where to begin? Edmund's entire case is thrown out when the Witchsmeller convinces Prince Harry that they should ignore the testimony of a witch pleading for his life, Percy -- who is defending Edmund -- is accused of being a witch and is also ignored, and when Baldrick counters the Witchsmeller's assertion that carrots grow on trees, the Witchsmeller uses his knowledge of carrots to 'prove' Baldrick is a witch as well. He then produces a signed confession by a horse, an old woman Edmund has never met and an obvious poodle that he claims is Edmund's son. It is almost fitting to the ridiculousness of the situation that our heroes apparently escape with [[AssPull hitherto unused and never mentioned again magical powers of teleportation]].

* WorldOfHam: Granted, the first series in general is super-hammy compared to the ones which would follow, but as the episode with the largest guest cast it's taken UpToEleven in this one, especially in the trial scene. Sadly, the King and the Witchsmeller don't appear together, which would have brought the ham to ridiculous levels.

----

* ShoutOut: The final scene, in which [[spoiler: the Queen twitches her nose, creating some magical sparkles]] is a reference to ''Series/{{Bewitched}}''.

->''I was hearing about your work in Taunton. Imagine that -- every single person in the village having an affair with the same duck.''

* TheWitchHunter: Although this job appears to consist of convicting people he doesn't like on farcical evidence. He manages to completely miss the only confirmed witch in the kingdom, [[spoiler: to his cost.]]

** It is implied that the Witchsmeller Pursuivant was really a witch himself, as when he is killed the king recovers from his illness and everything goes back to normal (for them) -- or possibly Edmund's mother, who likely ended the spell to keep Edmund from being thought guilty still.

1495. The Black Plague is ravaging Europe, leaving millions dead on its wake and rendering King Richard IV [[UpToEleven even crazier than usual]]. Being the educated, logical, reasonable bunch of fellows they are, the Privy Council concludes that the plague is the work of a witch. And when you're in the [[TheDungAges Middle Ages]] and have witch problems, [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} who you gonna call?]]

The next morning, the three are tied to stakes and set fire upon. However, during the ordeal, Edmund inadvertently drops the doll into the fire.

* BurnTheWitch: The titular "witch-hunter" convicts Edmund and his associates of witchcraft in an absurd Kangaroo Court, and they are sentenced to be burned alive. However, the Queen provides them a doll that resembles the Witchsmeller, who catches fire himself while they're unharmed. The episode implies that the Queen is the real witch.

* KangarooCourt: Edmund's trial by the Witchsmeller Pursuivant is this UpToEleven. Where to begin: Edmund's entire case is thrown out when the Witchsmeller convinces Prince Harry that they should ignore the testimony of a witch pleading for his life, Percy -- who is defending Edmund -- is accused of being a witch and is also ignored, and when Baldrick counters the Witchsmeller's assertion that carrots grow on trees, the Witchsmeller uses his knowledge of carrots to 'prove' Baldrick is a witch as well. He then produces a signed confession by a horse, an old woman Edmund has never met and an obvious poodle that he claims is Edmund's son. It is almost fitting to the ridiculousness of the situation that our heroes apparently escape with [[AssPull hitherto unused and never mentioned again magical powers of teleportation]].
** The ending reveals that this was the work of the Queen, actually being a real witch.

* MortonsFork: The "ordeal by axe" that is one of the Witchsmeller's favourite methods of finding potential witches. If the person undergoing the trial is a witch, then the axe will bounce off their necks harmlessly, and they'll be burned at the stake... and if they're not a witch, the axe just beheads and kills them.

** That maybe why they kept them apart in the first place.

The Black Plague is ravaging Europe, leaving millions dead on its wake and rendering King Richard IV [[UpToEleven even crazier than usual]]. Being the educated, logical, reasonable bunch of fellows they are, the Privy Council concludes that the plague is the work of a witch. And when you're in the [[TheDungAges Middle Ages]] and have witch problems, [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} who you gonna call?]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: The Witchsmeller Pursuivant is depicted as a sadistic maniac who falsely accuses and burns people for witchcraft in droves, [[DisproportionateRetribution intentionally out of personal spite]] using [[InsaneTrollLogic pure lunacy]]. [[spoiler: He ends up burned alive by what is heavily implied to be real witchcraft he overlooked.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The Witchsmeller's accusation that Edmund and his horse have been partaking in "frenzied, naked and obscene Satanic orgies" would have had a somewhat more benign meaning -- essentially a highly ritualised, decadent way of worshipping the devil -- at the time the episode was set, compared to [[BestialityIsDepraved the implications]] that most modern viewers would come away with.

* AmoralAttorney: The Witchsmeller Pursuivant has no qualms using obviously ludicrous evidence and arguments to get the verdict he wants.

* InsaneTrollLogic: The Witchsmeller's questioning of Edmund is chock-full of preposterous arguments and inferences designed to provide "evidence" of his guilt.

* KickTheDog: The Witchsmeller not only burnt an old lady, but her cat as well, as Percy repeatedly notes. He also tortures Black Satin to death.
* LaserGuidedKarma: The Witchsmeller Pursuivant falsely accuses countless innocents of witchcraft and burns them alive. He ends up burned alive himself, thanks to ''actual'' witchcraft that he completely missed.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: During the trial, the Witchsmeller asks if anyone can see the son of Satan in the courtroom. This is followed by a pan across the viewing gallery, which just happens to contain a horned, red-skinned man among the crowd, yet no-one acts as if there's anything unusual about him. It's then that the Witchsmeller produces the actual "son" (a poodle).

* PrecisionFStrike: Edmund gives one to Baldrick when they're about to be burned at the stake in "The Witchsmeller Pursuivant". Though in some versions the swear is apparently censored by a cough.

* KangarooCourt: Played ridiculously straight.

* BurnTheWitch

* WitchHunt: Sadly, the Witchsmeller's methods as depicted in this episode are only a slight exaggeration of those employed by real-life Witchfinders (such as Matthew Hopkins, who the Witchsmeller is loosely based on), as was the "kill any suspected witch, and if they're innocent, no big deal because they'll go to heaven anyway" attitude espoused by the Witchsmeller and others. The clearest (and even then debatable) drift from standard real accounts is the Witchsmeller deliberately framing at least some of his accused [[DisprortionateRetribution out of petty spite]].