Thursday 22 August 2013

Digression: The White Queen, Episode 8

She left King Ed's lust slakéd
(And that just can't be fakéd)
You'll get to see her naked!
It's Jane Shore (Hubba! Schwing!)


1st man with no helmet: I shall slash at your body, avoiding your unprotected head.
2nd MWNH: Me too, trying to avoid the trees in this oddly-placed forest.
MWNH: Have at you! Yeah me!
Jasper: Well done Henry Tudor (redirects to Henry VII)! For it is you, albeit played by a different actor.
Henry: Thank you Uncle Jasper Tudor, in case anyone wasn't paying attention. But answer me one thing?
Jasper: Of course, my nephew Henry Tudor, whom I am training to fight to recover his kingdom!
Henry: If this is Brittany, how come it looks suspiciously like Barnet?
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Margaret: Thank you your gracious, wonderful majesty. Thank you so much. Thank you so, SO much. Thank you...
Elizabeth: Hush, fool. What are you thanking me for anyway?
Margaret: For allowing my son Henry (Tudor, obviously), to return from exile.
Elizabeth: Well, now that Edward feels secure on his throne, with nobody seriously thinking about challenging Yorkist rule, with an heir and a spare poised to grow up into fine men, then.... Gosh that's a nasty cough you have there.
Margaret: <splutter, choke>
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Edward: FOOOOOOOD! More food. Fish. 'Shnishe, fish. <hic>
Random ginger ninja: Oh really father, you shouldn't eat so much.
Edward: Nonshenshe my daughter Elizhabeshch, shubshequently to become mother of Henry VIII and shit. Jusht in cashe any viewersh haven't been keeping up. <hic>
Elizabeth: What viewers? They're all watching The Hairy Bikers by now.
Edward: Ah. I *wondered* where barrel-dude had got to...
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Margaret (sings): "Henry's coming come, he's coming home, he's coming home! Three lions and some fleurs-de-lys on a shirt, golden crown still gleaming..."
Stanley: It could be worse, it could be Motown. Still, Henry's not coming back as contender for the throne. For that, someone would have to ask God for a miracle.
[Margaret pulls handle, drops through hatch and slides down James Bond-style bendy perspex tube into chapel, landing on her knees]
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Edward: <cough, splutter, retch>
Elizabeth: Are you *sure* you're all right?
Edward: Never better. [collapses]
Elizabeth: Help! The king has fallen over! See this chessboard!
Edward: I thought you meant me.
Elizabeth: That too.
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Edward: Send for Frodo.
Elizabeth: Nonsense. You'll get better soon.
Elizabeth: Thomas?
Thomas Grey: Yes mother, in case the audience aren't clear who I am?
Elizabeth: Go and get Frodo, the Privy Council, and Uncle Anthony.
Barrel Dude (sings): And Uncle Tom Cobbley and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll.....
Elizabeth: I thought you were doing the Hairy Bikers show?
Barrel dude: Oops! [dodges quickly back to BBC2]
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Frodo: Get my 4-hoof drive sports utility horse ready!
Anne: Wassup?
Frodo: Edward's sick.
Anne: But his sons, you know, the princes. In the tower. They're just boys. Temporarily...
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Stanley: Mags? Did you order God to do this?
Margaret: Look, my husband Lord Stanley - why do we never get to find out your first name? - if the queen can't cure her with witchcraft, then it's her fault.
Stanley: Sounds reasonable. But I think Henry Tudor should stay in Brittany for now. You know, options open and all that.
Margaret: Righty-ho. Still; one down, eh? [crosses Edward off list]
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Duchess Cecily: Frodo! Anne! Nice to see you. Beware of the queen. Ah - Brackenbury! Buckingham! Another Extra! Pointy-Headed Guard! Barrel Dude!
Barrel Dude: Aaaarf-ernoooon!
[Awkward pause]
Barrel Dude: Sorry. [dodges quickly back to BBC2]
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Edward: You'll all make sure my son becomes a good king, won't you?
Frodo: Oh yes, absolutely.
Edward: Frodo, look after my boy.
Elizabeth: *Him?* You're avin' a laugh!
Edward: No, he's definitely Lord Protector. I googled it.
Elizabeth: Shite
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Edward: Dying now. Love you. Bye.
Elizabeth: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
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Elizabeth: Why aren't you bowing to me?
Duchess: We're equal now. Both mothers to a king. Or in my case, two kings.
Elizabeth: What a giveaway...
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Duchess: Get the boy. Don't trust the witch.
Anne: Right. She had George executed, poisoned my sister, dropped a slug in my mulled wine and caused a major anticyclone to blow in from the west.
Frodo: But surely -
Anne: FROH-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!
Frodo: Right. This is me going to be Lord Protector. See me running?
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Anne: Sir Robert? Throw Jane Shore out. We don't want her sort here.
Barrel Dude, wearing Posh Doublet and hoping nobody notices: Roighty-ho. What soort is thaaart ennyhoo?
Anne: She's an actress, wearing an authentic costume.
Jane Shore: 'Tis an fair cop. Shall we both pop over to BBC2 then?
Barrel Dude: Praaper jaaarb!
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Jasper: Change of plan. Stayin' ere like.
Henry: Is it God's will?
Jasper: It's from higher up than that. It's your mother's orders.
Henry: Merde.
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Barrel Dude: Oi'm tekkin' the boy ter Lunnon.
Edward V: I don't think so, fatso. You could never put up with my ill-tempered petulance long enough! [puts frog down Barrel Dude's hose, spill ink on royal warrant]
Barrel Dude: Why are you such a nasty little tick?
Edward V: So the viewers start thinking that murder is too good for me.
Grey: What viewers?
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Man in darkened doorway, might be Anthony, but by this point nobody really cares: Jane? What are you doing here?
Jane Shore: <sob> I am banished from court, and I can't find Hastings anywhere in the script.... I could have been in EastEnders you know,  but I thought this would be a serious costume drama <breaks down sobbing>
Whoever he is: Fancy a shag?
Jane Shore: Oh what the hell.... Go on then. Just explain the political situation first.
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Frodo: You're safe here.
Edward V: Says you. I think you're all horrible. You're the Duke and Duchess of Poop. And you live in a castle made of poop.
Anne: I'll just go and make sure there are enough pillows on your bed...
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Elizabeth: Bum. Right, everyone into sanctuary, while I blame everyone else.
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Stanley: She's taken the whole treasury off into sanctuary.
Margaret: That's bad.
Stanley: No, that's good - it means she doesn't trust Frodo and vice versa.
Margaret: But then it would be terrible - they'd fight each other, the throne would be vacant and - ah. You know, I was right to marry you, you devious bastard.
Stanley: One does one's best.
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Barrel Dude: All in th'abbey.
Frodo: Bugger. Go and arrest some people. Lots of people.
Barrel Dude: Righty-ho.
Frodo: What could she do from sanctuary though?
Anne: Well, last time she summoned up a magical fog to conceal the fact that you were doing the Battle of Barnet with only 15 men.
Frodo: Would it help if I keep saying how loyal I am to King Rotten Tick Snot-Features?
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Princess Ginger: Mother! We're surrounded by seven pointy-headed guards! All is lost!
Elizabeth: Hush, fool. Do you think your father was intimidated to face a Lancastrian army four times the size of his own?
Princess: You mean there were twelve of them? Gosh, that *is* quite a lot, yes...
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Margaret: In witchy what's-her-face's absence, might I make myself subvers- er, I mean *useful* to you?
Anne: Whatever.
Frodo: Erm, we're going to crown thingy. Yes. Definitely.
Anne: Not bothered. See me not getting a new frock? That's me not being bothered.
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Hooded figure: Let me in. [removes hood]
Elizabeth: Jane Shore! I thought you were with Hastings!
Jane: He's not even in the script. Look, Anthony has a plan. Coronation, pointy-headed guards go away, everything is whoopy-doo.
Elizabeth: Hmmm.
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Stanley: A COMPROMISE? EVERYONE STAYING ALIVE? THIS IS A DISASTER! GET STUCK IN!
Margaret: Righty-ho.
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Margaret: You know, old rumours, Edward was a bastard, that sort of thing. I won't stand for it!
Elizabeth: Who said so?
Margaret: The entire army. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, there's only seven of them.
Elizabeth: Why are you telling me?
Margaret: Because I'm stirring things - er, I mean I'm genuinely concerned. You know me. Oh, and Anne is refusing to get a new frock for your son's coronation. I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, trust Frodo by all means.
Elizabeth: Shite.
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Stanley: ....and Jane Shore's been passing messages for her. Wouldn't worry about it if I were you...
Frodo: Why are you worried?
Stanley: I care only for you, your stumpy tousle-haired magnificence.
Frodo: Ah. Right.
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Jane: How's the poem coming on?
Anthony: "There was a young lady name Shore, Who was known as a bit of a -"
Jane: Yes?
Anthony: Can't think of a rhyme...
Jane: My what a big sword you have...
Anthony: Why thank you.
Jane: I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to that man who's just burst in.
Anthony: Shite.
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Frodo: I am sworn to protect them all.
Anne: Yes, but the best way to avoid violence is with more violence.
Frodo: Fair enough.
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Jane: I'm being forced to walk naked through London. Why is everyone looking at me?
Omnes: Er, no idea love... <cough, splutter, make tempera-on-panel paintings>
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Elizabeth: Right family, gather round - everything's a bit shite.
Chorus of Woodvilles: You think we hadn't noticed?
Elizabeth: We need a double...
Random Woodvilles: But the bar isn't open yet.
Elizabeth: No, I mean dressing up Harry Potter as the prince.
Harry Potter: EXPECTO CONFUSIORUM!
Elizabeth: I CURSE FRODO OF GLOUCESTER WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE ALL GOOGLED! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Anne: She has cursed you! I recognise the signs of overacting.
Frodo: ARGH! MY ARM! [morphs into Laurence Olivier in Richard III]
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Barrel Dude: Come to search the house, y'ladyship...
Margaret: B-b-b-b-but we're on your side. I think. How many sides are there now?
Barrel Dude: Let's have a look in here...
Margaret: THAT'S MY BIBLE! IT'S SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR!
Barrel Dude: Fair enough. You're good to go.
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Elizabeth: Let's do something so complicated nobody will be able to follow it.
Princess Ginger: Is anyone still trying?
Elizabeth: That's why it's so fiendishly clever.
Princess Ginger: Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...
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Frodo: Look Snotty Tick-Features, I've brought your brother to see you! [Brandishes ventriloquist's dummy with bag over it's head]
Edward V: Hello Titch.
Frodo [through gritted teeth, while waving dummy]: Greetings, your greatly gracious grace.
Edward: No need to be so formal, Richard. Why don't you call me Bouncy Bubble-Bonce like you used to, and offer me a bottle of beer?
Frodo: Shite...
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Anne: He'll only grow up to be even more annoying, you know.
Frodo: Well what do you suggest, daughter of a family with an established record of getting rid of kings on a regular basis with no regard for succession?
Anne: Make yourself king.
Frodo: I couldn't possible. It would be stealing.
Duchess: No it wouldn't.
Frodo: I can't say yes it would or it would look like *I'm* doing the bad panto thing.
Stanley: Well there you go.
Duchess: Edward was married before.
Frodo: Only a few times.
Anne: Well there you are.
Frodo: OK, summon the MPs and get the free beer ready...
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Margaret: Dissolve the princes in an acid bath, marry the Ginger Ninja to Henry and bob's yer uncle! What could possibly go wrong?
Stanley: That's the spirit!
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Margaret's doctor: Forgive the plague mask, but I have plague.
Ginger: Eauw.
Doctor: Parliament have been bribed with free beer to declare your marriage invalid and your children illegitimate. Frodo is now King.
Ginger: He can't!
Doctor: He has!
Elizabeth: Shite.
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Anthony: Did you read my e-mail?
Frodo: Makes no difference. I'm the King.
Anthony: Oh no you're not!
Frodo: Oh yes I am!
Anthony: Hah! Got you!
Frodo: KILL HIM.
Anthony: Shite.
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Ginger: Mother! You will be the death of us all. Except me, obviously. I'm going to be queen.
Elizabeth: You've had a vision haven't you?
Ginger: Yes. Well, that and google.
Elizabeth: And do we get a second series?
Ginger: Dream on.

Friday 16 August 2013

Digression: The White Queen, Episode 7

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'll caper and he'll frolic
As if he had the cholic
He'll die an alcoholic
It's George of Clarence (boooooooo)

Edward: I'm pished again, an' me wife's havin' another thingy. Y'know. Baby. Hurrah! [falls off Jane Shore]
Stanley: Indeed sir.
Clarence: [Smoulders]
-----------------
Elizabeth: AAARGH! CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT MUMMY!
Margaret: Ma'am?
Elizabeth: IF YOU WAN'T TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL, GO AND GET A JAR OF ELBOW GREASE.
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Stanley: Wassup Mags?
Margaret: Been sent on a fool's errand, but at least gives me an opportunity to measure the pillows in the royal nursery.You know, in case that should ever come in handy...
Stanley: Righty-ho.
----------------------
Clarence: Look at you.
Edward: I know, gorgsheoush, aren't I? [falls off Jane Shore again]
Clarence: We didn't fight a war just so we could have a good time.
Edward: Oh yesh we did. [hic]
Clarence: Oh no we didn't.
Frodo: Oh for pity's sake, when did this turn into bad panto?
Omnes: Episode 1!
Clarence: Look, why don't we invade France? Then I can rule something instead of standing in a corner looking pissed-off all the time.
Edward: Good idea. Bugger off to Franshe then. [falls over]
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Margaret: God? Me again. Please can you give me sign I was right to come here?
Flustered lady-in-waiting: Come quickly. The baby's stuck.
Margaret: Cheers God! [High-fives crucifix, jitterbugs down corridor]
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Elizabeth: AAAAAAAAAARGH! [Plop]
Random lady-in-waiting: Oi! Beaufort! Hold this... [squelch]
Elizabeth: Why isn't he crying?
Margaret: Because I'm so good with kids? [Baby starts wailing in instinctive Yorkist terror]
Elizabeth: Oh thank you! Thank you *so* much! Thank you so, SO much, thank you -
Margaret: Hush, fool.
---------------------------
Frodo: Anne - now we've suddenly acquired a baby, I've brought someone to see you.
Anne: Oh no, not your mother!
Frodo: Worse. *Your* mother.
Anne: FROH-DOH!?!?!? What WERE you thinking?
Frodo: I was thinking I could briefly explain c15th inheritance law with an emphasis on why my brother George is a Bad Egg.
Anne: Whoopy-doo.
----------------------------
Countess: Set me free, why don't you, baby?
Anne: Oh for pity's sake mum - last time it was Gloria Gaynor, now you've turned into Diana Ross.
Countess: Your husband is trying to steal my fortune.
Anne: If memory serves me right, you were the one who left me on a battlefield with an incomprehensible French running gag.
Frodo: Yes, and you married her to a psychotic Lancastrian emu.
Anne: [whispers] It's e-MO, Frodo.
Frodo: That too. Always get those two mixed up. Although come to think of it a running gag about an enraged Lancastrian emu would be pretty funny too.
Countess: Been done. Can we get back to the point?
Frodo: Which is that you're actually safer here, oddly enough. Otherwise the king could have you declared dead.
Countess: Dead?
Frodo: It's a legal nicety by which your head is no longer considered legally part of your body.
Countess: Charming! Anne - won't you stand by me?
Anne: Now you're doing Ben E. King! What IS the matter with you? I'll stand by Frodo. At least he doesn't keep referencing Motown[1] lyrics.
Countess: Shite.
------------------------------------
Clarence: ... and he thinks he's safe because he has sons. Princes. In the tower. And we're setting this up as some sort of Agatha Christie-style whodunnit where we all have a motive.
Isabelle: George? Are you talking to the baby or the viewers?
Clarence: What viewers?
Isabelle: Fair point.
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Edward: Get the lads out!
Extras: OO-ARH!
Edward: We will invade thingy. Franshe.
Extras: OOOO-*AAAAAAAAAAARH!*
[Edward falls over, Anthony Woodville strops off shaking his head, being the only one who's read up about the 1475 campaign on Wikipedia]
Elizabeth: What ARE you doing?
Edward: You know. Ladsh night out. 'Ave a few bevvies, start a war.
Elizabeth: And consider the geopolitical realities of making George regent of France.
Edward: What'sh that noishe? [hic]
Elizabeth: Margaret Beaufort's ears flapping.
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French lookout: English ships sir! Added by CGI!
[King of France shakes head sadly and wanders off]
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Margaret [typing e-mail]: Dear Jasper and Henry (TUDOR, THAT IS), having a rotten time, hope the invasion fails, weather continues fine, hate this baby. May murder him one day. Love and kisses, Mum.
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Anne: How's *your* son of York?
Isabelle: Still Mr Grumpyboots. Still, when I have a son everything's gonna be alright.
Anne: Ah well, I suppose Bob Marley is am improvement on Motown...
Elizabeth: What are you two talking about? Any news from France?
Isabelle: George writes that he hopes I'll bear a son. Then Anne and I will have one each.
Elizabeth: My mother had 14 so NA-NA-NEE-NA-NA!
Anne and Isabelle, in unison: Shite.
Elizabeth: Margaret, you're the one with the flappy ears and the VOD remote control, what did they say?
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Isabelle: She cursed me! She's a witch! That storm was her fault! If I have another girl it will be her fault!
Anne: So what you're saying is that witchcraft is the only rational explanation for storms around the British Isles and girls being born? Duh!
Isabelle: Look, if your husband can rule the North from 100 miles away in Warwick, ANYTHING's possible!
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George: Let's get stuck in!
Edward: Louis is prepared to make us an offer. Let's talk.
George: We came here to make me regent!
Edward: Oh no we didn't!
George: Oh yes we did!
Frodo: Please, not this again...
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Frodo [typing e-mail]: Dear Anne, It appears Edward is only in France for the Duty Free. George is furious. It is all, as your family would put it, shite. Love and slightly lopsided hugs, Frodo.
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Anne: Look what Edward's sent!
Frodo: Gold. He tries to buy me off. And it's not even made into a ring. From now on it's every man for himself.
Anne: And his wife?
[Frodo stalks off grimly without replying] 
Anne: Shite.
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Countess: Richard is going to divorce you.
Anne: But he luuuuuuuuuuurves me.
Countess: Look, when a man loves a woman...
Anne: Percy Sledge, yeah [1]. What's your point?
Countess: Leave him. It'll be you and me and all our fortune.
Anne: But I lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve him.
Countess: Shite.
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Stanley: My Lords, Ladies and Gentleman - please raise your glasses, even though they haven't been introduced yet, to the King and Queen. And make sure your mobile phones are switched to silent. In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of castle pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the roof...
[Clarence knocks glass over and stormed out]
Elizabeth: ED-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD! DO SOMETHING!
Edward: I'll get mother to talk to him.
Elizabeth: You might as well send him more money for wine.
Edward: So it's mumsy or malmsey? See what I did there?
[Elizabeth storms out in a huff]
Edward: Shite.
------------------------------------
Clarence: Look. That witch has poisoned my 18-year old arthritic dog.
Frodo: Obviously. What other possible cause could there be? Duh.
------------------------------------
Isabelle [typing e-mail]: Yo Anne - The Queen is trying to poison us. George has hired someone he got through www.welldodgysorcerers.com to protect us. What could possibly go wrong? Apart from all of us dying? Love and portentous coughing, Izzy.
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Anne: How is she?
Clarence: Dead.
Anne: As Margaret of Clouseau once put it "Eau beur heur heur..."
Clarence: I did quite fancy her, you know.
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Countess: Is it true?
Anne: Yes. How can you be so calm?
Countess: Take a good look at my face. You'll see my smile looks out of place; if you were closer it's easy to trace the tracks of my tears.
Anne: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, yeah.[2]
-----------------------------------------
Clarence: Damn and blast you, Edward. With a special side order of more damn. And a flagon of blast. And an assortment for damn-and-blast flavoured chocolates for your witchy wife. [storms out]
Elizabeth: ED-WAAAAAAAAARD! Your brother is accusing me of being a witch.If you don't do something, I will.
Edward: Such as?
Elizabeth: I'll put a curse on him.
Edward: And how will that help to allay suspicion of witchcraft?
Elizabeth: Oh.
----------------------------------------
Elizabeth: Oi! Nevill! Over here.
Anne: Your grace?
Elizabeth: Did George say I murdered Izzy?
Anne: Erm, well...
Margaret: So that's a yes.
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Stanley: All going splendidly, eh old girl?
Margaret: A young woman has died. I'm so pious I can't show any pleasure.
Stanley: So who did kill her?
Margaret: Probably that bloke from welldodgysorcerers.com. Apparently he gave her a protecting potion made of a mixture of lead, arsenic, hemlock and bacardi breezer.
Stanley: Most probably the bacardi that did her in then.
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Edward: Stanley - you have clearance to arrest Clarence.
Stanley: Righty-ho!
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Stanley: Bugger. Missed him. Still, got the well dodgy sorcerer. Guards - hand him over to the Trade Description Hangman!
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Masked actor: Come ye and praise him, our glorious King/He's done it through witchcraft and Frodo's gold ring/A drunk and a shagger, what man wanteth more?/He still at the top and he's bonking Jane Shore!
Elizabeth: ED-WAAAAAAAAAAAARD! Where did you hire these guys?
Edward: I thought you hired them.
Elizabeth: Let's have a look at the programme - "The Duke of Clarence's Theatre Company". Oh.
Anne (in gazelle mask): Richard?
Clarence (in bull mask): Actually it's me.
Anne: You shouldn't be here.
Clarence: Well, neither should barrel dude.
Man in lion mask: Eve-nen!
George: THE QUEEN IS A WITCH! THE KING IS A MURDERER! AND HE ONLY WEARS ONE SPAULDER!
Edward: He's gone mad. Frodo- get him.
Frodo: He's right about the spaulder bit though.
Elizabeth: FROH-DOH!
Frodo: Going after him now. Look, this is me running...
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Clarence (behind bars): ED-WAAAAAAARD!?
Elizabeth: You *have* to get rid of him.
Edward: OK, I'll prosecute him for treason.
Duchess: Oh my poor Georgy-Porgy.
Anne: FROH-DOH? This is the Queen's doing.
Frodo: We are the three sons of York. How can one woman get between us?
Anne: Well if you form an equilateral triangle, and the woman stands in the middle, then...
Duchess: Hush, fool.
----------------------------------------
Elizabeth: Margaret, have you ever known loss?
Margaret: Are you kidding? I've buried two husbands. One of them wasn't even dead.Or at least it was hard to tell the difference....
-----------------------------------------
Elizabeth: How about if George says he's really, *really* sorry and promises not to do it again, will you let him off?
Edward: Can't.
Duchess: Must.
Edward: Shan't.
Duchess: Shite.
Edward: Look - as a special concession he can choose how to die.
Duchess: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! But he's my ickle-wickle poosie-kins.
Edward: Tough.
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Anthony: He's going to be drowned in a barrel of malmsey.
Elizabeth: He's doing it to punish us. That was Edward's duty-free.
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Stanley: Good news - Edward's going to let Henry Tudor be Earl of Richmond again.
Margaret: Whoopy-doo! Do they fear he will be a rival?
Stanley: Well if he is someone will have to get rid of the King, the two princes, Frodo and *his* son.
Margaret: [Scribbles in notebook] .... and Edward of Middleham, so called because they live at Warwick castle. Cheers!
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[1] The Armed Man is fully aware that neither Ben E. King nor Gloria Gaynor nor Percy Sledge were Motown artists. But compared to c15th people having c19th glassware and drainpipes, c18th trousers, c20th zips and c14th pointy helmets this is considered a minor liberty.
[2] Now they *were* hard-core Motown.