With his father away at the Crusades, Edmund comes up with a plan to prove his brother is illegitimate, thus making him Prince Regent. The Blackadder pilot was shot but never aired on terrestrial TV in the UK (although some scenes were shown in the 25th anniversary special Blackadder Rides Again). One notable difference in the pilot, as in many pilots, is the casting. Baldrick is played not by Tony Robinson, but by Philip Fox. Another significant difference is that the character of Prince Edmund presented in the pilot is much closer to the intelligent, conniving Blackadder of the later series than the sniveling, weak Edmund of the original series. Set in the year 1582, the script of the pilot is roughly the same as the episode "Born to be King", albeit with some different jokes, with some lines appearing in other episodes of the series.

With the king away fighting in the Crusades, the arrival of Lord Dougal McAngus provides Edmund with an opportunity to seize power. But he really should have taken a closer look at those documents declaring brother Harry to be illegitimate...