Mrs. Miggins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mrs. Miggins is a fictional character from the second and third seasons of the television series Blackadder, played in the latter by Helen Atkinson-Wood. There is a real-life pie shop called Mrs Miggins' of long standing in the Northumberland town of Hexham, near where Rowan Atkinson grew up, though whether this is the source of the character is unknown.
[edit] Blackadder II
| Blackadder character | |
| Mrs. Miggins | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation(s) | Pie shop proprietress |
| First appearance | Bells |
| Last appearance | Beer |
| Episode count | 4 |
| Played by | N/A |
In series two, Mrs. Miggins is the proprietor of a Pie Shop. She is often mentioned but never seen. Percy claims that she is "Bed-ridden from the nose down". It was also revealed that she planned to celebrate the return of Sir Walter Raleigh by making a commemorative pie in the shape of an enormous pie, prompting Lord Blackadder to remark, "What an imagination the woman has." Blackadder claims the cost of a 'slap up binge' at Mrs. Miggins' is three pence. She was effectively nothing but an unseen running gag.
[edit] Blackadder the Third
| Blackadder character | |
 |
|
| Mrs. Miggins | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Coffee Shop Proprietress |
| First appearance | Dish and Dishonesty |
| Last appearance | Duel and Duality |
| Episode count | 6 |
| Played by | Helen Atkinson-Wood |
In series three we meet her descendant, who now owns a coffee shop. Mr Blackadder is a regular visitor here, despite referring to her coffee as brown grit in hot water, and she in return regularly pops in to deliver buns to the royal kitchen. Mrs Miggins' coffee shop tends to move with the times and is generally inhabited by whichever group is 'in' at that moment in time, be it actors, poets, Frenchmen, etc. The customers tend to reflect the theme of the episode. Like her Elizabethan ancestor, Mrs Miggins also sells pies, although in an episode revolving around the French revolution she briefly stops selling pies and offers Chicken Pimpernel in a Scarlet sauce, Scarlet Chicken in a Pimpernel sauce or huge suspicious looking sausages (in fact horses' penises) in a Scarlet Pimpernel sauce. The Shop is also a favourite visiting spot for celebrities such as famous actors Mossop and Keanrick, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Samuel Johnson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Mrs. Miggins displayed a level of affection for Blackadder, although it was often returned with cold-hearted abuse. In one episode she sobs "I'd always hoped that you'd settle down and marry me, and that, together we might await the slither of tiny Adders." To this outpouring of emotion, Blackadder responds "If we were the last three humans on earth, I'd be trying to start a family with Baldrick!". In another scene where she jokingly calls Blackadder "only a little butler", Blackadder laughingly retorts "They do say, Mrs M, that verbal insults hurt more than physical pain.... They are, of course, wrong, as you will soon discover when I stick this toasting fork in your head."
Prince George never visits the coffee shop during the series, and only sees her when he is disguised as Blackadder in the palace's kitchen, where, unaware of his presence, she makes insulting remarks about his intelligence, or lack thereof.
Mrs Miggins left the coffee shop in the final episode of series three to pursue a relationship with Blackadder's mad Scottish cousin MacAdder. She was impressed by his skill with his 'claymore' (which she later discovers is a type of sword) and his ability to make her a set of wooden teeth. Though her fate is not known, MacAdder claimed that she would have to battle his wife Morag in the old highland way - bare-breasted and each carrying an eight-pound baby. However, MacAdder added that he looked forward to burying her in old the Highland manner - cynics would suggest this indicates that Morag would probably slay Mrs Miggins during the fight, while the more romantically inclined will prefer to believe MacAdder referred to burying her after spending the rest of her life with him.
There is one last mention of this character in the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth. When trying to pass the time before the final 'big push', Lieutenant George suggests singing songs, and refers to one called "Whoops, Mrs. Miggins, You're Sitting On My Artichokes." Whether this character was descended from or related to the others, and whether she was real or made up, was never said.
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