How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 1)

How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 1)
Season 8, Episode 1 Series Episode 229
Airdate	September 15, 1971
Written by	Ed Jurist
Directed by	William Asher
Episode Guide
Previous "Samantha and the Antique Doll"	Next "How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 2)"

How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 1) is the first episode of the eighth season, and the 229th episode of the Bewitched series. The episode was completed by June 29, 1971.

Summary

On a tour of the Tower of London, Samantha gets mixed up with a hateful witch who sends her back in time to the court of King Henry VIII.

Plot

Samantha and Darrin are staying at their hotel in London when Endora rings them. They both answer, using two different phones, and the scene snaps to the Stephens' house where Endora and the children are sitting on the couch while Endora uses Tabitha's toy phone. Samantha asks Tabitha how they are doing, and Tabitha says that they all went swimming in the pool. Darrin becomes angry at the revelation that Endora zapped up the pool, but Samantha tells him not to drag it out on a long-distance phone call. Endora assures them that the call is not costing them anything, as she is using Tabitha's phone.

Darrin demands to know why Endora could not use the regular phone, and she replies: "Because there's one thing it can't do." Darrin asks, "What's that?" as his phone sprinkles water into his face. Endora, on the other end of the phone line, laughingly asks Samantha if "he got it", and Samantha says he did. She hangs up.

Later, Darrin and Samantha are on a tour of the Tower of London when Samantha comes across a painting with a nobleman in it sitting on a horse's back. The man talks to Samantha, and she stays behind as the tour continues on without anyone noticing her absence. The man in the painting is Sir Herbert Wellingford and he tells Samantha that a hateful witch placed him under a curse and doomed him to remain in the painting for one-thousand years. Samantha is shocked. The man explains that he fell in love with a witch in the court of King Henry VIII and asked her to marry him. Samantha asks why the other "hateful" witch would object to that, and the man says that he was already married to the hateful witch when he proposed to the other witch. He says that he is not sure if her powers can release him, but he begs her to try. She agrees, and zaps him out of the painting. He kisses her hand and says that he is her slave and will do anything for her.

Samantha asks him to let go of her hand. He does so, and then a witch appears. She abuses the man, and demands to know who gave Samantha the right to reverse her curse. Samantha says that nobody did, and apologises. The witch, Malvina, does not accept the apology and demands that Samantha put the man "back where he belongs". Samantha zaps the man back into the painting, and Malvina says to Samantha that she will show her what they do with meddlers.

Samantha begins to speak, but Malvina freezes her and recites an incantation that sends Samantha back to the court of King Henry VIII. Samantha is sent back, and an old man encounters her. Samantha and the old man hear a cannon being blasted off, and the man explains that the Queen has been beheaded. Samantha is questioned by the man on her dress sense, but she enters King Henry VIII's court. In the palace, she is confronted by a group of men. One is a musician and asks Samantha her name. She says that she does not know, and the man asks her whether she can sing or play any instruments. Samantha takes the instrument the man is holding, and says that she recalls playing something like that when she was a child, and says that the instrument is called a lute. The man says that she can sing and play for His Majesty and he will teach her some of the king's favourites. Later, in the dining room, His Majesty is seen eating with the rest of his court and commenting on the execution of his latest wife, Catherine, when Samantha enters the room and sings and plays the lute, now wearing a long blue dress and hat and a golden veil. King Henry is very pleased and orders one of his servants to go and bring Samantha to the seat beside him. The servant seats Samantha next to the king, who comments on Samantha's lovely voice after asking her what her name is, to which she responds: "I know not." The king says that "Iknownot" is a strange name and she must be Irish. The king says that his late wife Catherine was a singer in the palace. He asks Samantha if she would like to stay in the palace and take Catherine's place as a singer. Samantha agrees.

Later on in a private room of the palace, Samantha and the group of men she met, including the man who taught her the king's favourite songs, are interrupted by Henry walking in and complimenting everyone, before demanding that everyone leave except for Samantha. She wants to go with the others, but Henry requests she stay. He says that he would not force her to do anything against her will, but the palace is more comfortable than the dungeon. Samantha agrees to stay. Henry keeps trying to grab her, but she keeps retreating. He asks her not to, but she says that she will if he will stop advancing. He pretends to stop, but then grabs her as she struggles to get away. He says that he should make her become his wife and that he should make her a lady in waiting, but she refuses, and he asks her if that means that she would not like to be his wife. She says no. The episode ends with Samantha struggling to get away from Henry, but failing.

Gallery

Endora makes a toll-free call.

Trivia

General

• Beginning with this episode, Bewitched was moved from Thursday night to Wednesday, opposite CBS's The Carol Burnett Show.

Casting

• David White did not appear and received credit only.
• Victor Rogers was credited as Nobleman.

Bloopers and Continuity Errors

• Samantha is able to undo Malvina's spell and release Sir Herbert from the painting. It was established early in the series that only the witch who cast the spell can remove it.

Cast

• Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens
• Dick Sargent as Darrin Stephens
• Agnes Moorehead as Endora
• Ronald Long as Henry VIII
• Ivor Barry as Chamberlain
• Arlene Martel as Malvina
• Laurie Main as Guide
• Henry Oliver as Friar
• Victor Rogers as Sir Herbert Wellingford
• Gerald Peters as First Player
• Damian London as Second Player
• Mike Howden as Knight
• Walter Alzmann as Tourist
• Erin Murphy as Tabitha Stephens (uncredited)
• David and Greg Lawrence as Adam Stephens (uncredited)

See Also

• Season Eight
• Bewitched Episodes

Sources

• Bewitched, Season Eight episodes on Wikipedia. Retrieved on December 15, 2019.
• "How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 1)", episode cast on the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on December 15, 2019.