Horatio Hornblower (TV series)/Funny

Hornblower book series

• The dinner that Captain Cogshill hosts near the end, after he takes command and the court of inquiry concludes that there is no need for a trial. Cogshill then proceeds to get himself, Bush, and Buckland absolutely sloshed with half the drinks brewed in Europe. Bush's mood improves with each successive toast (such as "Glorious war, oceans of gore, prizes galore, and beauty ashore"). The text notes that for the rest of his life, Bush remembers it as "one of the must successful dinners he ever attended."
• Bush training signal midshipman in Hotspur.

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.

• Bush and one of the Lydia's other lieutenants make a bet—Bush knows exactly what the captain will say to Lady Barbara when she comes aboard. Cut to Hornblower greeting her with an incomprehensible, awkward cough, then back to Bush with a very satisfied look on his face.

Hornblower TV series

• From Retribution: I CAN'T SWIM!^[1]
  • Later on, when Archie questions his own bravery, Hornblower points out that he jumped off a cliff into the ocean accompanied by "A man afraid of heights and another who couldn't swim."
• And earlier in the same instalment: Archie's overly-interested reaction to the officer and lady kissing on the tower. Bush is not impressed.
• "Retribution" again: Hornblower is blowing up a Spanish fort, when Kennedy and Bush turn up to join him.

Horatio: Archie, are you mad?
Archie: Very possibly, but we thought you could use the company!

• Any moment when Captain Pellew chews out Hornblower for some reason or other ... then hands him a promotion or a new command. Horatio's stunned expression is priceless each time.
• In "The Wrong War," Hornblower's failed attempt to get on a horse. He ends up going around in circles, one foot in a stirrup, as Edrington watches with something approaching a smirk.

Edrington: I can see why you chose the Navy.

• The fantastically awkward moment in Series 2 where Horatio is showering on deck, and Captain Sawyer comes out of his cabin to arrest his lieutenants. The moment where Horatio realises why everyone has suddenly stopped and what they're looking at is immediately followed by his look of horror at having been caught prancing around starkers by his lunatic captain.
• The captains on the board of examination in The Fire Ships. After Hornblower and "Dreadnought" Foster have stopped the titular ship from destroying the fleet at anchor, they immediately start bickering and get so riled up that Hammond challenges Foster to a duel. Hornblower's bewildered and slightly hypothermic expression as he watches them makes the scene all the better. Pellew later describes them as "three men who would not agree on the color of an orange."

1. ↑ Shouted by a panicked Lieutenant Bush as Hornblower and Archie basically drag him off of a cliff with them to avoid getting killed by an exploding Spanish fort.