Blackadder

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Blackadder

Left to right: (Back) Tim McInnerny, Stephen
Fry and Hugh Laurie, (Front) Rowan Atkinson
and Tony Robinson in Blackadder Goes Forth
Genre Period, Situational comedy
Created by Richard Curtis
Rowan Atkinson
Ben Elton
Starring Rowan Atkinson
Tony Robinson
Tim McInnerny
Miranda Richardson
Stephen Fry
Hugh Laurie
Country of origin Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s) English
No. of series 4
No. of episodes 24 (plus 3 specials) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) John Lloyd
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 30 min. approx
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Picture format PAL (576i)
Audio format Monaural sound
Original run June 15, 1983 – November 2, 1989
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Blackadder is the generic name that encompasses four series of an acclaimed BBC One historical sitcom, along with several one-off installments. The first series was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, while subsequent episodes were written by Curtis and Ben Elton. The shows were produced by John Lloyd, and starred Rowan Atkinson as the eponymous anti-hero, Edmund Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as his sidekick/dogsbody, Baldrick.

In 2000, Blackadder Goes Forth ranked at 16 in the "100 Greatest British Television Programmes", a list created by the British Film Institute. Also in the 2004 TV poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom", Blackadder was voted the second best British sitcom of all time, topped by Only Fools and Horses

Contents

Although each series is set in a different time era, all follow the fortunes (or rather, misfortunes) of Edmund Blackadder (played by Atkinson), who in each is a member of an English family dynasty present at many significant periods and places in British history. Although his intelligence levels rise over the course of the series (the character starts as being quite unintelligent in the first and gradually becomes smarter and more perceptive through each passing generation while decreasing in social status), each Blackadder is similar in that they are all cynical cowardly opportunists concerned with maintaining and increasing their own status and fortunes, regardless of their surroundings. In each series Blackadder is usually a cynical (almost modern) voice puncturing the pretensions and stupidity of those around him, and what might — through modern eyes — be seen as the more ludicrous and insane follies of history (from the cruel and unjust medieval religious witch-hunts and the petty whims and insanities of various British monarchs to the bloodshed of World War I).

The lives of each of the four Blackadders are also entwined with his servant, each called Baldrick (played by Tony Robinson), who in each generation acts as Blackadder's dogsbody and who decreases in intelligence (and in personal hygiene standards) just as his master's intellect increases. Each Blackadder and Baldrick are also saddled with the company of a dim-witted aristocrat (who is arguably dimmer than even Baldrick) whose presence Blackadder must somehow tolerate. This role was taken in the first two series by Lord Percy Percy (Tim McInnerny), in the third series by Prince George, Prince Regent, and in the fourth by Lieutenant George, the latter two played by Hugh Laurie (see George (Blackadder character)).

Each series was set in a different period of English history, beginning in 1485 and ending in 1917 (with one special set on New Year's Eve 1999) comprising six half-hour episodes. The first series, made in 1983, was called The Black Adder. This was followed by Blackadder II in 1985, Blackadder the Third in 1987, and finally Blackadder Goes Forth in 1989. In addition to these, three specials were also made: Blackadder: The Cavalier Years appeared as a 15-minute insert during the 1988 Comic Relief telethon; Blackadder's Christmas Carol was a 45-minute Christmas installment, broadcast the same year; and Blackadder: Back & Forth was a 30-minute film originally shown in a special cinema at the Millennium Dome throughout 2000, and later transmitted by Sky and the BBC. A pilot episode was recorded in 1982, but has never been shown on television. In it Baldrick was played by a different actor (Philip Fox), and its plot was re-used for the episode "Born to be King" in Series 1. Although DVD releases never include the pilot (Atkinson specifically prevents it from being distributed, because he fears the reputation of the pilot will overshadow his acting skills in it)[citation needed], copies are known to circulate online.

It is implied in each series that the Blackadder character is a distant descendant of the previous one, although none of the Blackadders are mentioned during their series as having fathered any known children (it was even stated in "The Queen of Spain's Beard" (1.4) that Edmund was a virgin, although in a later episode he is alleged to have had relations with an old hag). Lord Blackadder had relationships with Kate and Lady Jane Pottle, and often engaged prostitutes, one of whom was even seen in the episode "Money", but whether he sired any offspring is never stated.

With each observed generation, his social standing is reduced, from prince, to lord, to royal butler to the Prince Regent, and finally a regular army captain in the trenches of World War I in Blackadder Goes Forth. However, he concurrently goes from being an incompetent fool (in the first series) to an ever more devious strategist in matters that affect him. The Macbeth-inspired witches, in "The Foretelling" (1.1) (thinking he is, in fact, Henry Tudor), promise that one day Blackadder will be king and, in "Bells" (2.1), the "wise woman" says "thou plottest Blackadder: thou wouldst be King!" In the first series, Edmund does become king for less than a minute, but then dies after succumbing to some poisoned wine: a fact alluded to in the closing credits song in "Head" (2.2):

His great-grandfather was a king
Although for only thirty seconds

In the second series, Blackadder comes very close to marrying Elizabeth I but fails. At the end of Blackadder the Third, the character assumes the role of Prince Regent after the real prince is killed in a duel with the Duke of Wellington and so presumably ascends the throne as George IV. After his general decline in status through the series, Blackadder, or at least the descendant of the original, finally becomes absolute monarch in Blackadder: Back & Forth through manipulation of the timeline. A Grand Admiral Blackadder of the far future is also seen in the Christmas special, and his status further rises when he manages to achieve control of the entire universe upon marrying Queen Asphyxia XIX. However, while Prince Edmund Plantagenet adopts the title "The Black Adder", Centurion Blacaddicus (presumably an ancestor) has it as a name. It may be a cognomen, a nickname at the end of a Roman man's name.

The first series, written by Curtis and Atkinson and without the involvement of Ben Elton, is the most different from the three others. It is noticeable that, as Blackadder is more cunning in series two, so Baldrick develops even further into a dimwit. It is clear that in the first series, the latter is smarter than his superior, saving the day on several occasions, whereas Edmund is despised by all and never accomplishes a thing. In the unaired pilot episode these relations were different, more like Series Two, where Blackadder is not completely successful, but not completely ridiculous either.

The subsequent three series had a smaller budget and the main characters more or less stay at the same level of intelligence. The Back & Forth special hardly changes anything about the cast of Series 4 at all, except of course their time and place. With regard to Blackadder-Baldrick, this means their roles are slightly reversed from series 2 onwards. While at first it was Baldrick who had a cunning plan, later it is Blackadder who is the more sophisticated of the two. This doesn't stop Baldrick from presenting his own 'cunning' plans, however (which are usually more stupidly optimistic than cunning, but sometimes still work).

Howard Goodall's theme tune has the same melody throughout all the series, but is played in roughly the style of the period in which it is set. It is performed mostly with trumpets in The Black Adder; with a combination of recorder, string quartet and electric guitar in Blackadder II; on oboe, cello and harpsichord (in Waltz time) in the style of a madrigal for Blackadder the Third; by a military band in Blackadder Goes Forth; sung by carol singers in Blackadder's Christmas Carol; and by an orchestra in Blackadder: The Cavalier Years and Blackadder: Back & Forth.[1]

After the first series — which had enjoyed a considerable budget for a sitcom, and had been shot largely on location — the BBC decided not to take up the option of a follow-up. However, in 1984, Michael Grade took over as the controller of BBC One and, after talks with the Blackadder team, finally agreed that a second series could be made as long as the cost was dramatically cut. Blackadder II was therefore to be a studio-only production, with Ben Elton joining the writing team. Besides adding more jokes, Elton suggested a major change in character emphasis: Baldrick would become the stupid sidekick, while Edmund Blackadder evolved into a cunning sycophant. This led to the now familiar set-up that was maintained over all the following series. Only in the Back & Forth millennium special was the shooting once again on location, due to the fact that this was a production with a budget estimated at £3 million, and was a joint venture between Tiger Aspect, Sky Television, the New Millennium Experience Company and the BBC, rather than the BBC alone.

While each episode was plot-driven, they were still formulaic to a degree. For example, starting with the third season, whenever Blackadder found himself in a difficult situation (as was the case most of the time), Baldrick would invariably suggest a solution, starting with the words, "I have a cunning plan". This became the character's catch phrase and, while his ideas were usually totally unhelpful, he would sometimes come up with a scheme that went towards saving the day.

Dr. Eric Blackadder, Chief Medical Officer at the BBC at the time of the first programme, claims that the series is named after him.[1]

See also: List of Blackadder episodes

See also: List of Blackadder episodes#Series 1: The Black Adder (1983)

Set in the Middle Ages, this series is written as a secret history. It opens on 21 August 1485, the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, which in the series is won not by (as in actual fact) Henry Tudor (played by Peter Benson), but by Richard III (played by Peter Cook as a rather nice man who doted on his nephews, contrary to the traditional and highly debatable view of him as a hunchbacked, infanticidal monster). After his victory, Richard III is then killed by Lord Edmund Plantagenet (Richard takes Blackadder's horse, which he thinks is a stray; not recognizing the king, Edmund thinks Richard is stealing it, and cuts his head off). The late King's nephew, Richard, Duke of York (played by Brian Blessed) who is Lord Edmund Plantagenet's (The Black Adder) father, is then crowned as Richard IV. Lord Edmund never took part in the battle (he arrived late and went the wrong way, but claimed to have killed four hundred and fifty peasants and several nobles, one of whom had actually been killed by his brother in the battle). This logical but very silly historical premise, combined with interwoven parts of Shakespeare, is said to lend real intellectual delight and challenge to the humour.

Richard, Duke of York (one of the 'Princes in the Tower') was in reality only twelve years old (and perhaps two years dead) when the Battle of Bosworth Field took place in 1485, and thus too young to have had two adult sons. This and other historical discrepancies don't detract from the comedy, though.

The series follows the fictitious reign of Richard IV (1485–98). Richard and his Queen Gertrude of Flanders, the Witch Queen, have two sons:

It is later revealed in the episode "Born to be King" that after Harry's birth and before Edmund's, Queen Gertrude had an affair with Donald McAngus, Third Duke of Argyll. There is a possibility that Edmund was the result of this affair. If so, then Edmund is Harry's half-brother and also has another half-brother:

By the end of the series, events converge with our timeline, when King Richard IV and his entire family are poisoned, allowing Henry Tudor to take the throne as King Henry VII. He then rewrites history, presenting Richard III as a monster, and eliminating Richard IV's reign from the history books.

In this series, the character of the Black Adder is somewhat different from later incarnations, being largely unintelligent and snivelling. The title of Laird of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles may have been inspired by the then leader of the Liberal Party, David Steel, who was MP for that constituency when the series was written.

The character does evolve through the series, however, and he begins showing signs of what his descendants will be like by the final episode, where he begins insulting everyone around him and making his own plans. This evolution follows naturally from the character's situation. "The Black Adder" is the title that Edmund adopts during the first episode (after first considering "The Black Vegetable"). Presumably one of his descendants adopted it as a surname prior to Blackadder II, where the title character becomes "Edmund Blackadder". Edmund's father the king can never remember his name at all (usually forgetting that he even has a second son), calling him "Edwin", "Edward", "Edith", "Osmond" or "Edna". As Edmund lies injured and near death in the final episode, his father finally addresses him by his actual name. "Father, you called me Edmund," says an astonished Edmund. "Sorry," replies the king, "Edgar". The king then toasts Edmund, shouting out to all those assembled, "My lords, I give you Edgar. . . " Edmund then motions the king close and whispers "The Black Adder" in his ear. The king then steps back and shouts, "The Black Dagger! May his name last as long as our dynasty". All assembled then drink poisoned wine and die.

It is interesting to note that the unaired pilot episode, covering the basic plot of "Born to be King", has some differences to the first series. Baldrick was played by Philip Fox, who was replaced by Tony Robinson. The King is played by John Savident (famous for playing Fred Elliott in the TV soap Coronation Street), while Percy was still played by Tim McInnerny. Rowan Atkinson speaks, dresses and generally looks and acts like the later Blackadder descendants of the second series onwards, but no reason is given as to why he was changed to a snivelling wretch for the first series. One assumes that the change was driven by the writing, which would not have worked with a swaggering character in the lead.

Richard Curtis admitted in a 2004 documentary on the show that just before recording began, producer John Lloyd came up to him with Atkinson and asked what Edmund's character was. Curtis then realised that, despite writing some funny lines, he had no idea how Rowan Atkinson was supposed to play his part. This is typical of the slighting and dismissive remarks Curtis makes about this first series. One supposes that Atkinson, who co-wrote this series but not the later ones, came up with his characterisation himself.

All the credits of this first series included "with additional dialogue by William Shakespeare" as famous quotes were worked in wherever possible.

The opening titles consisted of several stock shots of Edmund riding his horse on location, interspersed with different shots of him doing various silly things (and, usually, a shot of King Richard IV to go with Brian Blessed's credit). The closing titles were the same sequence of Edmund riding around, eventually falling off his horse, and then chasing after it. The theme tune also gained lyrics.

Main article: Blackadder II

Blackadder II is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), played by Miranda Richardson. The principal character is Edmund, Lord Blackadder, the great-grandson of the original Black Adder. During the series, he often comes into contact with the Queen, her pretentious Lord Chamberlain Lord Melchett (Stephen Fry) and her demented former nanny Nursie (Patsy Byrne).

Following the BBC's request for improvements to be made to the show, several changes were made. The second series was the first to establish the familiar character of Blackadder: cunning, shrewd and witty, in sharp contrast with Prince Edmund of the first series. To make the show more cost effective, it was also shot with far fewer outdoor scenes than the first series and several, frequently used, indoor scenes, such as the Queen's throne room and Blackadder's front room.

Main article: Blackadder the Third

Blackadder the Third is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency. In the series, E. Blackadder Esquire is the butler to the Prince of Wales (the prince is played by Hugh Laurie as a complete fop and idiot). Despite Edmund's respected intelligence and abilities, he has no personal fortune to speak of, apart from his frequently-fluctuating wage packet from the Prince, as he says: 'If I'm running short of cash all I have to do is go upstairs and ask Prince Fat-head for a raise'.

As well as Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson in their usual roles, this series starred Hugh Laurie as the Prince Regent, and Helen Atkinson-Wood as Mrs. Miggins. The series features rotten boroughs (or "robber buttons"), Dr. Samuel Johnson (played by Robbie Coltrane), a child-prime minister, the French Revolution (featuring Chris Barrie) and the Scarlet Pimpernel, over-the-top theatrical actors, squirrel-hating highwaymen, and a duel with the Duke of Wellington (played by Stephen Fry).

Main article: Blackadder Goes Forth

This series is set in 1917, on the Western Front in the trenches of the First World War. Another "big push" is planned, and Captain Blackadder's one goal is to avoid getting shot, so he plots ways to get out of it. Blackadder is joined by the idealistic Edwardian twit Lieutenant George (Hugh Laurie), and the world's worst cook, Private S. Baldrick. Loony General Melchett (Stephen Fry) rallies his troops from a French mansion thirty-five miles from the front, where he is aided and abetted by his assistant, Captain Darling (Tim McInnerny), pencil-pusher supreme and Blackadder's nemesis, whose name is played on for maximum comedy value.

Except for the final episode, the episode titles are all plays on words involving military titles, e.g. "Captain Cook" (about food), "Private Plane" (involving Rik Mayall as a pilot).

The final episode of this series, "Goodbyeee...", is known for being extraordinarily poignant for a comedy — especially the final scene, which sees the main characters (Blackadder, Baldrick, George, and Darling) finally venturing forward and charging off to die in the fog and smoke of no man's land. Melchett remains at his office but blithely orders a reluctant Darling to fight with the others. "Goodbyeee..." had no closing titles, simply fading from the protagonists charging across no man's land under fire, to a field of poppies in the sunlight: like the poem "In Flanders Fields". This particular poignant moment illustrates how the series had the capacity to be more than just a sitcom. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Blackadder Goes Forth was placed 16th.

The Pilot Episode

Main article: Prince Edmund (Blackadder Pilot)

The Blackadder pilot was shot but never aired in the UK. One notable difference in the pilot, as in many pilots, is the casting. Baldrick is played not by Tony Robinson, but by Philip Fox. The script of the pilot is roughly the same as the episode Born to be King, albeit with some different jokes, with some jokes appearing in other episodes of the series.[2]

Blackadder: The Cavalier Years

Main article: Blackadder: The Cavalier Years

This takes place at the time of the English Civil War. It is a short episode, shown as part of Comic Relief's #Red Nose Day|Red Nose Day in 1988.

The 15-minute episode was set in November 1648, during the last days of the Civil War. Sir Edmund Blackadder and his servant, Baldrick, are the last two men loyal to the defeated King Charles I of England (played by Stephen Fry, portrayed as a soft-spoken, ineffective, slightly dim character, with the voice and mannerisms of Charles I's namesake, the current Prince of Wales). They have given refuge to the King in Blackadder Hall. Edmund remains loyal because as a known royalist he sees the King as his only hope of survival and also because of his fear of a hideous age of Puritanism, full of moral prohibitions (as he describes it). However, due to a misunderstanding between Oliver Cromwell (guest-star Warren Clarke) and Baldrick, the King is arrested and sent to the Tower of London. The rest of the episode revolves around Blackadder's attempts to save the king, as well as improve his standing.

BBC One, Friday 5 February 1988, 9.45–10pm

Blackadder's Christmas Carol

Main article: Blackadder's Christmas Carol

The second special was broadcast in 1988. In a twist on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Blackadder is the "kindest and loveliest" man in England, and could be considered to be the 'white sheep' of the Blackadder Family. One of the ghosts that so effectively convinced Ebenezer Scrooge to change his miserly ways displays for this Blackadder the contrary antics of his ancestors and descendants, and reluctantly informs him that if he turns evil his descendents will enjoy power and fortune, while if he remains the same a future Blackadder will live shamefully subjugated to a future incompetent Baldrick. This remarkable encounter causes him to proclaim, "Bad guys have all the fun", and adopt the personality with which viewers are more familiar.

BBC One, Friday 23 December 1988, 9.30–10.15pm

1775 (US series pilot)
This was the pilot for a prospective US Blackadder series. It was shot in 1992 and aired once, but failed to be picked up. Its cast was completely different and it was set in colonial Philadelphia.[2]

Blackadder and the King's Birthday
A short sketch with Rowan Atkinson as Lord Blackadder and Stephen Fry as King Charles II was performed at the Prince of Wales' 50th Birthday Gala. It was televised on ITV (in the UK) on 14 November 1998.

Woman's Hour Invasion
Woman's Hour is a show on BBC Radio 4 consisting of reports, interviews and debates aimed at women, and also includes short serials during the last quarter of the show. On one instance of the show, Blackadder and Baldrick show up, travel back in time and talk to Shakespeare and others.

The purpose of the "invasion" was to raise money for Children in Need. [3]

Blackadder: The Army Years
The Royal Variety Performance 2000. A short sketch with Rowan Atkinson as the modern-day Lord Edmund Blackadder of Her Royal Highness's regiment of shirkers. The sketch was written and introduced by Ben Elton.

Blackadder: Back & Forth

Main article: Blackadder: Back & Forth

Blackadder: Back & Forth was originally shown in the Millennium Dome in 2000, followed by a screening on Sky One in the same year (and later on BBC1). It is set on the turn of the millennium, and features Lord Blackadder placing a bet with his friends — modern versions of Queenie (Miranda Richardson), Melchett (Stephen Fry), George (Hugh Laurie) and Darling (Tim McInnerny) — that he has built a working time machine. While this is intended as a clever con trick, the machine, surprisingly, does work, sending Blackadder and Baldrick back to the time of the dinosaurs, where they manage to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs, through the use of Baldrick's best, worst and only pair of underpants as a weapon against a hungry T.Rex.

Attempting to find their way home, they find themselves unable to (as Baldrick did not complete the machine's controls) and instead land at the court of Elizabeth I, where they are mistaken for the contemporary versions, and Blackadder takes the opportunity to assault William Shakespeare (Colin Firth) "on behalf of every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years". They next arrive in Sherwood Forest where Blackadder, held hostage by Robin Hood (Rik Mayall, portrayed here as a generation of another Blackadder character, Lord Flashheart), talks the Merry Men into revolt. They eventually kill Robin and, after spending some time in the forest — in Edmund's case, with Maid Marian (Kate Moss) and in Baldrick's, with Will Scarlet — they return to the machine.

The duo have brief stopovers at the Battle of Waterloo, where they accidentally kill Wellington (Stephen Fry), and in Roman Britain, where Centurion Blacaddicus and Legionary Baldricus face the Scots, before they finally find their way home, thanks to Baldrick's cunning plan of sticking his head into the toilet and seeing where the switches were when his life flashes before his eyes.

After returning home to a French-ruled Britain where no-one's heard of Shakespeare or Robin Hood, Blackadder quickly returns to the machine and restores history. Upon his second return, the others comment that a machine like that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. This gives Blackadder a very cunning plan indeed, and he excuses himself while the others watch the Millennium celebrations on television.

The television shows King Edmund III and Queen Marian of Sherwood arriving at the Millennium Dome to be greeted by Prime Minister Baldrick. The Blackadders have finally achieved their destiny.

The Jubilee Girl
The Jubilee Girl was a 29 December 2002 BBC special about Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee Concert. The concert was hosted by Sir Osmond Darling-Blackadder (Keeper of Her Majesty's Lawn Sprinklers) and Dame Edna Everage. Earlier, a BBC "advertisement" for the celebrations also featured this incarnation of Blackadder, in which Sir Osmond is told to announce the event, even though he thinks it is a terrible idea:

We don't want thousands of people wandering around here willy-nilly, leaving orange peel on the petunias and frightening the corgies.
I said to her, I said, you're the Queen, not Fatboy Slim.

In January 2005, Tony Robinson told ITV's This Morning that Rowan Atkinson is more keen than he has been in the past to do a fifth series, set in the 1960s (centred around a rock band called the "Black Adder Five", with Baldrick — aka 'Bald Rick' — as the drummer) [4]. However, aside from a brief mention in June 2005 [5] there have been no further announcements from the BBC that a new series is being planned. Furthermore, in November 2005, Rowan Atkinson told BBC Breakfast that although he would very much like to do a new series set in Colditz or another prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, the chances of it happening are extremely low [4]. There were a couple of ideas that had previously floated for the fifth series. Batadder was intended to be a parody of Batman with Baldrick as the counterpart of Robin (suggested by John Lloyd). This idea eventually came to surface as part of the Comic Relief sketch "Spider-Plant Man" in 2005, with Atkinson as the title hero, Robinson as Robin, Jim Broadbent as Batman and Rachel Stevens as Jane Mary. Star Adder was to be set in space in the future (suggested by Atkinson)[6] though this too was touched upon in Blackadder's Christmas Carol. On April 10, 2007, Hello! reported that Atkinson was moving forward with his ideas for a fifth series. He said, "I like the idea of him being a prisoner of war in Colditz.......That would have the right level of authority and hierarchy which is apparent in all the Blackadders." [7]

A post on [3] from Ben Elton in early 2007 states that BlackAdder will return in some form whether it be a TV series or Movie. Ben Elton has since not given any more information on BlackAdder 5.

During an interview in August 2007 regarding Rowan Atkinson's latest movie "Mr Bean's Holiday", a question was brought up about any further BlackAdder series being made, a simple reply of "No, no chance" was given, more or less ending the chance of a new TV show being created.

"There was a plan for a film set in the Russian revolution, a very interesting one called The Red Adder. He would have been a lieutenant in the Secret Police. Then the revolution happened and at the end he is in the same office doing the same job but just the colours on his uniform have changed. It was quite a sweet idea and we got quite a long way with it but in the end it died a death."

In June 2006, Rowan Atkinson (while filming Mr. Bean's Holiday in France) mentioned the possibility of a feature length version set during the Russian Revolution. Stephen Fry has expressed the view that, since the series went out on such a good "high", a film might not be a good idea.[8]

Main article: Historical anomalies in Blackadder

The Blackadder series contain many instances of anachronism or anachronistic references. For example:

  • In The Black Adder, the Duke of Edinburgh is one of Edmund's titles. However, Scotland had a separate monarchy at this point, and this title had not yet been created.
  • In several episodes of Blackadder II, Blackadder and others use the term dago to refer to the Spanish, even though this term did not come into being until the 1800s.
  • Blackadder the Third encompasses many historical persons and events from throughout the reign of George III (1760–1820) and even beyond, despite the appearance of taking place over a relatively short period of time. For example, Samuel Johnson completed his dictionary in 1755, which is the premise for the second episode. In the same installment, Dr Johnson is seen with Lord Byron, despite the fact that in real life, the latter was born four years after the former died. The most common setting appears to be during the English Regency (1811–20) despite the fact that Prince George is portrayed as thin and young, when actually he was in his early fifties and very, very fat. (Despite this disparity, jokes are made about Prince George's great weight.) There are also a number of references to Napoleon Bonaparte throughout the series, yet the French Revolution only takes place in the third episode.

Blackadder also refers to the Duke of Wellington as the Iron Duke even though the Duke of Wellington had not been given that nickname at that time.

Ben Elton's arrival after the first series heralded the more frequent recruitment of comic actors from the famed "alternative" era for guest appearances, including Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall (who had actually appeared in the final episode of the first series as Mad Gerald), Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Mark Arden, Stephen Frost, Chris Barrie and Jeremy Hardy. Elton himself played an anarchist in Blackadder the Third.

However, aside from the regular cast listed above, only one actor — Lee Cornes — appeared in an episode of all three Curtis-Elton series. He appeared as a guard in the episode Chains of Blackadder II; as the poet Shelley in the episode Ink and Incapability of Blackadder the Third; and as firing squad soldier Private Fraser in the episode Corporal Punishment of Blackadder Goes Forth.

More 'establishment'-style actors, some at the veteran stage of their careers, were also recruited for roles. These included Brian Blessed, John Grillo, Tom Baker, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Paddick, Frank Finlay, Miriam Margolyes, Kenneth Connor, Bill Wallis, Ronald Lacey, Roger Blake, Denis Lill, Warren Clarke, Miriam Margolyes and Geoffrey Palmer who played Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig in Goodbyeee..., the final, fatal episode of Blackadder Goes Forth.

Unusually for a sitcom based loosely on factual events and in the historical past, a man was recruited for one episode essentially to play himself. Political commentator Vincent Hanna played a character billed as "his own great-great-great grandfather" in the episode Dish and Dishonesty of Blackadder the Third. Hanna was asked to take part because the scene was of a by-election in which Baldrick was a candidate and, in the style of modern television, Hanna gave a long-running "live" commentary of events at the count (and interviewed candidates and election agents) to a crowd through the town hall window.

Main article: List of characters in Blackadder

Each series tended to feature the same set of regular actors in different period settings.

The only character types to retain the same name throughout were:

Some characters recurred as their own presumed descendants:

  • Melchett - Stephen Fry
    • Sycophantic Lord Melchett (a sort of William Cecil character), an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, series 2
    • General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, a blustering buffoon and presumed descendant of Lord Melchett, series 4
    • Bishop Flavius Melchett - Blackadder Back and Forth
    • General Melchecus - Blackadder Back & Forth
    • The Duke Of Wellington, not a Melchett, but definitely a precursor to the series 4 Melchett character (e.g. his use of Melchett's eventual catchphrase "Behh!"), series 3
  • Lord Percy Percy - Tim McInnerny, Series 1 and 2
  • Kevin Darling - Tim McInnerny
    • Captain Kevin Darling, Series 4
    • Archdeacon Darling and Duke of Darling / Duc de Darling - Blackadder Back and Forth
  • George - Hugh Laurie
    • HRH The Prince George Augustus Frederick, Series 3
    • Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Bartleigh, Series 4
  • Elizabeth - Miranda Richardson
    • Queen Elizabeth I in Series 2, Christmas Carol, and Back & Forth
    • Lady Elizabeth in Back & Forth.
  • Bob - Gabrielle Glaister - an attractive girl who poses as a man called Bob, before revealing her true gender and becoming romantically involved with Flashheart (2 and 4)
  • Lord Flashheart - Rik Mayall, a vulgar yet successful rival of Blackadder (2 and 4)
    • a decidedly Flashheart-like Robin Hood in Back and Forth.

Character types played by the same actor:

  • Stephen Fry played Lord Frondo; King Charles I; Bishop Flavius Melchett; and the Duke of Wellington.
  • Tim McInnerny played The Scarlet Pimpernel (alias Lord Topper and Le Comte De Frou Frou) for one episode in the third.
  • Hugh Laurie also played Simon "Farters Parters" Partridge (also known as Mr Ostrich) in episode five, and Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the final installment of Blackadder II, and Lord Pigmot.
  • Miranda Richardson played Miss Amy Hardwood (aka The Shadow) in "Amy and Amiability" in the third series, the dutiful Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown in "General Hospital" from the fourth, and Queen Asphyxia in the Christmas Carol.
  • Rik Mayall plays 'Mad Gerald' in the first series and the dashing Lord Flashheart, a vulgar yet successful rival of Blackadder in both the second and fourth series; he also plays Robin Hood in Back & Forth.
  • Gabrielle Glaister plays an attractive girl who poses as a man and calls herself Bob in both the second and fourth series.

Non-recurring:

  • Patsy Byrne received plaudits for her crucial role as Nursie in all six episodes of Blackadder II but never featured in either of the subsequent series, either as a regular character or one-off. Her only future roles in Blackadder were in Blackadder Back & Forth and Blackadder's Christmas Carol, when she briefly reprised Nursie during scenes set in the Blackadder II era and then in Carol's Christmas future scenes, also playing a member of the "triple husbandoid" to Queen Asphyxia, credited as 'Bernard' (though not named in the special this was the name Nursie clamed to have been born under in Series II).
  • Similarly, Helen Atkinson-Wood played the role of Mrs. Miggins in all six episodes of Blackadder the Third, but did not appear again in the programme, although she was mentioned in "Goodbyeee", the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth and a Mrs. Miggins had been mentioned several times in Blackadder II

A few actors have made multiple guest appearances playing different characters, notably:

The plot device of a 'modern' man in ancient times is not new, and has a venerable history in fiction.

In TV comedies, perhaps the most obvious 'ancestor' of the Blackadder series is Up Pompeii!. The series, starring Frankie Howerd as Lurcio, was set in ancient Rome and made similar play with historical characters. Even the apparent 'reincarnation' device found in Blackadder [9] is also used. The TV series inspired three feature films, the first of which, Up Pompeii!, was also set in Imperial Rome with Howerd as Lurcio. The film ended with the eruption of Vesuvius and had a final scene set in the present day, in which the actors all played tourists closely resembling their ancient roles, with Howerd being a tour guide, showing them around the ruins of Pompeii. The second was set in medieval times and called Up the Chastity Belt, with Howerd's character as 'Lurkalot' (cf The Black Adder). In this, Howerd's character is discovered to be a double of Richard Lionheart, and later assumes the throne under his identity while the real king leads a bawdy life as Lurkalot (cf Blackadder the Third). Most strikingly, the third and final Up ... film, Up the Front, sees Howerd's character reborn as 'Private Lurk' and fighting in the First World War (cf Blackadder Goes Forth).

The shows draw on a variety of literary, historical, and film backgrounds for its story and characters. The first two series draw heavily upon the works of William Shakespeare. The first episode of The Black Adder, The Foretelling, references Richard III (the characters and setting), Macbeth (the three witches predicting Blackadder's rise to power and the appearance of King Richard's ghost at the dinner), and King Lear (the witches are named Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia). Bells, the first episode of the second series, draws heavily on Twelfth Night with its cross-dressing "Bob" character. The third series parodies at various points classic novels such as The Scarlet Pimpernel (Nob and Nobility), Cyrano de Bergerac (Amy and Amiability), and The Prince and the Pauper (Duel and Duality), and the titles themselves parody Sense and Sensibility. There also many references to classic films, for instance Blackadder's forming of his dark army in The Black Seal is parodic of The Magnificent Seven (down to Blackadder holding up fingers to indicate the number of men he has), the Season 1 episode The Archbishop explicitly parodies Becket, and several episodes of Blackadder Goes Forth spoof Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory.

  1. ^ "List of Musicians and Singers who Played or Sang on Blackadder and Red Dwarf Themes"
  2. ^ "The Pilot Episode", BlackadderHall.com
  3. ^ "Woman's Hour Invasion", BlackadderHall.com
  4. ^ a b http://www.thelogbook.com/log/blackadder/
  5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4606743.stm
  6. ^ "Black Adder Program Guide"
  7. ^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2007/04/10/blackadder-return/
  8. ^ "Atkinson Developing "Black Adder" Film", Darkhorizons.com
  9. ^ "The Blackadder Guide to Reincarnation"

  • All series and many of the specials are available on DVD and video, as well as many available on BBC Audio Cassette.
  • Curtis, Richard, Elton, and Atkinson. Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty 1485–1917. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-029608-5. Being the—almost—complete scripts of the four regular series.
  • Howarth, Chris, and Steve Lyons. Cunning: The Blackadder Programme Guide. Virgin Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-7535-0447-2. An unofficial guide to the series, with asides, anecdotes and observations.
  • Curtis, Richard, Ben Elton. Blackadder: Back & Forth. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-029135-0. A script book with copious photographs from the most recent outing.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Blackadder
Blackadders Other characters
The Series

In chronological order

The Black Adder

Blackadder II

Blackadder the Third

Blackadder Goes Forth
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