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Blackadder
 

Blackadder is the generic name that encompasses four series of an acclaimed BBC historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. 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, beaten by Only Fools and Horses.

Overview

Although each series is set in a different historical period, 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 through each passing generation), each Blackadder is similar in that they are all cynical, cowardly opportunists concerned with maintaining and increasing their own status and fortunes in life, regardless of their surroundings. Also, each Blackadder's social status becomes lower, even though Blackadder's intellect increases. The lives of each man are also entwined with their servants, all called Baldrick (played by Robinson), who in each generation acts as the dogsbodies / punching bags of the various Blackadders, and who decreases in intelligence (and in personal hygiene standards). Each Blackadder is also saddled with the company of a dim-witted aristocrat - Lord Percy Percy (Tim McInnerny) in the first two seasons, George (Hugh Laurie) in the second two - whose presence he must somehow tolerate.

Each series was set in a different period of British 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 1986, 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 instalment, broadcast the same year; and 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 filmed in 1982, but has never been shown on television. Featuring a different actor as Baldrick, the plot would be re-used for the episode "Born to Be King" in series 1. Although DVD releases never include the pilot episode, copies are known to circulate among fans.

Developments over the series

It is implied in each series that the Blackadder character is a distant descendant of the previous one. This would apparently contradict the fact that the first two Blackadders died without having borne any children (it was even stated in "The Queen of Spain's Beard" (1.4) that Edmund was a virgin).

With each observed generation, his social standing is reduced, from prince, to nobleman, to royal butler, to army captain and by the end, in the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, nothing more than cannon-fodder. 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 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 (presumably, though not definitely) goes on to assume the identity of George IV. After the continual 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.

Comparison over the Series
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 into a dimwit even more. 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. Today series 1 is mostly considered the least of the four.

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 of course, which sometimes still work.

Similarities over the series

Recurring cast
Theme tune
The Howard Goodall theme tune has the same melody throughout, but is played in roughly the style of the period in which it is set (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 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.*. The refrain of the theme song is very similar to the Samuel A. Ward hymn Materna, which forms the tune for the popular American song, America the Beautiful.

Popularity and effects on popular culture

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, 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.

The series and specials

Chronological order

Series 1: The Black Adder

See also: The Black Adder (1983)
Set in the Middle Ages, this series is written as a secret history. It opens on August 21, 1485, eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, which is represented as being won by Richard III (played by Peter Cook as being a rather nice man who doted on his nephews, contrary to the traditional (and highly debatable) view of him as a hunchbacked, infanticidal monster), instead of Henry Tudor who won in reality. After his victory, Richard III is then accidentally killed by Lord Edmund Plantagenet (Richard tries to borrow Blackadder's horse, but Edmund thinks he 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 bits of Shakespeare, lends real intellectual delight and challenge to the humour.

Richard, Duke of York (one of the 'Princes in the Tower') was in reality only 12 years old (and perhaps two years dead) when the Battle of Bosworth Field took place in 1485, and so far too young to have had two grown up 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 this affair's result. 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 proceeds to rewrite 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 he forgets that he even has a second son), calling him "Edwin", "Edward", "Enid", "Osmond" or "Edna". In the last moment before Edmund's death in the final episode, his father finally addresses him correctly and Edmund thanks him tearfully, asking to be remembered as Edmund the Black Adder. His father, mishearing him, says "Oh, I'm sorry, Edgar. Let the name Edgar, The Black Dagger, be known as long as our family exists!" Then, the whole family of Edmund drinks the poison wine and dies.

It is therefore 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 Elliot 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 wouldn't have worked with a swaggering character in the lead.

Richard Curtis admitted in a 2004 documentary on the show that just before filming 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 characterization himself.

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:

The sound of hoofbeats 'cross the glade,
Good folk, lock up your son and daughter,
Beware the deadly flashing blade,
Unless you want to end up shorter.
Black Adder, Black Adder, he rides a pitch black steed.
Black Adder, Black Adder, he's very bad indeed.

Black: his gloves of finest mole,
Black: his codpiece made of metal,
His horse is blacker than a hole, misheard as "vole"
His pot is blacker than his kettle.

Black Adder, Black Adder, with many a cunning plan.
Black Adder, Black Adder, you horrid little man.

Series 2: Blackadder II

See also: Blackadder II (1986)

Blackadder II is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). 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 and her demented former nanny Nursie.

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. Each episode in the series also features another unique location, from Bob's father's front room to a Spanish dungeon.

The opening titles are accompanied by a version of the Blackadder theme played on a recorder and an electric guitar, and feature a black adder slithering about on a chessboard. The snake is eventually removed and replaced with something related to the episode title, which in this series is always a single noun. The opening ominous violin music and imagery are a parody of the opening credits of the 1975 BBC television adaptation of Robert Graves' I, Claudius.

The closing titles use a different arrangement of the theme on various instruments, accompanied by a countertenor who sings lyrics reflecting the events of the preceding episode, over a shot of Blackadder strolling through a formal garden and being annoyed by a lute-wielding minstrel, presumably the singer. As each episode elapses, this sequence becomes a mini-series in its own right in which Blackadder constantly tries to apprehend the musician. At the end of the final episode, Blackadder catches the minstrel and dunks him into a fountain numerous times.

Series 3: Blackadder the Third

See also: Blackadder the Third (1987)
Blackadder the Third is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency. For much of this time, King George III was incapacitated due to poor mental health, and his son George, the Prince of Wales, acted as regent. From 1811 until his father's death in 1820, he was known as "the Prince Regent".

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. According to Edmund he has been serving the Prince Regent all their lives, since they were both breastfeeding (when he had to show the Prince which part of his mother was serving the drinks). There are three main sets: the Prince's quarters, which are large and lavish, the below-stairs kitchen hangout of Blackadder and Baldrick, which is dark and squalid, and finally Mrs. Miggins' coffee house (Mrs Miggins' pie shop was a never-seen running gag in Blackadder II; she — or at least, a descendant of hers — is now finally shown).

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, Dr. Samuel Johnson (played by Robbie Coltrane), 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).

The last episode of the series also features Rowan Atkinson in the role of Blackadder's Scottish cousin MacAdder, supposedly a fierce swordsman. Interesting enough, this leads to a dialogue in which Atkinson is acting both parts. The special effects required for this dialogue far surpassed the budget of an ordinary episode, but Richard Curtis and Ben Elton excused that given that it was the season finale.

The opening theme is this time played on a harpsichord, oboe and cello over close-ups of Blackadder searching a book-case. The credits and title appear on some of the books' spines (along with humorous titles such as From Black Death to Blackadder, The Blackobite Rebellion of 1745 and The Encyclopaedia Blackaddica). Hidden inside a hollow book, he finds a romance novel (complete with steamy cover art) bearing the episode's title, which is always a noun paired with another, derived from an adjective. Example: "Sense and Senility" (based on the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility). The closing credits are presented in the style of a theatre programme from a Regency-era play, and with an entirely new closing theme. Finally Blackadder finds fortune and ends up posing as the Prince Regent after his untimely death - permanently.

Series 4: Blackadder Goes Forth

See also: Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
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. The first initial "S" is taken from the first episode of Season 3, in which Baldrick says he can't remember his first name, but assumes it must be "Sodoff", as when he introduces himself to people, they generally say, 'yes, we know: Sod off, Baldrick'. Loony General Melchett 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. Every episode's title is based on the pairing of a military rank, major, general, etc., and another word. (Ex. "Major Star", "Captain Cook", etc.) This format is not used in the final episode, titled "Goodbyeee". 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.

Captain Darling's name was originally intended to be Captain Cartwright, until Stephen Fry remembered a boy at his school called 'Darling', and this new name was played.

The theme tune here was played by a military band (in this case the Band of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment) over opening title images of Blackadder and George parading their men past Melchett and Darling, while Baldrick plays the triangle. The music starts with the opening bars of 'The British Grenadiers' before segueing into the familiar Blackadder theme. In the closing credits, the full Blackadder theme plays as the men march off down the parade ground. Of note is that the titles here are presented as static captions instead of being rolled as on the previous three series, and that the crew credits are presented in pseudo-military fashion: for example, the designer is credited thus: ' Dgr – 404371 Hull, C '. Also of note is that the opening sequence is filmed in colour, while the closing sequence is filmed in grainy, streaky sepia.

Moral messages
Blackadder Goes Forth in general has a very potent anti-war message presented as absurdist comedy. In the episode "Corporal Punishment", Blackadder justifies the shooting of a carrier pigeon for food (which turns out to be Melchett's pet) by saying, "With 50,000 men killed a week, who's going to miss a pigeon?" (That episode, which features Blackadder being sentenced to death by firing squad for said act, (although not executed) is in many ways a parody of the equally cynical film and novel Paths of Glory.) The tactics of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (who appears in the show's final episode played by Geoffrey Palmer) that resulted in hundreds of thousands of British deaths (particularly at Passchendale and the Somme) are continually referenced and criticised by the characters (in Goodbyeee..., there's a scene which shows Haig playing with toy soldiers, which he sweeps nonchalantly from trench to trench, and then onto the floor while listening to Blackadder's plea to get out of the final push on the phone). In "Private Plane", after receiving word that Blackadder and Baldrick may have been killed when shot down over German lines, Melchett tries to cheer George up by showing a life-size model (measuring seventeen square feet) of land recaptured by the British ("It's superbly detailed — look, there's a little worm," remarks Darling). "Goodbyeee..." features quite a bit of philosophising about World War I in general, including truthful and satirical musings about why the war started and the degree to which British soldiers have been suffering over its course, as well as discussing the Christmas truce of 1914. (As Blackadder said, "Both sides advanced further during one Christmas piss-up than they did in the next two-and-a half years of war.")

The final episode of this series, the aforementioned "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.) Blackadder's final line is poignant, offered after Baldrick claims to have one last plan to stop them advancing (at which point a RSM-type command voice orders the men to "Stand ready", then to ascend to the fire step, before going over the top):

"Well, I am afraid it will have to wait. Whatever it was, I am sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman around here? Good luck everyone."

"Goodbyeee..." also 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: an obvious reference to the poem "In Flanders Fields". "Goodbyee" was the title of a popular song during the First World War (Bob can be heard singing a snippet of this song off-camera in the episode "Major Star".) It also sounds similar to Queenie's "Byeee" in her letter to Ludwig (in the second season episode "Chains") in which she refuses to pay the ransom to release Melchett and Blackadder. The episode was shown on November 2, 1989 — nine days before Armistice Day.

Specials

The Pilot Episode
The Blackadder pilot was shot but never aired in the UK, making it a rather hot commodity there. One notable difference in the pilot, as in many pilots, is the casting. Baldrick is played not by Tony Robinson, but by an actor named 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. *

"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 in 1988. The Episode begins in November 1648. King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland has already lost the Civil War. Only two men remain loyal to him. Sir Edmund Blackadder, the sole descendant of the Blackadder dynasty at the time and his servant Baldrick, the only son of a pig farmer and a bearded lady (both according to the introduction). 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). During a short absence of Edmund, Oliver Cromwell himself arrives at Blackadder Hall, accompanied by a number of his Roundheads. He is personally investigating the King's whereabouts. Baldrick fails to convince him that he has no idea (by claiming he did not know and asking Cromwell later to put down a cup, "because it's the king's"). Between this and the following scene Cromwell discovers and arrests the King. The second scene takes place in the Tower of London, two weeks later. King Charles' praying is interrupted by two subsequent visits. The first by Cromwell who warns him of his doom and the second by Edmund, disguised as a priest. He informs the King that he is planning his escape. While Edmund is still there the King receives a notice that he has been sentenced to death. (Despite its placement in late November or early December 1648 within the context of this episode, historically King Charles' sentence to death came on January 27, 1649).

As January 29, 1649 arrives and his execution approaches, King Charles is again visited by Edmund. Though his plans for an escape haven't materialised he informs the King that there is still some hope. The Parliament has yet to find a man willing to be the King's executioner. Charles, rather philosophically, proclaims that he isn't looking forward to his execution but "It's a question of balance, isn't it? Like so many other things" (Charles, played by Stephen Fry is very much a pastiche of his modern day namesake the Prince of Wales). Edmund proceeds in assuring Charles that no one would dare to become the King's executioner. Just as he says that, the King receives a notice that they found his executioner. Back at Blackadder Hall, Baldrick is singing as Edmund proclaims his life to be in ruins. While Baldrick informs him that he has accepted a job, Edmund wonders who could be so utterly without heart and soul, so low and degraded as to behead the King of England. As his own words sink in, he proceeds in interrogating Baldrick who admits that it was he who accepted the position. Baldrick explains to the reasonably enraged Edmund that he has a plan to save the King. He presents Edmund with a huge pumpkin, painted to represent a human face. He plans to place it on the King's head and chop it instead. Edmund dismisses the plan as unconvincing as Baldrick will have to hold it in front of the crowd, which is sure to notice. Baldrick, though saddened, says that at least the money, £1000, is good. Edmund's greed awakes at this and he proceeds in taking the money from Baldrick and announcing that he would replace him as the executioner. (Historically King Charles' executioner was Richard Brandon.) January 30, 1649, King Charles' day of execution. King Charles is left alone for a few minutes with his executioner, Edmund in a hood and with a false voice. Edmund takes advantage of these minutes to relieve the King of his money bag. But the King finally recognizes him. He congratulates him for trying to save him even in the last minute and gives him custody of his infant son, the later King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. (Historically he was 19 years old at the time of his father's death). For lack of a better plan Edmund uses the one Baldrick had suggested. The camera then focuses to Baldrick who is listening at the sounds of the execution. Edmund chops the pumpkin and proclaims that "This is the head of a traitor". Predictably the crowd answers "No, it's not; it's a huge pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it". Edmund apologises and says he will try again. Baldrick still listens as Edmund beheads Charles and the crowd cheers.

As the last scene begins Edmund and Baldrick have returned to Blackadder Hall. A disgusted Edmund cradles the infant Charles in his hands. Baldrick tries to console him by saying that at least he tried and that now the future of the British monarchy lies fast asleep in his arms in the person of this infant prince. He suggests to his master that he should be ready to escape to France, because as a known loyalist he is in danger of being arrested by the Roundheads and beheaded. Edmund, who apparently had forgotten that he is in a position of danger, immediately rises from his seat, ready to take action. But before he can do anything. Roundheads are already at the Hall's doors demanding his surrender. Edmund explains to Baldrick that there is no choice for a man of honour but to stand and fight, and die in defence of his future sovereign. Fortunately for him, he was never a man of honour. Passing the prince to Baldrick, Edmund proceeds in removing his long black hair, apparently a wig, his false moustache and beard to reveal a Roundhead appearance - short blond hair and a clean-shaven face. Thus unrecognisable, when a Roundhead enters the room he denounces Baldrick as a "royalist scum". The episode ends with Baldrick, still holding the Prince in his arms, being approached by the Roundhead, sword drawn.

BBC One, Friday February 5, 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 reluctantly displays for this Blackadder the contrary antics of his ancestors and descendants, causing him to proclaim, "Bad guys have all the fun" and adopt the personality viewers are more familiar with.
BBC One, Friday December 23, 1988, 9.30–10.15pm

The Shakespeare Sketch
A sketch made in 1989.

"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. *

"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: 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.

Attempting to find their way home, they find themselves 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 Scarlett, 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. It featured 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.

A fifth series?

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 (centered around a rock band called the "Black Adder Five", with Baldrick — aka 'Bald Rick' — as the drummer) http://www.thelogbook.com/log/blackadder/. However, aside from a brief mention in June 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4606743.stm 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 News that although he would very much like to do a new series set in Colditz or another prisoner-of-war camp during World War Two, the chances of it happening are extremely low . 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 Mary Jane. Star Adder was to be set in space in the future (suggested by Rowan Atkinson).

Film

In June 2006, Rowan Atkinson (while filming French Bean in France) mentioned the possibility of a feature length version set during the Russian Revolution. Stephen Fry has expressed doubts over whether, since the series went out on such a good "high", a film would be a good idea. *

Anachronism

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.
  • 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 instalment, Dr Johnson is seen hanging out 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 Regency (1811–20) despite the fact that Prince George is portrayed as thin and young, when actually, by this point, 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.
  • 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 1800's.
  • In the earlier episodes, Edmund has an iron maiden torture and execution device in his bedroom. The only known example of such an instrument was located in Nuremberg.

Cast

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 John Grillo, Tom Baker, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Paddick, Kenneth Connor, Bill Wallis, Ronald Lacey, Roger Blake, Denis Lill, Warren Clarke, Miriam Margolyes and, perhaps most famously, Geoffrey Palmer who played Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig in Goodbyeeee..., 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.

List

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 descendents:

Character types played by the same actor:

Lord Frondo; King Charles I; Bishop Flavius Melchett; (Stephen Fry)

  • Tim McInnerny The Scarlet Pimpernel (Alias Lord Topper), 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 instalment of Blackadder II, and Prince Pigmot
  • Miranda Richardson played Queen Elizabeth I in the second series, Miss Amy Hardwood (aka The Shadow) in "Amy and Amiability" in the third, dutiful Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown in "General Hospital" from the fourth, and Queen Asphyxia; Lady Elizabeth
  • 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 a decidedly Flashheart-like Robin Hood in Back and Forth.
  • Gabrielle Glaister plays an attractive girl who poses as a man and calls herself Bob, before revealing her true gender and becoming romantically involved with Flashheart, in both the second and fourth series.

Non-recurring

  • Patsy Byrne received huge 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 and 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. Similarly, Helen Atkinson-Wood was a welcome addition to the cast for the role of Mrs Miggins in all six episodes of Blackadder the Third, but did not appear again in the programme.

Precursors

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 * is also used.

The TV series inspired four feature films, the first two of which, Up Pompeii and Further Up Pompeii, were also set in Imperial Rome with Howerd as Lurcio. The first 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 third 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 fourth 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).

Notes

References

  • All series and many of the specials are available on DVD and video, as well as many available on BBC Audio Cassette.

  • Curtis, Richard, Ben Elton, and Rowan Atkinson. Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty 1485–1917. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0140296085. Being the—almost—complete scripts of the four regular series.
  • Howarth, Chris, and Steve Lyons. Cunning: The Blackadder Programme Guide. Virgin Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0753504472. An unofficial guide to the series, with asides, anecdotes and observations.
  • Curtis, Richard, Ben Elton. Blackadder: Back & Forth. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0140291350. A script book with copious photographs from the most recent outing.

External links

BBC television sitcoms | Blackadder | Shakespeare on film | Period piece TV series | British cultural icons

Черното влечуго | Blackadder | A víbora negra | הפתן השחור | Blackadder | Black Adder | Czarna Żmija (serial) | Musta kyy | Svarte Orm

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Blackadder".

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