About "Blackadder"

Blackadder is one of the BBC's biggest comedy successes and, according to a mammoth BBC2 poll, one of the very leading British sitcoms. The programme is a must watch thanks to clever plots, razor sharp dialogue and superb acting from a brilliant cast which includes Atkinson, Robinson, McInnerny, Fry and Laurie.

The four series of Blackadder are all set in different eras of British history but still feature the same characters. Edmund Blackadder, a cunning, scheming, devious man, is the centre of the show. "The Black Adder", as he is also known, is played by comedy star Rowan Atkinson and thanks to some witty lines and excellent acting is very watchable and funny. It must be noted though that in the first series Blackadder is a rather different person, much less likeable due to his slimey cowardly personality, however after the first series flopped (although it's nowhere near bad) he was changed into the clever articulate man viewers now know and love. Blackadder is accompanied by two side-kicks: Baldrick, a dirty, grungy servant who gets Blackadder out of sticky situations (and into much worse trouble) and Percy a dim-witted but loyal fool.

Series 1 is set in England during medieval times. We are introduced to Blackadder who starts as he doesn't mean to go on by killing the current king. Edmund shows for the first time his remarkable ability to get into sticky situations and manages to annoy his father just a bit. Things don't get much better for the Blackadder family in the second series. Lord Blackadder, bastard great, great grandson of the repulsive original has marriage, execution, travel, money, beer and prison trouble.

The annals of the Blackadder family continue in the third series in which their fortunes have rather plummeted with the advent of the Regency period thus leaving Blackadder to be butler to a very stupid Prince Regent. The final critically acclaimed forth series of Blackadder is set in the trenches of the first world war. Edmund is a captain who spends all-day, everyday attempting to escape from his stupid and repulsive 'trench buddies' and equally stupid senior commanders. This last series contains the funny, memorable, poignant and famous final episode "Goodbyeee" in which, after running out of excuses, Blackadder and crew go "over-the-top" to face certain death.

The first (and least successful) series of Blackadder was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, who decided to write a historical sitcom as they figured that any contemporary one was bound to be unfavourably compared to Fawlty Towers. The series was expensive and used a large number of location shots and very little studio shooting. It was a critical and commercial flop but, refusing to accept defeat, Ben Elton was brought on board as Atkinson bowed out of writing. The new writing pair deciding to concentrate instead on acting. It was Elton who made Blackadder witty, clever and even handsome, and who made Baldrick and Percy so absurdly stupid. Nevertheless, the series was cancelled by the incoming head of comedy Michael Grade. However, extensive work had already begun on Blackadder II, and with the promise of funnier scripts and a far smaller budget (thanks to studio sets rather than locations), Grade offered the team one more chance. And the rest is history...