Blackadder

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Blackadder is a British television comedy programme from the BBC, a surreal take on British history. Blackadder is not the title of any specific series, but is the general term for the programmes - four series and several one-off episodes - taken as a whole. The series were written by Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton, and Richard Curtis, and produced by John Lloyd.

Four series were made, each one set in a different period of history, featuring the anti-hero, Blackadder. It is implied that in each series the Blackadder character is a descendant of the previous one. With each observed generation, Blackadder's social standing is reduced, from prince, to nobleman, to royal butler, to army captain - by the end, nothing more than cannon-fodder.

All the series starred Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as his sidekick Baldrick. Each series also tended to feature the same set of actors in different period settings; thus Stephen Fry played Lord Melchett, an advisor to the Queen in the second series, and General Melchett, a blustering buffoon, in the fourth. Anachronistic references were plentiful and mainly humorous.

It popularised the use of simile and associated devices for comic effect in Britain. Examples include:

  • "Madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of last year's Mr. Madman competition."
  • "I've got a plan so cunning, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel." or "As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University."
  • "I'm as happy as a Frenchman who's just invented a pair of self-removing trousers."
  • "I'm as weary as a dog with no legs that's just climbed Ben Nevis."

List of series

  1. The Black Adder (1983)
  2. Blackadder II (1986)
  3. Blackadder the Third (1987)
  4. Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)

Series 1: The Black Adder

Set in the Middle Ages, this is in fact an alternate history. It opens with the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485) being won by Richard III (played by Peter Cook), instead of Henry Tudor who won in real life. However, Richard III is then accidentally killed shortly after the battle, and the late King's nephew, Richard, Duke of York is crowned as Richard IV.

Richard has two sons:

  • Harry, Prince of Wales, Prince Regent, Captain of the Guard, Grand Warden of the Northern and Eastern Marches, Chief Lunatic of the Duchy of Gloucester, Viceroy of Wales, Sheriff of Nottingham, Marquis of the Midlands, Lord Hoe-Maker in Ordinary, Harbinger of the Doomed Rat (1460 - 1498).
  • Prince Edmund, "the Black Adder" , Duke of Edinburgh, Warden of the Royal Privvies, the Laird of Roxburg, Selkirk, and Peebles, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Great Gumblededook, Duke of Hastings(1461 - 1498).

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 relying more on the plans of Baldrick.

Episode list

  1. "The Foretelling" - Richard III wins the historic Battle of Bosworth Field, but is promptly killed by his bumbling grandnephew Edmund. Understandably, the late King is livid at this, and won't let Edmund forget it.
  2. "Born to be King" - Edmund's elder brother Harry is looking after the throne while their father is off fighting in the Crusades, but Edmund would much rather that he had it himself. So he obtains evidence that their mother had had an affair, making Harry illegitimate. Of course, Edmund's sums are all wrong...
  3. "The Archbishop" - With the Archbishops of Canterbury being bumped off left, right, and centre, appointing one's enemy to the post may seem like a cunning plan. Unfortunately for Edmund, the plan backfires, and he ends up with the post himself.
  4. "The Queen of Spain's Beard" - In the name of international diplomacy, the King decides to marry Edmund off to a Spanish princess. Finding the Infanta unattractive, Edmund tries to get out of the alliance, and eventually succeeds, only to end up married to the very young Princess Leia of Hungary, and having to read her bedtime stories.
  5. "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" - The Black Death is sweeping across England, and the whole country is in turmoil. Witchcraft is blamed, and so the Witchsmeller Pursuivant is summoned to identify the culprits. The Witchsmeller decides that Edmund is responsible.
  6. "The Black Seal" - Edmund is stripped of all his titles and honours, apart from Warden of the Royal Privy. Outraged by the way that his father is treating him, he rounds up six of the most evil men in England to help him seize the throne for himself. He manages to hold it for approximately 30 seconds.

Series 2: Blackadder II

Blackadder II is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 - 1603). The principal character is Edmund, Lord Blackadder, a great-grandson of the original Black Adder (according to the title song), and a close servant of the Queen, who likes to chop off people's heads and play jokes on Edmund. Edmund's hopes of marrying her never bear fruit. The Queen is joined by her advisor Lord Melchett (with whom Blackadder has a mutual relation of hate) and her insane nanny, Nursie. This series establishes the more familiar character of Edmund, as cunning, shrewd, and witty.

The action is generally split between Blackadder's house (or to be more specific his front room) and the Queen's throne room. Each episode also features another location, from Baldrick's bedroom to a German dungeon.

Episode list

  1. "Bells" - Blackadder falls in love with his new servant, "Bob", who he thinks is a man, but who is in fact a disguised woman named Kate. When Blackadder finds out, he is much relieved, and the two of them decide to get married. However, during the marriage ceremony, she elopes with the best man, Lord Flashheart (played by Rik Mayall).
  2. "Head" - Blackadder is made High Executioner and has to cope with the wife of a man condemned to be executed. Unfortunately, the man is already dead.
  3. "Potato" - To prove he's better than Walter Raleigh and to impress the Queen, Blackadder sets out for the sea.
  4. "Money" - Blackadder has to pay a large sum of money to a furious bishop, while the Queen keeps "borrowing" his money.
  5. "Beer" - Blackadder's puritanical aunt and uncle, the Whiteadders, call round to discuss his inheritance, at the same time as he plans to hold a drinking competition with Lord Melchett. To top it all, Edmund's tolerance for beer isn't what it could be, so he runs a significant risk of being found face-down in a puddle (like last time).
  6. "Chains" - Blackadder is captured by the Spaniards, and ends up in the dungeons of a weird interrogator Prince Ludwig, a German supervillain who aims to kill the Queen. By the end of the episode, Ludwig has killed the entire cast and has disguised himself as Queen Elizabeth, replacing her on the throne.

Series 3: Blackadder the Third

Blackadder The Third is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency period. For much of this period, 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, Edmund Blackadder, Esquire, is the Prince of Wales's butler. Despite Edmund's respected inteligence and abilities he has no personal fortune to speak of. According to Edmund he has been serving the Prince Regent all their lifes, since they were both breast-feeding. There are three main sets: the Prince's quarters, which are large and lavish, the below-stairs hangout of Blackadder and Baldrick, which is dark and squalid, and finally Mrs. Miggins's pie shop (briefly mentioned in Blackadder II, now 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 (no relation to Rowan) as Mrs. Miggins. The series features rotten boroughs, Dr. Johnson (anachronistically) (played by Robbie Coltrane), the French Revolution (also anachronistically), bad acting, highwaymen, and duels.

Episode list

In this series, the episode titles use alliteration in a humorous parody of the titles of Jane Austen's novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

  1. "Dish and Dishonesty" - Prime Minister Pitt the Younger wants to strike the Prince Regent from the Civil List. The only thing for a royal butler to do is to rig an election.
  2. "Ink and Incapability" - Samuel Johnson seeks the Prince's patronage for his groundbreaking new book, the Dictionary.
  3. "Nob and Nobility" - After Blackadder disparages the Scarlet Pimpernel, two noblemen bet him a thousand guineas he can't go to France, rescue an aristocrat and present him at the French Embassy Ball. Meanwhile, a revolutionary seizes the Embassy.
  4. "Sense and Senility" - An anarchist makes an attempt on the Prince's life. Blackadder suggests the Prince show the public how charming and intelligent he his, but first he needs some training in acting.
  5. "Amy and Amiability" - Blackadder searches for a wife for his master. The main criterion is that she should be rich. The bride he chooses is Amy Hardwood, an industrialist's daughter who has a reputation of being extravagant. As Edmund proceeds to court Amy on behalf of his master, she seems to be falling for him. But as Edmund finds out progressively: her father is broke, her money comes from a career she has started as the famous "highwayman", the Shadow, and her affections are part of a plan to use him to get the Prince's money. Edmund ends up giving Amy to the authorities for hanging and wins the Shadow's ransom, £10,000, for himself.
  6. "Duel and Duality" - The Duke of Wellington challenges the Prince to a duel. The Prince, being a huge coward, enlists Blackadder's help to avoid this. Edmund and the Prince change places. But at the end of the episode it is Edmund who survives the duel, while the Prince is shot dead by Wellington who thought he was a useless butler. Mad King George apparently can't tell the difference between his late son and Edmund, and Edmund is more than happy to replace his late master as Prince Regent and possibly later his new "daddy" to the throne.

Series 4: Blackadder Goes Forth

This series is set 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, gung-ho Leiutenant George (Hugh Laurie), and the world's worst cook, Private S. Baldrick. Loony General Melchett rallies his troops from a French mansion, where he is aided and abetted by Captain Darling, whose name is played on for maximum comedy value.

Episode list

In this series, the episode titles are, with the exception of the final one, puns on military ranks.

  1. "Captain Cook" - Blackadder finds out that if he gets a work of art on the cover of the magazine King and Country, it could be his ticket out of the trenches.
  2. "Corporal Punishment" - A hungry Blackadder shoots General Melchett's favourite carrier pigeon, Speckled Jim.
  3. "Major Star" - In order to boost morale, and maybe skip out of the trenches for a few weeks, Blackadder organises a cabaret show. Meanwhile, the General apparently hasn't noticed anything odd about his new driver, Corporal Bob Parkhurst.
  4. "Private Plane" - Though initially put off by the brash Squadron Leader Lord Flasheart, Blackadder comes to believe that the flying corps may be a rather cushy number.
  5. "General Hospital" - A spy has been traced to the local hospital where George is invalided. Is Blackadder man enough to find him? This will mean leaving the trenches for several weeks.
  6. "Goodbyeee" - With the big push looming ever closer, Blackadder decides that feigning insanity is the only way out. Following an old trick from the Sudan, he puts his underpants on his head, sticks a pencil in each nostril and starts saying, "Wibble".

The final episode of the last series, "Goodbyeee", is known for being extraordinarily moving for a comedy. The final scene sees the main characters - Blackadder, Baldrick, George, and Darling - charging off to die in the fog and smoke of no man's land.

Specials

Ebeneezer Blackadder is the nicest man in England.He is everything that Ebenezer Scrooge was by the end of the original story.Generous and kind to everybody, sensitive to the misery of others.As a result everybody takes advantage of his kindness and all but Baldrick view him as a victim.His business turns no profit, all his earnings going to charity, and he lives a lonely, miserable life.

All this until the Spirit of Christmas makes the mistake of calling round to congratulate him for his ways.The spirit lets him see shades of the past, the lifes of his ancestors Lord Edmund Blackadder and Edmund Blackadder, the butler of the Prince Regent.Instead of being convinced that he is better than them he grows to admire them and their witt.He asks the spirit to show him what could happen if he turned like them.He sees a vision of a distant future where his distant descedant Commander Blackadder, is a succesful,if ruthless, official of a Universe-spanning Empire about to marry ruthless and insanely ambitious Queen Asphyxia XIX, both planning to conquer the Universe.Ebeneezer asks the Spirit what will happen if he stays kind.As an answer he sees an alternate vision of the same future era where his descedant is nothing more than a naked slave of ,rather incompetent ,Commander Baldrick.

Ebeneezer makes his decision and proclaiming that "Bad guys have all the fun" wakes up a different man, bitter, vengeful, greedy for money and insulting to every one he meets.Although he is now more in control of his life he misses a golden opportunity when he insults two strangers who had come to reward him for his reputed generocity.Namely Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (reigned 1837 - 1901) and her Prince-consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (married 1840 - 1861).The episode ends leaving Ebeneezer contemplating his life.

  • "Blackadder: The Cavalier Years" (1988) - taking place at the time of the English Civil War. It is a short episode, shown as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.
  • "Blackadder: Back & Forth" (1999) - Blackadder is entertaining guests on New Year's Eve, 1999. As a practical joke, he plans to convince them he has a working time machine (and win 10 grand into the bargain). Amazingly, the time machine, built by Baldrick to plans by Leonardo da Vinci, actually works. This is a short film commissioned especially for showing at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich throughout the year 2000.

Characters

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