Past Times
As Blackadder turns 40, MARION MCMULLEN takes a look back at the making of the classic sitcom that had us laughing our way through history
A CUNNING plan was needed when Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson set their minds to working on a new television comedy.
“Blackadder was, in a funny way, written out of fear,” Richard once said. “Someone called John Cleese had written a show called Fawlty Towers and when Rowan and I tried to write a modern situation comedy we just knew it was rubbish in comparison to that.
“So we decided to write about history and it really came from two sources, one of which was a series of books called the Ladybird Book Of History and the other was the plays of Shakespeare because they were also stupid and people also wore stupid costumes.”
The result was Blackadder, which launched on the BBC 40 years ago on June 15, 1983.
It was set in the 15th century during the fictional reign of King Richard IV. The medieval historical sitcom starred Rowan Atkinson as Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh – who styled himself The Black Adder – and a cast that included Brian Blessed as King Richard, Sir Tony Robinson as Baldrick and Tim Mcinnerny as Percy. Publicity for the series described it as “the most gripping sitcom since 1380”.
Edmund sported a bad haircut and was always coming up with plots to take the crown from his father. Peter Cook also made a cameo appearance as Richard III.
Rowan co-wrote the scripts, but the comedy came close to being cancelled after the first series because it was so expensive to make. It was filmed on location at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and the production was plagued by a run of terrible weather.
Ben Elton was drafted in to cowrite the second series – now renamed Blackadder – and he and Richard Curtis moved the action to the Tudor period with the filming switching to a television studio.
Blackadder himself was transformed from a whimpering coward into an ambitious, cynical courtier who needed all his wits about him to keep his head while dealing with the giddy and capricious Elizabeth I. He was the great, great grandson of the first Blackadder.
Tony Robinson was back as a more dim-witted Baldrick with Tim Mcinnerny also returning to play Lord Percy.
Baldrick tells Blackadder: “I’ve been in your service since I was two and a half, my lord” only for Blackadder to tell him “Well, that is why I am so utterly sick of the sight of you”.
Blackadder regulars Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Miranda Richardson all made their debuts in the series, with Miranda beating 40 other actresses to land the role of Elizabeth I. Blackadder The Third moved forward in history to the Regency era with Edmund now in service to the foppish royal heir Prince George. Mr E Blackadder spent his days tormenting his lice-infested minion Baldrick and cooking up cunning plans to improve his social standing.
The fourth and final series, Blackadder Goes Forth, was set in the trenches of the First World War with Rowan as Captain Edmund Blackadder, Tony Robinson as Private Baldrick, Hugh Laurie as George St Barleigh and Stephen Fry and Tim Mcinnerny as Lord Melchett and Captain Darling.
The moving final episode was broadcast a few days before Remembrance Sunday with the last scene featuring no dialogue just Blackadder, Baldrick, Captain Darling and George filmed in slow motion going over the top of the trenches to the sound of explosions and gun fire.
Tony Robinson has said of playing Baldrick: “It transformed my life, my ability to get work, and people’s attitude towards me. And people didn’t think, ‘Oh my God, he plays Baldrick, he must be an a**e’ – they thought I must have gone to Oxford or Cambridge like my colleagues. I never did, so if anything, it went the other way.”
Rowan Atkinson once said of the comedy: “Blackadder represented the creative energy we all had in the 80s.”
Blackadder and Baldrick have appeared in one-off specials over the years and Prince William even starred in a Blackadder sketch with Stephen Fry in 2020 as part of the BBC’S The Big Night In – an evening of entertainment in aid of Comic Relief and Children in Need.
The Royal Mail has now brought out a special set of stamps to mark the 40th anniversary of Blackadder. Richard Curtis said of them: “We’re very amused and delighted. It’s a great relief for Blackadder to have his head on a stamp, instead of on a stake.”
It really came from two sources... the Ladybird Book Of History and... the plays of Shakespeare
Richard Curtis