Comfort Classic: Blackadder

It is hard to think of another great BBC sitcom blessed by such a strong pedigree as that of Blackadder. Running over four series, spanning 1983 to 1989 – plus the occasional special – the creators and stars of this comic masterpiece read like a roll call of late20th-century British screen talent.

Richard Curtis, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, John Lloyd, Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Robinson, Rik Mayall and Ben Elton were all, at some point, involved in the different incarnations of Blackadder. Not, of course, forgetting Tim McInnerny, cast as the wonderfully camp Percy Percy and Captain – cue double entendre – Darling.

At the heart of Blackadder was Rowan Atkinson, the preternaturally gifted actor who co-wrote the first series and starred as Edmund Blackadder.

The historical setting changed for each series and respectively took place in the 15th, 16th, 18th and 20th centuries. But from series 2, when writers Curtis and Elton came on board, Edmund remained essentially the same character – shrewd, conniving and totally devoid of scruples. Of course, his schemes invariably come hilariously unstuck.

Edmund’s intelligence contrasts sharply with that of his dim-witted comic foil, Baldrick, played to perfection by Robinson, and Laurie’s aristocratic numbskull, George, Prince of Wales in series 3, and Lieutenant the Hon George Colthurst St Barleigh MC in Blackadder Goes Forth. The absurdities of the English class system gave Curtis and Elton much of their inspiration.

What began as a medieval farce – well, sort of – set in the fictional age of Richard IV, and continued in the courts of Elizabeth I and the Regency, ended up in darker territory, when the BBC First World War trenches gave some bite to the comedy.

At the culmination of the final series, Blackadder Goes Forth, Captain Blackadder can no longer avoid the inevitable and leads his comrades in arms over the top to almost certain death. Has sitcom ever been so heartbreaking?

Atkinson’s relish at playing such a comic monster is a joy to watch. Most � Blackadder Goes Forth