Great British Telly: A History of Blackadder – Where History Became a Hilarious Joke

While many consider history a joke, it is rarely a source of television comedy. Blackadder stands out for taking history – or at least an alternative version of it – and creating outstanding humor. Starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, the show follows one person and their eponymous descendants for 400 years, re-writing major historical events of British history and mining them for laughs instead of learning. After the first season failed and the show was canceled, it made a comeback after a total re-think and went on for a total of four seasons to become much-loved and often replayed.

Key Facts:

• 24 episodes in four series, running from 1983 to 1988
• A fictional, comic version of major historical events
• Starred Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder over four generations
• First series filmed on location at historic sites
• It was cancelled and then reborn under a new writer

A Short History

Family continuity and inheritance, along with a love of history, are deeply entrenched in British culture, and they form the basis for the TV series Blackadder, which first aired on the 15th of June 1983. The premise of the show is that through the generations, a family takes part in major historical events in Britain, represented by a member of the family with the same name (Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson) and appearance. He is accompanied by a servant with the same name (Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson), who is presumably also descended from his namesake in the previous season. The show ran for four series, each with 6 episodes, and each series was set in a different historical period. The ‘history’ presented is often inaccurate or just plain wrong, meant to appeal humorously to history buffs, while there are also comic characters and events providing both verbal and physical humor in what is, at heart, a zany sitcom.

The first series is best considered as a separate entity, as it was very different in many ways from later series, despite the same main actors and the overall premise. Series one was conceived and written by comedian Rowan Atkinson and writer Richard Curtis. At the time, Atkinson was appearing in the BBC program Not the Nine O’Clock News, and Curtis was one of the writers for that show. It was a satirical show covering current events and the first major showcase for alternative comedy in the UK. While still comedy, Blackadder was something very different. It was conceived as an alternative history – what if? – based on one of the defining moments in English history, the end of the War of the Roses in 1485, which determined which royal family would rule England. It was resolved at the Battle of Bosworth with the death of King Richard III, and the ascension of the first Tudor King, Henry VII. Blackadder addresses, in comic fashion, what might have happened if instead, Richard III had won the battle. In the story, Atkinson and Curtis created, despite his victory, the king is accidentally killed at the end of the battle by Lord Edmund Plantagenet (played by Rowan Atkinson). His father then becomes king, as Richard IV. The story follows the attempts by Edmund, who called himself Black Adder, to find favor from his father and ultimately overthrow him. Duplicitous and prone to inflate his achievements, Edmund is at the same time bumbling, slow-witted, and a failure. The series used many real outdoor locations and had a large cast of actors and extras. The six episodes cost over one million pounds, a considerable sum at the time.

Despite its cost, the show was not considered consistently comedic, and the reviews were mixed. Looking back years later, the producer John Lloyd said, “We were young, we thought, ‘We’re brilliant, we can do anything,’ and we bit off more than we could chew.” When Michael Grade became the new Controller at BBC One in 1984, he killed the show because of the high cost and low ratings. At this point, a new writer – Ben Elton – joined the team, and Atkinson stepped aside from a writing role. Besides his acting and writing talents, Elton was the nephew of a major historian of the Tudor period, Geoffrey Elton, and he proposed to leave the dark and lice-ridden Middle Ages behind and move into the romantic (and more well-known) Tudor period. The show moved to studio shoots – lowering the cost – and the Rowan Atkinson character changed from a bumbler to a shrewd operator, while his smart servant became the dumb one.

The team made a final presentation to the controllers, and a second series was commissioned. As a result of these changes and maneuvers, it was 1986 before that second series aired. It was set almost 100 years later, in the reign of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I. Edmund, Lord Blackadder, is the great-grandson of the first Edmund, and the show mainly deals with his relationship with the queen and the royal court. Queen Elizabeth I is played by Miranda Richardson as a charming, slightly mad, and dangerous monarch, while Stephen Fry plays her cunning advisor, Lord Melchett, and Patsy Byrne is her slightly demented old nanny, Nursie. The show was well-reviewed and won good ratings, assuring that the series would continue.

Series three aired in 1987, and it is set in the Regency period, at the end of the 18^th century. No longer a Lord, Edmund Blackadder is head butler to the Prince Regent, the Prince of Wales (played by Hugh Laurie). The Prince is portrayed as a fop and a fool, while the cunning Blackadder manipulates him for money and power. Stephen Fry appears as the Duke of Wellington, and Robbie Coltrane plays the creator of the first English dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Series four was shown in 1989 and set in 1917, during the First World War. Now we have Captain Edmund Blackadder, living through the hell of the trenches. Baldrick is dimmer than ever, but the bold hero. The show had always skewered the pomposity and simplicity of classroom history, but in this season, it turned on the ‘glory of war,’ exposing the reality of dirt, incompetence, and men overwhelmed by the situation, contrasted with the simple heroism of the ordinary soldier. Although never mentioned, the quote, lions led by donkeys (originating in the Crimean War, but traceable back to ancient Athens), is at the heart of this season. The ending is anything but comic, but it stands as a moving tribute to the courageous, if blind, heroism of the soldiers in a war fought by mutual slaughter. In the final episode, Blackadder leads his men out of the trenches into No Man’s Land, where they face certain death, and we say goodbye to all the Blackadders.

Although the show never returned, there were other creations by the team. In February 1988 Blackadder: The Cavalier Years, a 15-minute episode set in the English Civil War, was screened as part of the charity Comic Relief telethon. Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, shown on the 23rd of December 1988, was a new take on Dicken’s, where, ‘bad guys have all the fun’ wins out. Blackadder: Back & Forth was shown in the Millenium Dome in 2000, in which Blackadder acquires a Time Machine.

Cultural Impact

Series Four was declared #16 in the “100 Greatest British Television Programmes” by the British Film Institute in 2000. A BBC TV poll taken in 2004 for “Britain’s Best Sitcom” placed it second. Empire Magazine ranked it 20^th in its “Best TV Show of All Time” list. Although there are regular rumors of a return of the show, many of the actors feel the final ending was so good that anything attempting to follow it would be second-rate.

Blackadder featured alternative comedy, which critiqued politics and society. It was in sharp contrast to the family-friendly entertainment dominating BBC productions at the time, and it was the first show since Monty Python in the late 1960s to tread that path.

Places to Visit

Alnwick Castle, located in Northumberland, was used for the first series as a location. It is the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, and it was built in the years following the Norman Invasion of 1066. It was one of the Lancastrian strongholds during the War of the Roses, and so it connected well with the plot of the first series. The castle is located on the east coast, north of Newcastle upon Tyne and south of Edinburgh. It is open from late March to late October, daily from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.

Hatfield House, Great North Rd, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth I, and its Tudor and Jacobean architecture is very appropriate to season 2 of Blackadder, although the show was filmed almost entirely on sets. The gardens are open year-round, and the House from early April to the end of September. Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London are also associated with Elizabeth I, as she was respectively crowned and imprisoned in them.

Regency buildings (Series 3) can be found in many English towns. Notable are Bath, Cheltenham, Brighton & Hove, Leamington Spa, and Tunbridge Wells. Large sections of London, from Kensington Gardens to the Royal Opera House and Saville Row were all built during the Regency period.

The Imperial War Museum (Lambeth Road, SE1) and the National Army Museum (Royal Hospital Road, SW3) both have extensive displays related to Britain and World War One. The Royal Engineers Museum (Prince Arthur Road, Gillingham, Kent) focuses on the construction of the trench systems that were so much a part of the war, and in which Series 4 of Blackadder is set.

Where to Watch

• Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition contains all the series and specials, as well as the documentary and other features created about the show. It was recently announced that a 4K remaster has been done, and it will be released soon.
• It is available to stream on Hulu and BritBox.

Further Research

• Blackadder Rides Again (2013) – video documentary made for the 25^th anniversary of the show
• Medieval Britain, c.1000-1500 (Cambridge History of Britain), by David Crouch (2017)
•  England Under the Tudors, by Geoffrey Elton (1984)
• Elizabeth I, by Anne Somerset (2004)
• Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England, by Carolly Erickson (2011)
• Letters from the Trenches: The First World War by Those Who Were There, by Jacqueline Wadsworth

Related