Above: The Royal Mail recently released a set of stamps to celebrate Blackadder’s 40th anniversary.
Writing the perfect script
Just as a company is more than its CEO, Blackadder’s character roster extends beyond Edmund and Baldrick. Who could forget the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, the violent and corrupt clergymen? What about Nursie (or Bernard), Queenie’s simple-yet-devoted attendant.
Each season boasted a host of memorable characters that leapt off the small screen, and they remain ingrained in viewers’ minds. These figures provide moments of evergreen entertainment, fostering nostalgia amongst audiences long after it aired and allowing fans to reminisce over their lifetime.
It is [the] fan buy-in that has enabled Blackadder to seep into other avenues of life.
Blackadder’s writing transcends the comedy genre. The storylines weren’t afraid to tackle topical social issues such as gender inequality, politics and war; trends that still resonate with today’s audiences.
The latter is even more pertinent given fans’ desire to subscribe to stories and form emotional attachments to characters and their journeys. Blackadder Goes Forth’s final episode tugs on viewers’ heartstrings, the series’ ‘will they, won’t they’ storyline culminating in the soldiers heading over the top.
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