Archived Pages from 20th Century!!
This FAQ is written to answer the questions that seem to be asked the most often in the alt.comedy.blackadder newsgroup. I make no pretenses of being any sort of expert on this subject, so, the participation of all of the Blackadder fans and readership is important in keeping this FAQ valid and interesting. Any errors or additions should be called to my attention at [email protected]
Thanks,
Gwen Brophy
The Blackadder is a British Comedy Series starring Rowan Atkinson as the title role. The series spans from the 15th century all the way up to World War I, with some stops in between, and one stop in the future.
One of the most notable things about the series is the acidic tongue, and quick wit, of Edmund Blackadder, and the uncanny way in which he seems to have a hand in important situations of Europe's history--and in the slick way he gets himself into and out of trouble.
He is accompanied through the series by one faithful bondsman, Baldrick, whose intelligence is comparable to that of a cabbage. Their families are interwined in a centuries old relationship of servant and master. You can't help but wonder how the two families managed to reproduce.
Other familiar faces continually pop up over the centuries--such as Lord Flasheart, and Lord Percy Percy. One viewer noted that BlackAdder is to ordinary TV what being a millionaire aristocrat with the sexual capacity of a rutting rhino is to standing in the middle of a pond with a small painted wooden duck on your head.
I think that sums it up beautifully.
There are four series of six episodes each. There is a Christmas Special and a fifteen minute sketch done for charity. According to someone who works at the BBC, there is also a pilot which is similar in plot to 'Born to Be King', further information is available via email.
The series and their episodes, along with episode summaries:
It is Europe, 400 years ago. In Spain, war rages, as Christians from every land fight off the threatening terror of Turkish invasion. The French are in uneasy peace. But in England, under the tutelage of a powerful king, the ship of state ploughs a steady course as the court awaits the Queen's birthday and the return of a Scottish hero from the war.
What follows is a similar plot to the second episode 'Born to be King'. The major differences are that the king is present all the time, the play 'The Death of the Scotsman' involves hanging him from a gibbet rather than stabbing him to death.
The difference in cast is only noticeable in two roles, the King and
Bladric. A more detailed synopsis is available via email request. A
review of the pilot is also available, via email request, from
myself or Steve Phillips
The King - John Savident
From out of the swirling mists of the Dark Ages comes a lone
horseman with a most ridiculous haircut. It's the ghost of
Richard III, back to haunt the hapless prince Black Adder!
Co-stars Peter Cook.
An orange-faced, kilt-clad Scotsman sends waves of shock
through the court of England with his treachery, murder and
Scottish dancing.
The landscape is littered with dead Archbishops of
Canterbury...and Edmund the Reluctant is next in line for this
rather precarious position!
When one of Europe's most eligible princesses is up for grabs,
the scheming Edmund tries to lure her into his lascivious
clutches.
The King contracts a nasty case of the Black Death and blames
it on witchcraft. Only one man can sniff out the
hocus-pocus--he's the cruel, corrupt and thoroughly
incorrigible Witchsmeller!
Forever devious, Edmund hatches a hapless, hilarious plot to
dethrone the king...with the help of the Seven Most Evil Men in
the Land. Stars Rik Mayall.
Served by a dungball in a dress, and accompanied by a bird
brained dimwit, Edmund, the great, great grandson of the
repulsive original is reasonably normal--until he meets Bob.
Edmund, newly-appointed Minister in charge of Religious
Genocide and Lord High Executioner finds himself in a wee bit
of trouble when he completely ruins Lord Farrow's weekend by
cutting off his head.
Blackadder sets out on a quest for new potatoes and to boldly go
where Sir Walter "Rather-a-wimp" Raleigh has already gone
before.
Edmund gets a bit hot and bothered when a baby-eating Bishop
drops by unexpectedly and tried to place a red hot poker in
places where a cotton swab would be kinder.
An embarrassing incident with a turnip, an ostrich feather and
a fanatically puritan aunt lead to a right royal to-do in the
Blackadder household.
When Blackadder finds himself up to his chest in iron spikes,
he has but one course of action--to play charades with a crazed
Spanish interrogator.
Blackadder takes on the task of saving his royal master from
bankruptcy at the hand of the new Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, his attempts to interfere with the democratic
process don't quite go according to plan as Baldrick is
accidentally elevated to the House of Lords.
Dr. Johnson approaches Prince "Thick-As-A-Whale-Omlette" George
in an attempt to gain patronage for his new dictionary.
Blackadder is at first unimpressed, but when he learns of
Johnson's enthusiasm for a novel by a certain "Gertrude
Perkins," the royal butler's attitude changes.
After the French Revolution, Francophilia and "Scarlet
Pimpernalia" are all the rage in England, so Blackadder's
intense dislike for anything French seems somewhat out of date.
But the lure of money can do strange things to a man's
principles, even if it means being thrown into jail to face
terrible torture and death.
The Prince of Wales hires two fopish actors to help him
rehearse a speech, but Blackadder has other plans in store for
the two impertinent prissys.
The Prince is dead broke and no self-respecting princess will
marry the randy royal...until Blackadder comes up with a
deliciously devious plan.
Blackadder finds himself in the middle of a raucous duel
between the lascivious Prince of Wales and the head-splitting,
throat-slitting Duke of Wellington.
When General Haig unveils a new strategy to move his liquor
cabinet six inches closer to Berlin, Blackadder volunteers to
be official War Artist.
Orders for Operation Insanity arrive and Blackadder breaches
regulations by eating the messager--who just happens to be
General Melchett's closest boyhood friend.
The Russian Revolution produces two appalling results--an
offensive by Germany and a really offensive Charlie Chaplin
impression by Baldrick.
German machine guns in front, British firing squads behind and
guess who's in the middle? It'll take a better man that
Blackadder to escape this prickly predicament. Co-starring Rik
Mayall as Lord Flasheart.
Ordered to find a spy in the hospital, Blackadder discovers a
man with a strong German accent, a beautiful nurse and a chance
for three weeks in bed. Co-starring Miranda Richardson as Nurse
Mary.
Millions have died, but the troops have advanced no further
than an asthmatic ant with some heavy shopping. Now at last the
final big push looms...so, with the help of two pencils and a
pair of underpants, Blackadder gets a bit crazy.
Dickens' classic tale of kindness, truth and virtue completely mucked
up and ruined by having a member of the Blackadder family involved.
Also Baldrick, of course, the man you can rely on to turn Christmas
dinner into a dog's dinner, as long as the dog isn't particularly
fussy. Stuffed with deeply horrid people (many of whom are
gigantically fat) and groaning with cartloads of seasonal bottom
jokes, it manages to squeeze in not only a Victorian Blackadder but
also his famous Elizabethan, Regency, and Space Age relatives into a
huge pie of entertainment that will satisfy all but the most
discriminating viewers.
As a Loyalist during the Civil War, Blackadder must use a cleverly
disguised pumpkin to escape the block.
CBS/Fox sells them at $19.95, but they are in Suncoast Video for
$14.95, and in some Sam Goodys for the same price. They are also
available in Virgin Megastores. The first series has been released on
videodisk.
You can also write:
Also, try your local PBS station, which may sell them.
On the WWW, CDNow sells them.
The tapes arrive quickly, as I've been told, and all are available.
The URL is http://www.cdnow.com.
A&E (and sometimes Comedy Central, I believe) shows the episodes
occasionally; however, cuts are made, which, in my opinion, severely
hurt the humor of the show. (How can anyone even consider cutting out
the Flossie the Sheep joke in the last episode of the second series?
Tragic.)
The series is available on audio cassette from
Bookpages.
Rowan once did an HBO Comedy Special as well. A copy of this performance
is available, through catalogue, from Laughinghouse by calling
1-800-807-9032. The on-line catalogue is now located in the cathouse.org
archives. Mr. Bean is also available.
Personally, I hear "Hot potato, orchestra scores, Puck will make
amends." However, in the ftp script, it reads "Hot potato, off his
drawers, Puck will make amends."
This is still the subject of debate.
The
scripts can be found at
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~jgwright/bladder.htm
He is the Bishop of Bath and Wells, a bishop of a diocese in England
which contains Wells, a city with a huge remarkable cathedral, and
Bath, which has an equally impressive Abbey.
Helen Atkinson-Wood plays Mrs. Miggins in BA III. There is no proof so
far which says she is any relation to Rowan, nor is she his wife.
Rowan Atkinson is married to a woman named Sunetra, and they have had
two children.
(Note: only those who appeared more than once.)
(Rowan Atkinson's list of appearances is available; see #12)
There are legal complications due to a trademark law involving the
Scarlet Pimpernel.
The fifteen minute sketch, done orginally for the UK Comic Relief, for
Third World aid. It was released on a Comic Relief video; however, it
is very difficult to find this tape.
On boxed sets now being sold, the Cavalier Years are included on the
end of BAII. There is a stick which announces its inclusion.
The transcript for it is available in the ftp archive listed above.
Or, you can contact Melinda Casino, [email protected], for her
version, which is slightly different than the one in the archive.
Yes, Rowan was the voice of Zazu, the King's Major Domo. Rowan also
made an appearance in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Hot Shots: Part
Deux. He has made many more appearances, in films, comedy specials and
commercials. A complete listing of Atkinson appearances is posted
regularly in the alt.comedy.british.blackadder newsgroup. Contact
Jeff Mason , [email protected],
for details. Or, through the WWW:
http://grove.ufl.edu/~jrm/atkinson .
If this section were a complete list of all of the great quotes, it
would be many Ks long. So, in an effort to not waste bandwidth, I
will direct you to the
quotes page that I found at
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~min/black/quotes.html
No. Read on:
Blackadder Goes Forth Article (posted by Lee Whiteside)
[From the Times (London) October 22, 1989]
'...When the fourth series comes to what its co-writer, Richard
Curtis, darkly describes as its "very definitive last episode" on
BBC1 in two weeks, it is almost certainly the last we will see of
the most slippery dynasty since - as Captain Blackadder might have
said to Private Baldrick - the incredibly mean Emperor Ting covered
his grandchildren in yak grease, pushed them down the Great Wall of
China and said he'd bought them a roller coaster for Christmas...
'...Curtis says: "It's possible that we'll all work together again,
but we're not likely to meet up two years from now and decide to do
something we've already done four times. There were only four
gospels, for God's sake."'....
"Archbishop of Canterbury" The series takes place in the 15th century,
and chocolate is mentioned, which isn't introduced to Europe until the
1500's.
"Chains" The last quote of that episode concerns pencils, which are a
relatively recent invention.
"Head" Nursie says "Ointment...that's what I gave your sister Mary when
they done her" (saying that Mary's head had been cut off.) That Mary was
not beheaded.
"Beer" Blackadder mentions sending for the police when Percy says 'hey
nonny nonny'. The police weren't around until several centuries
later.
"Ink and Incapability" Samuel Johnson could not have asked George IV
for patronage for his dictionary as George didn't become regent until
1811, and Samuel Johnson died in 1784. His dictionary was published in
1755.
Byron, Shelley and Johnson gathering together is also impossible. The
men lived and died in different times.
From "Who's Who"
At
http://www.phanton.com/~stephenf
You can contact Hugh through his agent:
Hugh Laurie
Send mail to [email protected] with one line in the body of your
message, reading: SUBSCRIBE BLKADR-L
I will send it, by request, via
On the WWW:
http://www.pitt.edu/~gmbst15/faq.ba
For correcting my errors, making suggestions and commenting on the
format of this FAQ. You are appreciated.
Baldrick - Philip Fox
Duration: 32' 01"
Recorded at BBC Television Centre Studios, London. Date unknown.
Edited master logged into library on 27 June 1982
Format: 2" PAL Quad videotape.
BLACKADDER I--SET IN 15TH CENTURY (START: 1485)
1-The Foretelling
2-Born to be King
3-The Archbishop
4-The Queen of Spain's Beard
5-The Witchsmeller Pursuivant
6-The Black Seal
BLACKADDER II-SET IN QUEEN ELIZABETH I'S COURT
1-Bells
2-Head
3-Potato
4-Money
5-Beer
6-Chains
BLACKADDER III-SET IN KING GEORGE III'S PALACE
1-Dish and Dishonesty
2-Ink and Incapability
3-Nob and Nobility
4-Sense and Senility
5-Amy and Amiability
6-Duel and Duality
BLACKADDER IV-SET IN WWI TRENCHES (FRANCE)
1-Captain Cook
2-Corporal Punishment
3-Major Star
4-Private Plane
5-General Hospital
6-Goodbyeee
BLACKADDER CHRISTMAS CAROL-SET IN VICTORIAN LONDON
BLACKADDER THE CAVALIER YEARS--SET DURING CROMWELL'S CIVIL WAR
(1648)
3. Where can I buy them in the US?
Signals
PO Box 64428
St. Paul, MN 55164-0428
for a catalogue, or call 1 (800) 669-9696.
4. What is the chant that the actors say when they hear "MacBeth"?
5. Where can I get the transcripts?
6. What is the name of the Baby Eating Bishop in BA II?
7. Is Helen Atkinson-Wood related to Rowan? Is Rowan married?
8. What are the multiple characters played by the actors?
Rowan Atkinson
Patsy Byrne
Robbie Coltrane
Stephen Fry
Gabrielle Glaister
Hugh Laurie
Miriam Margolyes
Rik Mayall
Tim McInnerny
David Nunn
Miranda Richardson
Tony Robinson
Bill Wallis
9. Where else have some of the actors appeared?
Tom Baker
Chris Barrie
Brian Blessed
Jim Broadbent
Robbie Coltrane
Peter Cook
Adrian Edmundson
Stephen Fry
Simon Jones
Hugh Laurie
Miriam Margolyes
Tim McInnerny
Rick Mayall
Miranda Richardson
Tony Robinson
10. Why isn't Nob and Nobility shown in the US?
11. Why can't I buy The Cavalier Years?
12. Is that Rowan in The Lion King?
13. What are some of the great quotes from the series?
14. Will there be a Blackadder the Fifth Series?
15. What are some of the anachronisms in the series?
Blackadder I
Blackadder II
Blackadder III
16. Where can I write Rowan Atkinson?
c/o PBJ Management Ltd.
5 Soho Square
London WIV 5DE
England
Tel: 0171-287-1112
17. Where can I find Stephen Fry's homepage?
18. Where can I write Hugh Laurie?
c/o Lorraine Hamilton
19 Denmark St.
London WC2H 8NA
England
19. How can I subscribe to the Blackadder mailing list?
20. Where can I get the FAQ?
My thanks to:
And all the others, whom I have forgotten unintentionally, or left
out, due to my mistakes.