Editing Blackadder (section)

==Production==

===Series development===
Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis developed the idea for the sitcom while working on ''[[Not the Nine O'Clock News]]''. Eager to avoid comparisons to the critically acclaimed ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', they proposed the idea of a historical sitcom.<ref name="Interviews">''I Have a Cunning Plan – 20th Anniversary of Blackadder'', [[BBC Radio 4]] documentary broadcast 23 August 2003. Excerpts available at [https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/interviews/ bbc.co.uk]. Retrieved 17 April 2008</ref><ref name="Curtis interview">[http://www.blackadderhall.com/library/richard_interview.html Interview] at Blackadder Hall. Retrieved 17 April 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927024255/http://www.blackadderhall.com/library/richard_interview.html |date=27 September 2011 }}</ref> A [[The Black Adder (unaired pilot)|pilot episode]] was made in 1982, and a six-episode series was commissioned. The budget for the series was considerable, with much location shooting particularly at [[Alnwick Castle]] in Northumberland and the surrounding countryside in February 1983.<ref>[http://www.alnwickcastle.com/television.php Alnwick Castle official website]. Retrieved 2 June 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228031113/http://www.alnwickcastle.com/television.php |date=28 December 2008 }}</ref> The series also used large casts of extras, horses and expensive medieval-style costumes. Atkinson has said about the making of the first series:

<blockquote>The first series was odd, it was very extravagant. It cost a million pounds for the six programmes&nbsp;... [which] was a lot of money to spend&nbsp;... It looked great, but it wasn't as consistently funny as we would have liked.<ref name="Interviews"/></blockquote>

Owing to the high cost of the first series, the then-controller of programming of [[BBC1]], [[Michael Grade]], was reluctant to sign off a second series without major improvements to the show and drastic cost-cutting, leaving a gap of three years between the two series.<ref name="Lewisohn">Lewisohn, Mark, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050408071319/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/b/blackadderthe_7770760.shtml ''The Black Adder''] at the former [[BBC Guide to Comedy]]. Retrieved 17 April 2008</ref>

A chance meeting between Richard Curtis and comedian [[Ben Elton]] led to the decision to collaborate on a new series of ''Blackadder''. Recognising the main faults of the first series, Curtis and Elton agreed that ''Blackadder II'' would be a studio-only production (along with the inclusion of a live audience during recording, instead of showing the episodes to an audience after taping). Besides adding a greater comedy focus, Elton suggested a major change in character emphasis: Baldrick would become the stupid [[sidekick]], while Edmund Blackadder evolved into a cunning [[sycophant]]. This led to the familiar set-up that was maintained in the following series.<ref name="Britain's Best Sitcom">''[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/advocate_blackadder.shtml Britain's Best Sitcom – Blackadder]'', 2004 BBC Television documentary, presented by [[John Sergeant (journalist)|John Sergeant]]</ref>

Only in the ''Back & Forth'' millennium special was the shooting once again on location, because this was a production with a budget estimated at £3&nbsp;million, and was a joint venture between [[Tiger Aspect Productions|Tiger Aspect]], [[Sky UK|Sky Television]], the New Millennium Experience Company and the BBC, rather than the BBC alone.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/419247.stm Blackadder's millennium duel]'', [[BBC News]], Friday, 13 August 1999</ref><ref>'[http://www.blackadderhall.com/library/skyview.html Black to the Future – Interview with Tony Robinson]' in ''Skyview'', January 2000 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927024303/http://www.blackadderhall.com/library/skyview.html |date=27 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212579/trivia Trivia] at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 20 April 2008</ref>

===Casting===

{{Main|List of Blackadder characters}}
Each series tended to feature the same set of regular actors in different period settings, although throughout the four series and specials, only Blackadder and Baldrick were constant characters. Several regular cast members recurred as characters with similar names, implying, like Blackadder, that they were descendants.

====Recurring cast====
Various actors have appeared in more than one of the Blackadder series and/or specials. These are:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
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! style="width:140px;"|
! style="width:120px;"|''[[The Black Adder]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder II]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder the Third]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder Goes Forth]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder: The Cavalier Years]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder's Christmas Carol]]''
! style="width:120px;"|''[[Blackadder: Back & Forth]]''
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| align=left|[[Rowan Atkinson]]
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| align=left|[[Tony Robinson]]
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| align=left|[[Tim McInnerny]]
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| align=left|[[Hugh Laurie]]
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| align=left|[[Stephen Fry]]
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| align=left|[[Miranda Richardson]]
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| align=left|[[Rik Mayall]]
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| align=left|[[Miriam Margolyes]]
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| align=left|[[Gabrielle Glaister]]
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| align=left|[[Bill Wallis]]
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| align=left|[[Robbie Coltrane]]
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| align=left|[[Jim Broadbent]]
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| align=left|[[Stephen Frost]]
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| align=left|[[Mark Arden]]
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| align=left|[[Lee Cornes]]
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| align=left|[[Patsy Byrne]]
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| align=left|[[Warren Clarke]]
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| align=left|[[Philip Pope]]
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| align=left|Barbara Miller
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| align=left|[[David Nunn (actor)|David Nunn]]
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| align=left|[[Denis Lill]]
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====Main cast====
*[[Rowan Atkinson]] as [[Edmund Blackadder]], the series' protagonist. In ''The Black Adder'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh (Late Medieval England)|Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh]], nicknamed "The Black Adder". In ''Blackadder II'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Edmund, Lord Blackadder (Elizabethan England)|Edmund, Lord Blackadder]], a nobleman in the court of [[Queenie (Blackadder)#Blackadder II|Queen Elizabeth I]]. In ''Blackadder the Third'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Edmund Blackadder Esq. (Regency Britain)|Edmund Blackadder Esq.]], servant to the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]]. In ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Ebenezer Blackadder|Ebenezer Blackadder]], the Victorian proprietor of a "moustache shop". In ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Captain Edmund Blackadder (World War I)|Captain Edmund Blackadder]], serving in [[World War I]]. In ''Blackadder: Back & Forth'' he is [[Edmund Blackadder#Lord Edmund Blackadder / King Edmund III (Turn-of-the-Millennium)|Lord Edmund Blackadder]], a modern-day representative of the Blackadder dynasty.
*[[Tony Robinson]] as [[Baldrick|S. Baldrick]], Blackadder's servant, or [[Batman (military)|batman/orderly]] in ''Blackadder Goes Forth'', who appears in all four series and all the specials.
*[[Tim McInnerny]] as [[Lord Percy Percy]], Blackadder's dimwitted sidekick in ''The Black Adder'' and ''Blackadder II'' - initially the Duke of Northumberland in the former, then heir to the same title in the latter - and as Captain [[Kevin Darling]], Blackadder's antagonistic rival, in ''Blackadder Goes Forth''. He also appeared as [[The Scarlet Pimpernel]] (alias Lord Topper and [[Le Comte de Frou Frou]]) in the ''Blackadder the Third'' episode "Nob and Nobility", and reprised his role as Darling in ''Back & Forth''.
*[[Stephen Fry]] as Melchett in ''Blackadder II'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth''. In ''Blackadder II'' he is [[List of Blackadder characters#Melchett|Lord Melchett]], the sycophantic adviser to [[Queenie (Blackadder)|Queen Elizabeth I]]. Fry also played this incarnation of Melchet in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''. In ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' he is [[General Melchett]], a blustering buffoon and presumed descendant. Fry also appeared as [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]], the Duke of Wellington, in "Duel and Duality", the final episode of ''Blackadder the Third'', and as various characters in ''Back & Forth''.
*[[Hugh Laurie]] as [[George (Blackadder)|George]], first the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]] in ''Blackadder the Third'', and later Lieutenant George in ''Blackadder Goes Forth''. Laurie also played the Prince Regent in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''. Prior to becoming a regular cast member, Laurie also appeared in two episodes of ''Blackadder II''; first as Simon "Farters Parters" Partridge or "Mr. Ostrich" in the episode "[[Beer (Blackadder)|Beer]]", and then as Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in "[[Chains (Blackadder)|Chains]]", the final episode of ''Blackadder II''. He reprised his role as George in ''Back & Forth''.
*[[Miranda Richardson]] was only a regular cast member for ''Blackadder II'', in which she played [[Queenie (Blackadder)#Blackadder II|Queen Elizabeth I]], reprising the role in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol'' and ''Back & Forth'', alongside additional characters. However, she also played significant one-off roles as [[Amy Hardwood]] (a.k.a. The Shadow) in "[[Amy and Amiability (Blackadder)|Amy and Amiability]]" from ''Blackadder the Third'', and Mary Fletcher-Brown, a dutiful nurse in "[[General Hospital (Blackadder)|General Hospital]]" from ''Blackadder Goes Forth''.

====Non-recurring cast====
*[[Brian Blessed]], [[Elspet Gray]] and [[Robert East (actor)|Robert East]] appeared in all six episodes of ''The Black Adder'' as the Black Adder's father, mother and brother, respectively. Gray had also appeared in the non-broadcast pilot.
*[[Patsy Byrne]] played Nursie in all six episodes of ''Blackadder II'', but never featured in either of the subsequent series, either as a regular character or one-off. She briefly reprised the character in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol'' and ''Back & Forth''.
*[[Helen Atkinson-Wood]] played the role of [[Mrs. Miggins]] in all six episodes of ''Blackadder the Third'', but did not appear again in the series, although the character was mentioned several times in ''Blackadder II'' and in the final episode of ''Blackadder Goes Forth''.

====Guest cast====
[[Ben Elton]]'s arrival from ''Blackadder II'' onwards heralded the more frequent recruitment of comic actors from the [[alternative comedy]] era for guest appearances, including [[Robbie Coltrane]], [[Rik Mayall]] (who had appeared in the final episode of ''The Black Adder'' as "Mad Gerald"),<ref>{{cite web|title=The Black Adder, The Black Seal (TV Episode 1983) - Cast credits - IMDb|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0526540/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_ttfc_3|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> [[Adrian Edmondson]], [[Nigel Planer]], [[Mark Arden]], [[Stephen Frost]], [[Chris Barrie]] and [[Jeremy Hardy]].<ref name="Bacast" /> Elton himself played an anarchist in ''Blackadder the Third''.<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC One - Blackadder, Blackadder the Third, Sense and Senility|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078wqx|publisher=BBC|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref>

[[Gabrielle Glaister]] played [[Bob (Blackadder character)|Bob]], an attractive girl who poses as a man, in both ''Blackadder II'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth'', where in the latter her official title is Driver Parkhurst.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gabrielle Glaister - British Comedy Guide|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/gabrielle_glaister/|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> One episode each of  ''Blackadder II'' and ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' feature [[Rik Mayall]] as [[Lord Flashheart]], a vulgar friend in his first appearance and then a successful rival of Blackadder in his second. He also played a decidedly Flashheart-like [[Robin Hood]] in ''Back & Forth''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rik Mayall - British Comedy Guide|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/rik_mayall/?medium=tv&role=#creditsTab|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> [[Lee Cornes]] appeared in one episode each of the Curtis/Elton-written series; as a guard in the ''Blackadder II'' episode "Chains"; as the poet [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]] in the ''Blackadder the Third'' episode "Ink and Incapability"; and as firing squad soldier [[Private (rank)|Private]] Fraser in the ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' episode "Corporal Punishment".<ref>{{cite web|title=Lee Cornes - British Comedy Guide|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/lee_cornes/?medium=tv&role=1#creditsTab|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref>

More established actors, some at the veteran stage of their careers, were also recruited for roles. These included [[Peter Cook]], [[John Grillo]], [[Simon Jones (actor)|Simon Jones]], [[Tom Baker]], [[Jim Broadbent]], [[Hugh Paddick]], [[Frank Finlay]], [[Kenneth Connor]], [[Bill Wallis]], [[Ronald Lacey]], Roger Blake, [[Denis Lill]], [[Warren Clarke]] and [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]], who played [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig]] in "[[Goodbyeee]]", the final episode of ''Blackadder Goes Forth''. [[Miriam Margolyes]] played three different guest roles: The Spanish Infanta in  "[[The Queen of Spain's Beard (Blackadder)|The Queen of Spain's Beard]]" (''The Black Adder''), Lady Whiteadder in "[[Beer (Blackadder)|Beer]]" (''Blackadder II''), and [[Queen Victoria]] in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''.<ref name="Bacast">{{cite web|title=Full Blackadder cast and crew credits - British Comedy Guide|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/blackadder/cast_crew/full/|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref>

Unusually for a sitcom based loosely on factual events and in the historical past, a man was recruited for one episode essentially to play himself. Political commentator [[Vincent Hanna]] played a character billed as "his own great-great-great grandfather" in the ''Blackadder the Third'' episode "[[Dish and Dishonesty (Blackadder)|Dish and Dishonesty]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC One - Blackadder, Blackadder the Third, Dish and Dishonesty|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078w78|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> Hanna was asked to take part because the scene was of a by-election in which Baldrick was a candidate and, in the style of modern television, Hanna gave a long-running "live" commentary of events at the count (and interviewed candidates and election agents) to a crowd through the [[town hall]] window.<ref>{{cite news|last=Butler|first=Mark|title=When Blackadder turned election farce into inspired comedy|url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/blackadder-election-episode-dish-and-dishonesty-69440?srsltid=AfmBOoq0gpjVkW7HTNrdntJt0_Zjt_L4LlqL-LSTCnmUpACHTbQgGLmW|date=5 June 2017|newspaper=The i Paper|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref>

===Theme tune===
[[Howard Goodall]]'s [[theme music|theme tune]] has the same [[melody]] throughout all the series, but is played in roughly the [[History of music|style of the period]] in which it is set. It is performed mostly with trumpets and [[timpani]] in ''The Black Adder'', the fanfares used suggesting typical medieval court fanfares; with a combination of [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]], [[string quartet]] and electric guitar in ''Blackadder II'' (the end theme, with different lyrics each time reflecting on the episode's events, was sung by a [[countertenor]]); on [[oboe]], cello and [[harpsichord]] (in the style of a [[minuet]]) for ''Blackadder the Third''; by The Band of the [[3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment]] in ''Blackadder Goes Forth''; sung by [[Carol (music)|carol singers]] in ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''; and by an orchestra in ''Blackadder: The Cavalier Years'' and ''Blackadder: Back & Forth''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howardgoodall.co.uk/works/tv-and-film/blackadder |title=List of Musicians and Singers who Played or Sang on Blackadder and Red Dwarf Themes |publisher=Howardgoodall.co.uk |access-date=8 June 2014}}</ref>