Editing Blackadder (section)

===Series 4: ''Blackadder Goes Forth''===
{{Main|Blackadder Goes Forth}}

''Blackadder Goes Forth'', the fourth and final series of ''Blackadder'', originally aired on BBC1 from 28 September to 2 November 1989.<ref name="BaIV">{{cite web|title=BBC Programme Index - Blackadder Goes Forth|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?filt=b00hxslf#top|publisher=BBC|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> This series is set in 1917, on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the First World War. Another "big push" is planned, and [[Captain Blackadder]] (Rowan Atkinson) has one goal - to avoid being killed - but his schemes always land him back in the trenches. Blackadder is joined by his [[batman (military)|batman]] [[List of Blackadder characters#Baldrick|Private S. Baldrick]] (Tony Robinson) and idealistic [[Edwardian period|Edwardian]] twit [[List of Blackadder characters#George|Lieutenant George]] (Hugh Laurie). [[List of Blackadder characters#Melchet|General Melchett]] (Stephen Fry) rallies his troops from a French [[château]] {{convert|35|mi}} from the front, where he is aided and abetted by his assistant, [[List of Blackadder characters#Kevin Darling|Captain Kevin Darling]] (Tim McInnerny), pencil-pusher supreme and Blackadder's nemesis, whose last name is played on for maximum comedic value. Guest appearances in this series include [[Stephen Frost]] as the leader of a firing squad detail, Miranda Richardson as Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown, two further appearances of [[Gabrielle Glaister]] as [[List of Blackadder characters#Bob|"Bob"]] (in this series, a young woman who pretends to be a boy in order to join the army), [[Rik Mayall]] as [[Royal Flying Corps]] Squadron Commander The [[Lord Flashheart|Lord Flasheart]], [[Ade Edmondson|Adrian Edmondson]] as [[Baron Manfred von Richthofen]] (aka "The Red Baron"), and [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]] as [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Field Marshal Douglas Haig]].

The series' tone is somewhat darker than the previous three series; it details the privations of trench warfare as well as the incompetence and life-wasting strategies of the top brass. For example, Baldrick is reduced to cooking rats and making coffee from mud, while General Melchett hatches a plan for the troops to walk very slowly toward the German lines, because "it'll be the last thing Fritz will expect."

The final episode, "[[Goodbyeee]]", is known for being extraordinarily poignant for a comedy – especially the final scene, which sees four of the five main characters (Blackadder, Baldrick, George, and Darling) finally going "[[Trench warfare|over the top]]" and charging off into the fog and smoke of [[no man's land]], presumably to die. In a list of the [[100 Greatest British Television Programmes]], drawn up by the [[British Film Institute]] in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals, ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' was placed 16th.