Editing Blackadder (section)

===Specials===

====Pilot episode====
{{Main|The Black Adder (Blackadder)}}
The ''Blackadder'' pilot was shot but never broadcast on TV in the UK (although some scenes were shown in the 25th anniversary special ''Blackadder Rides Again''). One notable difference in the pilot, as in many pilots, is the casting. Baldrick is played not by Tony Robinson, but by [[Philip Fox (actor)|Philip Fox]]. Another significant difference is that the character of Prince Edmund presented in the pilot is much closer to the intelligent, conniving Blackadder of the later series than the snivelling, weak buffoon of the original. Set in the year 1582, the script of the pilot is roughly the same as the episode "[[Born to Be King (Blackadder)|Born to Be King]]", albeit with some different jokes, with some lines appearing in other episodes of the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackadderhall.com/?page_id=276 |title=The Pilot Episode |publisher=Blackadderhall.com |date=20 June 1982 |access-date=8 June 2014}}</ref>

[[UKTV]] [[Gold (British TV channel)|Gold]] broadcast the pilot on 15 June 2023, as part of an 80-minute special hosted by Sir Tony Robinson and featuring interviews with Ben Elton and Richard Curtis.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2023 |title=Blackadder pilot to be broadcast for the first time |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/7301/blackadder-pilot-to-be-broadcast/ |website=[[British Comedy Guide]]}}</ref>

====''Blackadder: The Cavalier Years''====
{{Main|Blackadder: The Cavalier Years}}
This special, set in the [[English Civil War]], was shown as part of [[Comic Relief (charity)|Comic Relief]]'s [[Comic Relief (charity)|Red Nose Day]] on Friday 5 February 1988.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Red Nose Day {{!}} Comic Relief |url=https://www.comicrelief.com/history-of-red-nose-day/ |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=www.comicrelief.com |language=en}}</ref> The 15-minute episode is set in November 1648, during the last days of the Civil War. Sir Edmund Blackadder and his servant, Baldrick, are the last two men loyal to the defeated King [[Charles I of England]] (played by Stephen Fry), portrayed as a soft-spoken, ineffective, naive character, with the voice and mannerisms of Charles I's namesake, the then Prince of Wales (now [[Charles III]]). However, owing to a misunderstanding between [[Oliver Cromwell]] (guest-star [[Warren Clarke]]) and Baldrick, the King is arrested and sent to the [[Tower of London]]. The rest of the episode revolves around Blackadder's attempts to save the King as well as improve his own standing.

====''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''====
{{Main|Blackadder's Christmas Carol}}
The second special was broadcast on Friday 23 December 1988.<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC Programme Index - Blackadder's Christmas Carol|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5c154fde986f67669bf2a780053dfbd7|publisher=BBC|accessdate=10 February 2025}}</ref> In a twist on [[Charles Dickens]]' ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', [[Ebenezer Blackadder]] is the "kindest and loveliest" man in England. The Spirit of Christmas shows Blackadder the contrary antics of his ancestors and descendants, and reluctantly informs him that if he turns evil his descendants will enjoy power and fortune, while if he remains the same a future Blackadder will live shamefully subjugated to a future incompetent Baldrick. This remarkable encounter causes him to proclaim, "Bad guys have all the fun", and adopt the personality with which viewers are more familiar.

====''Blackadder: Back & Forth''====
{{Main|Blackadder: Back & Forth}}
''Blackadder: Back & Forth'' was originally shown in the [[Millennium Dome]] in 2000, followed by a screening on [[Sky1|Sky One]] in the same year (and later on BBC1). It is set on the turn of the [[millennium]], and features Lord Blackadder placing a bet with his friends&nbsp;– modern versions of Queenie (Miranda Richardson), Melchett (Stephen Fry), George (Hugh Laurie) and Darling (Tim McInnerny)&nbsp;– that he has built a working [[Time travel in fiction|time machine]]. While this is intended as a clever [[confidence trick|con trick]], the machine surprisingly works, sending Blackadder and Baldrick back to the [[Cretaceous period]], where they manage to cause [[Cretaceous extinction event|the extinction]] of the dinosaurs through the use of Baldrick's best-worst-and-only pair of underpants as a weapon against a hungry [[Tyrannosaurus|T. Rex]]. Finding that Baldrick has forgotten to write dates on the machine's dials, the rest of the film follows their attempts to find their way back to 1999, often creating huge historical anomalies in the process that must be corrected before the end. [[Rik Mayall]] appears as [[Robin Hood]], and the film also includes [[cameo appearance]]s from [[Kate Moss]] and [[Colin Firth]].

====''The Big Night In''====

Broadcast in 2020 as part of [[Children in Need]] and [[Comic Relief]]'s joint special ''[[The Big Night In]]'' during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Fry resumed the role of Lord Melchett (an intellectually-brilliant version), Head of the Royal Household, under lockdown at Melchett Manor, to help [[Prince William]] deal with educating his children via [[Zoom (software)|Zoom]] and discussing ''[[Tiger King]]'', before they both step outside to clap for the [[National Health Service]]. Melchett is said to be isolating with Lord Blackadder, both grandsons to their First World War counterparts.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/bbc-big-night-in-live-stream-channel-best-bits-peter-kay-little-britain-catch-up-watch-a9474766.html |title=BBC Big Night In: All the talking points, from Little Britain's controversial comeback to Prince William's comedy sketch |date=24 April 2020 |work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=24 April 2020}}</ref>