This is an episode list of the British sitcom Blackadder . Dates shown are original airdates on BBC1.
Title | Directed by | Written by | |
---|---|---|---|
"The Black Adder" | Geoff Posner | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | |
The pilot of The Black Adder was not broadcast until 2023; the story-line was also used for the episode "Born to Be King." |
The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC1 on Wednesdays, 21:25 – 22:00. Note: The "Ultimate Edition" DVD retains the broadcast order, which switched the second and fourth episodes as "Born to Be King" was not ready for transmission, despite on-screen dates continuing to identify the true order as "Born to Be King", "The Archbishop", "The Queen of Spain's Beard" [1]
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "The Foretelling" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 15 June 1983 |
2 | 2 | "Born to Be King" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 22 June 1983 [1] |
3 | 3 | "The Archbishop" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 29 June 1983 |
4 | 4 | "The Queen of Spain's Beard" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 6 July 1983 [1] |
5 | 5 | "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 13 July 1983 |
6 | 6 | "The Black Seal" | Martin Shardlow | Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson | 20 July 1983 |
The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC1 on Thursdays, 21:30 – 22:00. The episode titles are single word references to the theme of the episode: a wedding, executions, voyages of exploration, debt, drinking alcohol, and imprisonment, respectively.
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Recorded date | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 1 | "Bells" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 13 June 1985 [2] | 9 January 1986 |
8 | 2 | "Head" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 9 June 1985 [3] | 16 January 1986 |
9 | 3 | "Potato" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 23 June 1985 [4] | 23 January 1986 |
10 | 4 | "Money" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 30 June 1985 | 6 February 1986 |
11 | 5 | "Beer" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 7 July 1985 [5] | 13 February 1986 |
12 | 6 | "Chains" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 14 July 1985 | 20 February 1986 |
The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC1 on Thursdays, 21:30 – 22:00. The episode titles use alliteration in parody of the titles of Jane Austen's novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice .
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Recorded date | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1 | "Dish and Dishonesty" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 19 June 1987 [6] | 17 September 1987 |
14 | 2 | "Ink and Incapability" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 5 June 1987 [7] | 24 September 1987 |
15 | 3 | "Nob and Nobility" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 10 July 1987 [8] | 1 October 1987 |
16 | 4 | "Sense and Senility" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 12 June 1987 [9] | 8 October 1987 |
17 | 5 | "Amy and Amiability" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 26 June 1987 [10] | 15 October 1987 |
18 | 6 | "Duel and Duality" | Mandie Fletcher | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 3 July 1987 [11] | 22 October 1987 |
The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC1 on Thursdays, 21:30 – 22:00. The episode titles are, with exception of the final episode, puns on military ranks.
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Recorded date | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19 | 1 | "Captain Cook" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 27 August 1989 | 28 September 1989 |
20 | 2 | "Corporal Punishment" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 3 September 1989 | 5 October 1989 |
21 | 3 | "Major Star" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 10 September 1989 | 12 October 1989 |
22 | 4 | "Private Plane" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 17 September 1989 | 19 October 1989 |
23 | 5 | "General Hospital" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 24 September 1989 | 26 October 1989 |
24 | 6 | "Goodbyeee" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 1 October 1989 | 2 November 1989 |
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Blackadder: The Cavalier Years" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 5 February 1988 | |
England is in civil war, and Blackadder is harbouring the most wanted man in the country: King Charles I. | |||||
2 | "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" | Richard Boden | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 23 December 1988 | |
A parody of Charles Dickens' book A Christmas Carol . As Christmas approaches, Ebenezer Blackadder gets a surprising meeting with the Ghost of Christmas Present. | |||||
3 | "Blackadder: Back & Forth" | Paul Weiland | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 31 December 1999 | |
As the new millennium dawns, Blackadder tries to con his friends out of £30,000 with a fake time machine which, thanks to Baldrick, unexpectedly works up to a point. |
Blackadder and Baldrick, or one of them, have also appeared frequently as guests in other shows or live shows, often for charity.
Title | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
"Woman's Hour Invasion" | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | 28 September 1988 | |
Woman's Hour is a show on BBC Radio 4 consisting of reports, interviews and debates aimed at women, and also includes short serials during the last quarter of the show. On one instance of the show, in 1988, Blackadder and Baldrick show up, travel back in time and talk to Shakespeare and others. The purpose of the "invasion" was to raise money for Children in Need. [12] | |||
"Children in Need" | Richard Curtis & Ben Elton | Friday 18 November 1988 | |
Terry Wogan interviews Blackadder and Baldrick, both of which appear and behave as they are in series 3, with Blackadder insulting both Baldrick and Terry Wogan. This special cameo was done during a TV appeal for Children in Need. [13] | |||
"Clown Court" | Richard Curtis | 1988 | |
Clown Court was an item on Noel's Saturday Roadshow in which Noel Edmonds presented blooper compilations in a mock court setting. Tony Robinson appeared as Baldrick, who stands accused of a number of bloopers from the third series, and is sentenced to death. [14] | |||
"Cooking with Baldrick on Blue Peter" | Unknown | 9 March 1989 | |
Baldrick shares a recipe on a Blue Peter special. This short cameo was included on the bluray edition of Blackadder in 2023. | |||
"Baldrick on Smellovision (CBBC Comic Relief 1991)" | TBD | 1991 | |
Featured in this clip were Tony Robinson as Baldrick, Presenter Andy Peters and a puppet called the Samiad from a 1991 children's show. [15] | |||
"Blackadder and the King's Birthday" | Ben Elton | 14 November 1998 | |
A short sketch performed at the Prince of Wales' 50th Birthday Gala. It featured Rowan Atkinson as Lord Blackadder and Stephen Fry as King Charles II. Baldrick is mentioned as being Lord Blackadder's servant, but does not appear. The live-on-stage sketch was televised on ITV (in the UK) on 14 November 1998. [16] | |||
"Blackadder: The Army Years" | Ben Elton | 19 October 2000 | |
A short monologue performed at the Dominion Theatre for the Royal Variety Performance 2000. It features Rowan Atkinson as the modern-day Lord Edmund Blackadder of Her Royal Highness's regiment of Shirkers, offering a proposal to restore England's glory by invading France. The sketch was written and introduced by Ben Elton, who was the compère of the evening. [17] | |||
"The Jubilee Girl" | Richard Curtis | 29 December 2002 | |
The Jubilee Girl was a BBC special about the making of the Party at the Palace, a concert held on the grounds of Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. The concert had been reluctantly announced on the BBC by Sir Osmond Darling-Blackadder, Keeper of the Royal Lawn Sprinklers, and while he does not appear in connection with the actual concert, he makes a few brief appearances in The Jubilee Girl to provide a humouristic note. [18] | |||
"The Banking Crisis" | Ben Elton | 28 September 2012 | |
A new Blackadder sketch about the banking crisis, performed at a special charity gala event "We Are Most Amused" in aid of the Prince’s Trust. Sir Edmund Blackadder is the chief executive of the Melchett, Melchett & Darling bank, who brings his gardener Sodoff Baldrick to an enquiry. [19] | |||
"Red Nose Day 2023" | Richard Curtis & Tony Robinson | 17 March 2023 | |
Baldrick returns alone to read “Balderella” about himself and Edmund Blackadder (absent) for the 2023 BBC Red Nose Day. |
Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|
"Baldrick's Diary: A Blackadder In The Making" | 31 December 1999 | |
A featurette on the shooting of Back & Forth, in the form a video diary narrated by Baldrick. It includes several deleted scenes from the movie. | ||
"Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga" | 8 October 2008 | |
A 90-minute documentary produced by Tiger Aspect for UKTV Gold. [20] It featured interviews with most of the major cast members and other contributors, including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Miranda Richardson, Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson and was narrated by comedian David Mitchell. Rowan Atkinson did not appear except in archival footage. [21] It was followed by another hour with a compilation called 'Most Cunning Moments' where celebrities and invited guests vote on their favourite scenes. [22] | ||
"Blackadder Rides Again" | 25 December 2008 | |
A 60-minute documentary produced by Tiger Aspect for the BBC and broadcast on 25 December 2008, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show. It featured interviews with all of the major cast members and other contributors, including Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Miranda Richardson, Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson. [23] Rather than relying on 'talking head' interviews and clips from the show, the documentary included several pieces of rare, and even unseen material (behind the scenes clips, cut scenes from Series 1 etc.). It also reunited certain cast and crew members with their costumes, visited cast members on their current ventures, or took them to the original filming locations. | ||
"Blackadder: The Lost Pilot" | 15 June 2023 | |
Sir Tony Robinson introduces the first UK screening of the long-unaired pilot episode on Gold, and discusses its genesis with Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Howard Goodall. |
Blackadder is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, e.g., Melchett, Lord Percy Percy / Captain Darling and George.
Sir Anthony Robinson is an English actor, author, broadcaster, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television sitcom Blackadder and has presented many historical documentaries, including the Channel 4 series Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. He has written 16 children's books.
Edmund Blackadder is the single name given to a collection of fictional characters who appear in the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder, each played by Rowan Atkinson. Although each series is set within a different period of British history, all the Edmund Blackadders in the franchise are part of the same familial line. Each character also shares notable personality traits and characteristics throughout each incarnation. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Edmund Blackadder was ranked third on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Baldrick, and George in a trench in Flanders during World War I, and followed their various doomed attempts to escape from the trenches to avoid death under the misguided command of General Melchett. The series references famous people of the time and criticises the British Army's leadership during the campaign, culminating in the ending of its final episode, in which the soldiers are ordered to carry out a lethal charge of enemy lines.
The Black Adder is the first series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, directed by Martin Shardlow and produced by John Lloyd. The series was originally aired on BBC 1 from 15 June 1983 to 20 July 1983, and was a joint production with the Australian Seven Network. Set in 1485 at the end of the British Middle Ages, the series is written as a secret history which contends that King Richard III won the Battle of Bosworth Field, only to be unintentionally assassinated by his nephew's son Edmund and succeeded by said nephew, Richard IV, one of the Princes in the Tower. The series follows the exploits of Richard IV's unfavoured second son Edmund in his various attempts to increase his standing with his father and, in the final episode, his quest to overthrow him.
Blackadder II is the second series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 9 January 1986 to 20 February 1986. The series is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), and sees the principal character, Edmund, Lord Blackadder, as a Tudor courtier attempting to win the favour of the Queen while avoiding execution by decapitation, a fate that befell many of her suitors.
Blackadder the Third is the third series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired on BBC1 from 17 September to 22 October 1987. The series is set during the Georgian Era, and sees the principal character, Mr. E. Blackadder, serve as butler to the Prince Regent and have to contend with, or cash in on, the fads of the age embraced by his master.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol, a one-off episode of Blackadder, is a parody of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), and is narrated by Hugh Laurie. Produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on BBC1 on 23 December 1988.
Blackadder: Back & Forth is a 1999 British science fiction comedy short film based on the BBC period sitcom Blackadder that marks the end of the Blackadder saga. It was commissioned for showing in the specially built SkyScape cinema erected southeast of the Millennium Dome on the Greenwich peninsula in South London. The film follows Lord Edmund Blackadder and his idiotic servant, Baldrick, on a time travel adventure that brings the characters into contact with several figures significant to British history.
"The Black Adder" is the pilot episode of the BBC television series Blackadder. Taped on 20 June 1982, it features the original incarnation of the character Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson. Following this pilot, The Black Adder eventually went into production and the first six-part series was broadcast in 1983, but with a number of changes to the casting, characterisation and plot; while the transmitted series was set in 1485 and the years following the Battle of Bosworth Field, this untransmitted pilot was set in 16th century, apparently during the Elizabethan Era.
"Goodbyeee", or "Plan F: Goodbyeee", is the sixth and final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth and final series of British historical sitcom Blackadder. The episode was first broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom on 2 November 1989, shortly before Armistice Day. Apart from the one-off short film Blackadder: Back & Forth made a decade later, it was the last episode of Blackadder to be produced and transmitted.
"Corporal Punishment" or "Plan B: Corporal Punishment", is the second episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder. It was first broadcast on BBC1 on 5 October 1989. In the episode, Blackadder faces a court-martial, and later an execution by firing squad, for shooting a carrier pigeon.
"Bells" is the first episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Although "Bells" was the first to be broadcast on BBC1, it was originally destined to be the second episode.
Blackadder: The Cavalier Years is a 15-minute one-off edition of Blackadder set during the English Civil War, shown as part of the first Comic Relief Red Nose Day on BBC1, broadcast on Friday 5 February 1988. The show featured Warren Clarke as a guest star.
George is a supporting character who appeared in various adaptations of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, played by Hugh Laurie. Two series saw a different incarnation of the character, because each was set in a different period of history. He was most prominently featured in the third and fourth series. The character was added to the series as a replacement for the Lord Percy Percy character, who did not appear in the third instalment because Tim McInnerny, the actor playing him, feared being typecast.
"Born to Be King" is the second episode of The Black Adder, the first series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder. Set in late 15th-century England, the episode takes a humorous look at rivalries with the Kingdom of Scotland and centres the dramatic tension on the doubts cast over parentage of the lead character, Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh.
"The Archbishop" is the third episode of the first series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder. It is set in England in the late 15th century, and follows the exploits of the fictitious Prince Edmund as he is invested as Archbishop of Canterbury amid a Machiavellian plot by the King to acquire lands from the Catholic Church. Most of the humour in the episode relies on religious satire.
"The Queen of Spain's Beard" is the fourth episode of season one in The Black Adder, a BBC's historical comedy franchise. Set in England, during a fictional historical era of the late 15th-century, the episode parodies the practice of intermarriage between the royal houses of European powers - which was a genuine and significant characteristic of European politics at that time. Its bawdy humour also deals with taboos surrounding premarital sex, gay stereotypes and the practice of child marriage.
Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil and arguably the best friend of the lead character. Each series of Blackadder is set in a different period in British history, and each Baldrick character is a descendant of the Baldrick from the preceding series. Just as Blackadder exists in many incarnations throughout the ages, so does Baldrick; whenever there is a Blackadder there is a Baldrick serving him. They are all portrayed by Sir Tony Robinson.