The Black Adder
Tags: comedy, satire, alternate history

Plot synopsis:
Set in the Middle Ages, the series is written as an alternate history. It opens on 21 August 1485, the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, which in the series is won not by Henry Tudor (as in reality) but by Richard III. Richard III, played by Peter Cook, is presented as a good king who doted on his nephews, contrary to the Shakespearean view of him as a hunchbacked, infanticidal monster.
After his victory in the battle, Richard III is unintentionally killed by Lord Edmund Plantagenet; Richard attempts to take Edmund's horse, which he thinks is his own. Not recognizing the king, Edmund thinks Richard is stealing it and cuts his head off. The late King's nephew, Richard, Duke of York (played by Brian Blessed) who is Lord Edmund Plantagenet's father, is then crowned as Richard IV. Lord Edmund himself did not take part in the battle after arriving late, but later claims to have killed 450 peasants and several nobles, one of whom had actually been killed by his brother in the battle.
King Richard IV of England and XII of Scotland and his Queen Gertrude of Flanders have two sons: Harry, Prince of Wales and his younger brother Prince Edmund. Of the two, Harry is by far his father's favourite, the King barely acknowledging his second son's existence. It is a running gag throughout the series that Edmund's father cannot even remember his name. However, despite his mostly dismissive attitude toward his second son, the series' finale makes it clear that the King loves Edmund as much as Harry: on Edmund's deathbed, the King does his best to console him and has the entire court drink a toast in his honour. In the third episode, when Edmund becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury and helps his father to secure some land before the church, the King acknowledges Edmund as his son, embraces him and even mentions to the Queen that he has "turned out well".
Using this premise, the series follows the fictitious reign of Richard IV (1485–98) through the experiences of Prince Edmund, who styles himself as "The Black Adder", and his two sidekicks: the imbecilic Lord Percy Percy, the Duke of Northumberland (Tim McInnerny); and Baldrick (Tony Robinson), a more intelligent servant of no status.
By the end of the series, events converge with accepted history, when King Richard IV and his entire family are poisoned, allowing Henry Tudor to take the throne as King Henry VII. He then rewrites history, presenting Richard III as a monster, and eliminating Richard IV's reign from the history books. In reality, Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower, was only twelve years old (and perhaps two years dead) when the Battle of Bosworth Field took place in 1485, and thus too young to have had two adult sons. One notable anachronism is Edmund´s title, Duke of Edinburgh, as Scotland was an independent kingdom ruled by a different royal house from its inception in the ninth century until 1603 (with the exception of some periods during the turmoil of the Scottish Wars of Independence) though given that this is an alternate history, it is possible that Henry Tudor falsified the history of Scotland as well.
=== Episodes ===
The episodes in this series, written by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, were originally shown on BBC One on Wednesday evenings, 21:25 – 22:00. Each episode ran for roughly 33 minutes. The series began on 15 June 1983.
Each of the episodes was based on a medieval theme — the Wars of the Roses, the Crusades and Royal succession, the conflict between the Crown and the Church, arranged marriages between monarchies, and the Plague and witchcraft. The final episode follows a planned coup d'état.
The series was broadcast shortly after the BBC Television Shakespeare productions of Shakespeare's four plays about the Wars of the Roses, the three-part Henry VI plays, followed by Richard III, which was first shown on 23 January 1983. Some of the same actors were used to enhance the parody of Shakespearean history. Ron Cook, who played Richard III in the Shakespeare productions, is cast as the villainous "Sean the Irish Bastard". Peter Benson, who played Shakespeare's Henry VI, played Henry VII in the first episode.
=== Character development ===
In this series, the character of the Black Adder is somewhat different from later incarnations, being largely unintelligent, naive, and snivelling. The character does evolve through the series, however, and he begins showing signs of what his descendants will be like by the final episode, where he begins insulting everyone around him and making his own plans. This evolution follows naturally from the character's situation. "The Black Adder" is the title that Edmund adopts during the first episode (after first considering "The Black Vegetable"). Presumably one of his descendants adopted it as a surname before Blackadder II, in which the title character becomes "Edmund Blackadder". Furthermore, Baldrick is shown in more favourable and intelligent light here - his 'cunning plans' are typiclly superior and more workable than Edmund's own. Starting from the second series, the character's relative intelligence and naivety clearly switch.

Review: This comparison unfortunately causes the viewer to miss what makes this series such an excellent piece of comedy writing and production.The whole series centres on Edmund (Rowan Atkinson), the son of the younger of the two princes who in history were murdered in the Tower of London, allegedly by Richard III.
The first episode of the series lays the foundation, explaining how Richard III dies, how Edmund's father becomes King and also the important, accidental, foretelling by three Witches (a clever alude to the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth) to Edmund that one day he will be King.
There is a definite bond between the main characters, Blackadder and his sidekicks, Percy and Baldrick (excellently played by Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson respectively) and although Blackadder treats his underlings with contempt at times, they collaborate as a team throughout in a series of 'cunning plans'.
Baldrick is indeed the intelligent character of the group, the man in the know and his character has much more depth than his smelly and stupid character of later series.Each plot in the series follows a similar pattern - Blackadder getting himself into a situation and having to get himself out of it.
The late, great Peter Cook also makes an appearance as Richard III in the first episode.This series must be watched out of context with what followed.
This series not only shows Rowan Atkinson at his very best, but also the writing of Richard Curtis (and Atkinson) and it is an overlooked classic of British comedy..
Rowan has a great talent especially playing Edmund Black Adder.
Much has been written here about `Black Adder' already, and even if you haven't seen it yet, you probably know whether or not you like the dry, sarcastic style of British comedy that this show typifies.
However, DO NOT base your supposed knowledge of British history on this show, as they make things up for the sake of comedy.With the recent release of the wonderful `Complete Collector's Set' of Blackadder series on DVD, I had the chance to watch them all again.
Political correctness will be the death of comedy, yet.Among the special features of the DVDs are brief history lessons on certain historical figures, events, places, and cultural references in the shows, explained by Tony Robinson in Baldrick's wonderful, melodious working-class accent.
Also, they cover not just all four series, but every special show and skit associated with Black Adder, making it truly `complete.'  The packaging design of the Complete Collector's Set is so cunning, you could brush your teeth with it, though I wouldn't recommend it..
Although series 2 ('Elizabethan'), 3 ('Regency'), and 4 ('Great War') were probably better overall, this was the series that introduced Edmund Blackadder to the TV-watching world twenty years ago.
In series 1, however, it was Edmund who was spineless and Baldrick who really did have the sense; in subsequent series these roles would be somewhat reversed and the idea then really took off.I do like series 1 for the following reasons: strong casting aside from Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson and Tim McInnerny; this series included Brian Blessed, Robert East as regulars and guests like Peter Cook (brilliant in the very first episode), and Alex Norton (as McAngus).
While the three following series were sharper and more studio-based (not always a good thing ...) I do think the wild open spaces of The Black Adder helped enormously to get some sense of the Middle Ages into comedy, even if all four series have played havoc with historical fact!.
The first series of Black Adder reminds me a lot of Monty Python films - full of hilarious moments but somehow not quite all there as a whole.
I'm not a huge Bean fan and there's too much Bean here for my liking.On the other hand, the second, third and fourth Blackadder series represent some of the best British comedy around (different script writer) and so the first series is worth watching just to introduce the characters.
The structure of the 4 original series (excluding Back & Forth) is brilliant - Edmund believes he is destined to be king of England; with each successive generation, though, his family drifts another stage further away from the crown, but ironically, with each generation the main character (Blackadder) is more intelligent, and had the family remained close to the crown he no doubt would have found a way to become king.
The fun does not stop there, this is but the first of four series that follows the intrepid Edmund Blackadder through time.
If you already liked Rowan Atkinson, you'll enjoy his facial muggings; but aficionados will miss the stylish, scheming sociopath we came to know and love.My pick, for those who want to check it out, is "The Queen of Spain's Beard", with Miriam Margolyes as the Spanish Infanta.
Though the show's epic settings aren't there for humour - just to bleed the BBC dry of money - they really do make this the best series to look at visually, and there are some good special effects on show (Richard III's head flying off its body is pretty well done).
This first series is a good start, and should be watched because it is unique to all the other Blackadder series, but if you aren't used to seeing Blackadder stupid, Baldrick smart, and no Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie in the cast, you would be best off watching this series first.The Black Adder is very funny in parts, but all things get better as they go along, and whereas we do have some good episodes in this first series, the following three series are funnier and sharper.
I suppose it's because the Baldrick character is smart and Black Adder character is stupid.""Why does that bother you so much?""Well I suppose that it's more funny to see a stupid guy being made to look stupid who isn't in charge of anything.""Go on.""In the first series the Prince looks stupid, but he's in charge of things so they go wrong.
Blackadder is one of the best sitcoms ever put on television, with consistently excellent and brilliantly funny scripts all the way through........well, from Seasons 2-4 at least.The first Season of Blackadder, simply titled "The Black Adder", focusing on some sort of secret history where Henry Tudor was never king until later and he re-wrote history to eliminate his predecessor Richard IV (played by the legend that is Brian Blessed) from the history books, is generally regarded as the weakest season, and it is easy to see why.
The show was a lot sillier back in this season, and the character of Edmund (the "Black Adder") is pretty much a snivelling, unlikable toad rather than the witty character we would see in later seasons.That said, despite the first seasons many faults, it was still entertaining, so I guess that allows me to give it at least a 6/10.
The part when Edmund (Rowan Atkinson) accidentally beheads the old King Richard who he believes is stealing his horse "A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse," must go down as one of the funniest moments in British Television.An excellent series and for anyone who hasn't seen the other three series, they are just as funny..
I love the way that Rowan Atkinson uses history, twists it for fun, and makes wonderful satire out of it!
If you like Mr. Bean, by all means, watch, if you want the REAL Black Adder watch Season 2, 3, 4, the Christmas Special and the New Year special.
Atkinson, as the soul and the title of the series, challenges himself on all sorts of personas, from gullible to being cunning as a fox, his necessity on greed and humility is the fabrication of the history itself.Robinson is the apt supporter of his, on every literal sense where every now and then brilliant actors like Laurie and Fry invests their talent in, to raise the bar.
So I do know how the formula worksThe episode is rather weird with characters like blackadder are the opposite personality like the ones portrayed in other seasons and is acted in a goofy geeky type of way instead of sarcastic, more payed out versions.
But to make this review short I'll finish by saying that it was an odd way too start the series with some character who are not the greatest yet but there are a lot of gags with a good storyline to support it and also due to the fact it's the first ever blackadder episode 7/10.
This slimy schemer would be known by a name that would exist throughout all of time called "BlackAdder." From this moment onwards a legend was born, as it would go on to become one of the finest British sitcoms ever.Rowan Atkinson makes his debut in the role that made him famous.
Percy comes across as rather normal and Baldrick is actually a clever and articulate fellow instead of being the moronic tramp that BlackAdder would always loathe and ridicule.This first series is rough around the edges in general.
They're actually not that bad.The premise is that Edmund, The Duke Of Edinburgh (Rowan Atkinson) is a cowardly, idiot bastard who tries to become King over both his father, Richard VI (Brian Blessed) and his brother Harry.
While this is going on the King and Harry give him some tasks he doesn't like and usually is helped through them by his smarter (but given no credit) servant, Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and his friend Percy (Tim McInnery) who is dumber than Blackadder is.Okay so there are some things that I like.
Set in The Middle Ages - when life was cheap - you actually get the sense that his life really is in danger in every episode.The relationship between Blackadder, Baldrick and Percy was different in this first series.
He held a knife to a priest's throat and assaulted a Bishop - all in good fun of course!By series 4, Baldrick was a more a figure of fun, an empty vessel - his main purpose was to act stupid and make Blackadder look clever.The supporting cast in the first series was also the best IMO: Brian Blessed was brilliant as the menacing King and Blackadder's 'Dad'.
And we also have great acting; Patrick Allen's sardonic narration has me in squeals of laughter, and while Tim McInnery and Tony Robinson as Percy and Baldrick are wonderful and Brian Blessed relishes his role as King Richard IV while chewing the scenery at the same time, it is Rowan Atkinson as as slimy and selfish Edmund Black Adder who steals the show.
Overall, this is a great series, not the best(Black Adder Goes Forth especially was outstanding) but a fine start.
Funnily enough you never see this black horse again in the other series and I think he is one of the best parts.This series is a comedy running for 6 episodes.
The star is Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson.
His companions are Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson and Percy, played by Tim McInnerny.I recommend this first part to anyone who likes Mr. Bean in some way or another, who likes comedy historical series (just after Richard III) and for people who want a good introduction to Blackadder.
The characters of Edmund and Baldrick were not yet fully realised and the scripts unlike those in all later seasons, were co-written by Rowan Atkinson.
The best episodes are The Queen of Spain's Beard and The Black Seal but each are minor classics in their own right.Excellently acted and written and a great introduction to the chronicles of the Blackadder dynasty..
The other series and one-off specials were good but I think this was the best of a great lot..
If you enjoyed the Black Adder (who wouldn't) I'd strongly recommend the last series (Blackadder Goes Forth).
Related directly to royalty, until the twentieth century kicks in, where we find the Blackadder bloodline has been removed to officer class of the army.Edmunds finest hours were obviously when he became King of England for ten seconds, and Prince Regent after seeing the true one killed in a fit of pique by the Duke of Wellington.Ben Elton, after taking over the writing of the series, showed his sharp wit to the full by turning the characters around.
Are we supposed to spend thousands of hours finding out about what society was like then and who was who during that period?I've watched several episodes of Blackadder in order to try to get into it, but I'd need to be sitting next to a historian explaining the historical references in detail in order to understand it, let alone appreciate it.I've enjoyed other comedy by Rowan Atkinson, such as Mr Bean..
Rowan Atkinson stars in "Black Adder," a history spoof, which follows Atkinson throughout famous historical events/ time periods.Sometimes the show can have its hit-or-miss episodes, but most of the time its hilarious, and Rowan Atkinson makes it happen.4/5 stars-John Ulmer.
I've seen Rowan Atkinson in "Bean" and in a special he did on cable (i.e., both mime and talking), and I've always found him amusing.Not one thing in this pseudo-medieval comedy ever so much as raised a smile, and I watched all the episodes.
Best of the Lot. While all series of Black Adder are great, this is simply the best one.
Rowan Atkinson was funny as Mr. Bean, but he was downright hilarious as the Black Adder.
The premise of this British comedy series is that the central character, "The Black Adder", shows up at different points in history in various incarnations distorting historical events and poking fun at various British historical figures and situations along the way.Lots of people don't like Black Adder I, in which the title character, Edmund, is the younger son of a brutish man consumed with thoughts of war who actually becomes king of England through Edmund's own bungling - he arrives late for the Battle of Bosworth Field and winds up chopping off the head of Richard III, thus saving the life of Henry Tudor.
Season one will always be my favorite as it started an excellent series of Blackadders.
Rowan Atkinson(Best known as Mr. Bean) stars as Edmund Blackadder, a cunning yet slimy Duke of Edinburgh out to overthrow his father, Richard IV(Brian Blessed) and become King of England.
This was the first series of the popular sitcom written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson.
Set in the Dark Ages, the series see snivelling coward Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, aka The Black Adder (Atkinson) constantly trying to find a way to rise to greatness, and weasel his way out of tricky situations.
I think the problem with this problem is that the character became much more funny in the following series, he is too much like a Mr. Bean replica, and it is odd to watch at times, but I suppose parts are funny.
Rowan Atkinson was number 18 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, he was number 24 on The Comedians' Comedian, and he was number 8 on Britain's Favourite Comedian, (the nastier) Edmund Blackadder was number 3 on The 100 Greatest TV Characters, and he was number 3 on The World's Greatest Comedy Characters, and the three following series were more focused as number 2 on Britain's Best Sitcom.
This series shows us King Richard IV's reign by following his second son; the snivelling Edmund; Duke of Edinburgh and self-titled 'Black Adder'.
Along the way he is accompanied by dim-witted friend Lord Percy Percy and servant Baldrick.This is often considered the weakest of the Blackadder series but I really enjoy it; perhaps because I watched it when it first aired and obviously had no idea how the character would develop in later years.
This fictional history is packed with hilarious moments and a fine cast which includes Rowan Atkinson, Brian Blessed, Tony Robinson and Tim McInnerny.
Rowan Atkinson is great as Edmund and Brian Blessed is hilariously over-the-top, in a way only he can be, as the King and Tony Robinson makes the role of Baldrick his own.
That name was "The Black Adder" and the series would become a momentous part of British Entertainment history.On the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, King Richard III (guest star Peter Cook) and his followers eat heartily with victory in mind.
Aided by his trusty friend Percy (Tim McInnery) and servant Baldrick (Tony Robinson), Edmund would become known as 'The Black Adder' and a legend would be born.The first series of an idea which would span the ages, this original "Blackadder" is the weakest of the series.
With the "help" of the even dumber than him Percy (Tim McInnery) and the surprisingly clever Baldrick (Tony Robinson), he attempts to take over the kingship from his father (veteran British character actor Brian Blessed) by indicting his brother Harry of being a b@stard and raising "the Black Seal", the wickedest men in England.
The first series of Blackadder was very bad; with its 'what if' storyline wherein Richard III wins the battle of Bosworth, the badly portrayed characters and poor acting.
We see Edmund put on trial for Witchcraft, barely escaping with his life, all of which lead him to finally take action in the last episode and launch his long awaited bid for absolute power.However for those who know what the next 500 years hold for the Blackadders and the Baldricks, it is worthwhile mentioning that this series should be viewed on its own merits and not part of the great historic saga that was to follow as it differs so much from future productions.
For some reason it is strangely under-rated and even dismissed in many quarters but although 'The Black Adder' is a little rough around the edges (although the production values are noticeably higher than in the subsequent series) it holds up better than the later episodes.
Every episode has enough jokes to keep you laughing throughout and on the whole the show holds up a lot better than most British comedies from the mid-eighties.