1
00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:07,260
Through the ages, our great nation
has been littered with power-mad
kings... Who told you that?

2
00:00:07,420 --> 00:00:11,060
Bloodthirsty queens...
I'm going to knock your block off.

3
00:00:11,180 --> 00:00:13,900
And the odd nutty prince.

4
00:00:14,060 --> 00:00:18,180
And in that time, one dastardly
dynasty has managed to survive

5
00:00:18,340 --> 00:00:22,060
on their wits, craftiness
and the odd cunning plan.

6
00:00:22,260 --> 00:00:26,820
A man may fight for many things;
his country, his
principles, his friends.

7
00:00:26,980 --> 00:00:29,740
The glistening tear
on the cheek of a golden child.

8
00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:31,980
But personally, I'd
mud-wrestle my own mother

9
00:00:32,140 --> 00:00:36,620
for a ton of cash, an amusing clock
and a sack of French porn.

10
00:00:36,740 --> 00:00:38,380
You're on! Hoorah!

11
00:00:38,580 --> 00:00:45,900
It's 25 years since Blackadder
burst on to our screens
and blew away its comedy rivals.

12
00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:52,500
Tonight we're celebrating this
monumental, multi-award-winning
sitcom in all its magnificent glory.

13
00:00:52,660 --> 00:00:55,340
You've really worked out
your banter, haven't you?

14
00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:56,900
Not really.
This is a different thing.

15
00:00:57,060 --> 00:00:59,940
It's spontaneous
and it's called wit.

16
00:01:00,100 --> 00:01:02,300
25 years of Blackadder -
it's, first of all it's...

17
00:01:02,460 --> 00:01:06,820
very depressing that it's 25
years ago that we started doing it.

18
00:01:07,020 --> 00:01:10,140
I do remember whistling
on the way to work.
It was very good fun...

19
00:01:10,300 --> 00:01:12,700
to sit in a room and
try and make each other laugh.

20
00:01:12,860 --> 00:01:16,020
Blackadder was, was tremendously
enjoyable from the point of view

21
00:01:16,220 --> 00:01:19,700
of a shared responsibility.
The fact that it's not
all on your shoulders.

22
00:01:19,820 --> 00:01:21,860
I think I just feel lucky, you know.

23
00:01:22,020 --> 00:01:26,180
You do your best that you can in your
20s to try and do the thing that you

24
00:01:26,380 --> 00:01:31,540
think is funniest and it's a fluke
and a miracle if it turns out that
the one that you wrote has lasted.

25
00:01:31,700 --> 00:01:36,380
I was nearly 40 when we did the
first episode, er, of Blackadder.

26
00:01:36,540 --> 00:01:40,500
It transformed my career and,
and my life.

27
00:01:40,620 --> 00:01:43,260
You made...

28
00:01:43,380 --> 00:01:44,620
Baldrick a lord?

29
00:01:44,780 --> 00:01:47,060
It made household names
of its stars.

30
00:01:47,220 --> 00:01:51,700
Tony Robinson has made
archaeology cool in the UK.

31
00:01:53,380 --> 00:01:56,820
Stephen Fry is now the most
well-respected actor, writer

32
00:01:56,980 --> 00:01:59,300
and all-round clever clogs
on telly today.

33
00:01:59,460 --> 00:02:02,580
Oh! I've just had
another brilliant thought.

34
00:02:02,780 --> 00:02:07,620
Hugh Laurie has become one
of the most famous faces
on American TV with House.

35
00:02:07,820 --> 00:02:14,700
And Blackadder himself,
Rowan Atkinson, is the most
recognisable comedian in the world.

36
00:02:14,900 --> 00:02:19,580
It also brought together two
of today's most celebrated
comedy writers - Ben Elton and

37
00:02:19,740 --> 00:02:24,900
Richard Curtis, who have since gone
on to conquer the stage and screen.

38
00:02:25,020 --> 00:02:27,780
He shot my pigeon!

39
00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:30,540
I've only just started
watching it again cos

40
00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:34,660
my kids are sort of 9 and 7 and,
and, um, they're really loving it.

41
00:02:34,860 --> 00:02:39,860
I'm reminded, particularly in
terms of the performances, I actually
wrote to Stephen the other day

42
00:02:40,020 --> 00:02:42,740
about Melchett just
cos I couldn't believe how...

43
00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:46,180
I mean, I knew how good it was but I,
er, it just was even better.

44
00:03:16,780 --> 00:03:19,580
Tonight we reveal the exclusive
inside story of Blackadder

45
00:03:19,740 --> 00:03:22,340
from the comedy greats
who made this must-see TV.

46
00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:28,180
You, you twist and turn
like a twisty, turny thing.

47
00:03:28,340 --> 00:03:31,700
I say you're a weedy pigeon and you
can call me Susan if it isn't so.

48
00:03:31,820 --> 00:03:32,700
'I do remember'

49
00:03:32,860 --> 00:03:38,380
inventing the line "you twist and
turn like a twisty, turny thing."

50
00:03:38,540 --> 00:03:41,460
And since then it has become a
kind of comedy staple to do that.

51
00:03:41,620 --> 00:03:44,100
First I'm going to have
a little drinky and

52
00:03:44,260 --> 00:03:47,820
then I'm going to execute
the whole bally lot of you.

53
00:03:47,940 --> 00:03:49,420
'I think I thought of her'

54
00:03:49,580 --> 00:03:53,500
as somebody with too much
too soon, you know,

55
00:03:53,620 --> 00:03:54,660
far too young.

56
00:03:54,780 --> 00:03:57,300
Lucky, lucky us.

57
00:03:57,460 --> 00:04:00,420
Lucky, lucky, luck,
luck, luck, la, la. La, la, la.

58
00:04:00,620 --> 00:04:05,180
'Ben and Richard had written
some fantastic jokes
and some great opportunities'

59
00:04:05,300 --> 00:04:06,860
to shout and pull faces,

60
00:04:07,020 --> 00:04:10,700
which is sort of what I do
or what I did at the time.

61
00:04:10,860 --> 00:04:12,860
I've moved on since then oh, yes.
I've grown.

62
00:04:13,020 --> 00:04:16,740
This epic sitcom spanned
a decade and brought 500 years

63
00:04:16,900 --> 00:04:19,540
of British history
right into our sitting rooms.

64
00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:23,740
Edmund Blackadder has
been a medieval prince... Hooray!

65
00:04:23,860 --> 00:04:25,900
A pompous peer... Get stuffed.

66
00:04:26,020 --> 00:04:28,460
A royal pain of a butler... Da-da!

67
00:04:28,580 --> 00:04:29,940
And a conniving captain.

68
00:04:30,140 --> 00:04:36,180
We're in the stickiest situation
since Sticky the stick insect
got stuck on a sticky bun.

69
00:04:36,340 --> 00:04:38,500
He's an absolute bully
to the people below him

70
00:04:38,660 --> 00:04:40,340
and sucks up
to the people above him.

71
00:04:40,540 --> 00:04:45,100
He was a guy who was out for all
he could get. He was sort of on
the make, er, he was a cynic.

72
00:04:45,220 --> 00:04:47,900
It's a modern person

73
00:04:48,020 --> 00:04:49,860
in the stupidity of ancient times.

74
00:04:49,980 --> 00:04:51,540
That it be.

75
00:04:51,660 --> 00:04:54,060
"Yes, it is," not "that it be".

76
00:04:54,220 --> 00:04:58,620
They all had in common a belief, a
strong belief, er, almost raised to

77
00:04:58,820 --> 00:05:04,420
the pitch of religiosity, that their
skin and their wellbeing was more
important than that of anybody else.

78
00:05:04,580 --> 00:05:08,060
Tell me, Edmund, do you have
someone special in your life?

79
00:05:08,180 --> 00:05:11,260
Well, yes, as a matter of fact I do.

80
00:05:11,380 --> 00:05:13,820
Who? Me.

81
00:05:14,020 --> 00:05:18,420
And let's not forget his smelly,
turnip-loving sidekick
called Baldrick.

82
00:05:18,580 --> 00:05:22,380
Your brain, for example,
is so minute, Baldrick, that if

83
00:05:22,580 --> 00:05:28,060
a hungry cannibal cracked your head
open there wouldn't be enough inside
to cover a small water biscuit.

84
00:05:28,220 --> 00:05:33,900
Tony Robinson was so great in
Blackadder, just so deadpan.

85
00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:36,340
Name? Baldrick.

86
00:05:36,460 --> 00:05:39,740
First name? Er, I'm not sure.

87
00:05:39,860 --> 00:05:41,340
You must have some idea.

88
00:05:41,460 --> 00:05:43,700
Well, it might be sod off.

89
00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:48,580
I've never been offered a
comic character on television since

90
00:05:48,700 --> 00:05:49,780
that in any way

91
00:05:49,940 --> 00:05:53,700
matches up to the
comic potential of Baldrick.

92
00:05:53,860 --> 00:05:57,180
We go behind the scenes with
exclusive rehearsal footage

93
00:05:57,340 --> 00:05:59,900
of the supremely clever
Blackadder team at work.

94
00:06:00,060 --> 00:06:02,820
On the contrary George,
we've had plenty of orders.

95
00:06:03,020 --> 00:06:08,420
We've had orders for
six metres of Hungarian crushed
velvet curtain material.

96
00:06:10,060 --> 00:06:12,300
Four pilau rice.
And one chicken tikka masala.

97
00:06:12,460 --> 00:06:15,860
And, four pilau rice and
one chicken tikka masala.

98
00:06:15,980 --> 00:06:18,260
And a cab...

99
00:06:18,420 --> 00:06:23,940
for a Mr Redgrave, picking up
from 14 Arnos Grove - ring top bell.

100
00:06:24,940 --> 00:06:30,660
With the passing of the years an,
any sort of anguish or difficulty
or tiredness or you know, panic,

101
00:06:30,860 --> 00:06:35,660
frequent panic has sort of melted
away and all I can remember
was all the jokes, you know.

102
00:06:35,820 --> 00:06:38,780
And the fact
how much fun it was to do.

103
00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:43,860
And we re-live those memorable
scenes that marked Blackadder out

104
00:06:44,020 --> 00:06:46,780
as one of Britain's
best loved comedies.

105
00:06:46,940 --> 00:06:51,620
This book, sir, contains every
word in our beloved language.

106
00:06:51,740 --> 00:06:53,540
Every single one, sir?

107
00:06:53,660 --> 00:06:55,420
Every single word, sir.

108
00:06:55,580 --> 00:06:58,300
Oh, well in that case, sir,
I hope you will not object

109
00:06:58,460 --> 00:07:00,940
if I also offer the doctor
my most enthusiastic

110
00:07:01,060 --> 00:07:02,740
contrafibularities?

111
00:07:04,340 --> 00:07:06,820
What's that?
Contrafibularities, sir?

112
00:07:06,980 --> 00:07:10,220
It is a common word down our way.
Damn!

113
00:07:10,380 --> 00:07:13,940
Coming up, a unique insight
into how Blackadder was born.

114
00:07:14,100 --> 00:07:17,980
Fawlty Towers seemed so
perfect to us at that point

115
00:07:18,140 --> 00:07:21,220
that the idea of writing a
modern sitcom was too demoralising.

116
00:07:21,380 --> 00:07:24,420
How it nearly never made it
to a second series.

117
00:07:24,580 --> 00:07:28,340
Michael Grade had just come,
become controller of BBC1 and he'd

118
00:07:28,460 --> 00:07:30,060
looked at what was on commission

119
00:07:30,220 --> 00:07:33,060
and he obviously decided
he didn't want The Black Adder.

120
00:07:33,220 --> 00:07:36,340
And how one of the greatest comedy
writing partnerships was created.

121
00:07:36,500 --> 00:07:40,740
As far as I know, they never wrote
a line together in the same room.

122
00:07:40,940 --> 00:07:45,060
Ben would write three of
each series and Richard would
write the other three and then

123
00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:49,660
they'd swap them over and change
about 84% of each other's work.

124
00:07:49,860 --> 00:07:54,980
So stay tuned for the
exclusive story of Blackadder
in all its rotten glory.

125
00:07:55,100 --> 00:07:57,340
Ha, ha, ha - very amusing.

126
00:08:06,330 --> 00:08:12,050
25 years after its debut,
Blackadder is now the most
successful historical sitcom ever.

127
00:08:12,210 --> 00:08:16,690
And this tale of skulduggery began
in 1979 when two Oxford University

128
00:08:16,850 --> 00:08:20,090
students, Richard Curtis
and Rowan Atkinson, met.

129
00:08:20,290 --> 00:08:24,610
I saw this little advert
in the university newspaper
saying, you know,

130
00:08:24,770 --> 00:08:27,530
we're thinking of getting
a comedy revue together,

131
00:08:27,690 --> 00:08:30,610
meetings at University College
at a certain time.

132
00:08:30,810 --> 00:08:34,010
So I thought I'd beetle along
because I felt as though
I had an interest.

133
00:08:34,130 --> 00:08:36,090
And, um, and Richard was there.

134
00:08:36,250 --> 00:08:39,890
He was one of the sort of six or
eight of us I used to meet every

135
00:08:40,090 --> 00:08:43,650
Thursday evening or something
to plan a show which we did
at the Oxford Playhouse.

136
00:08:43,810 --> 00:08:45,650
The first time I met Rowan
I thought he was a...

137
00:08:45,810 --> 00:08:49,690
piece of furniture - he didn't
say anything at all for two hours.

138
00:08:49,890 --> 00:08:57,210
And then the first time I
saw him perform it was instantly
clear that he was a real genius.

139
00:08:57,330 --> 00:09:00,450
My daughter could not have chosen

140
00:09:00,570 --> 00:09:03,090
a more delightful, charming,

141
00:09:03,250 --> 00:09:10,290
witty, responsible,
wealthy - let's not deny it -

142
00:09:10,450 --> 00:09:14,970
well placed, good looking
and fertile

143
00:09:15,090 --> 00:09:16,490
young man...

144
00:09:18,930 --> 00:09:23,530
than Martin as her husband.

145
00:09:25,130 --> 00:09:29,810
And I therefore ask the question,

146
00:09:29,930 --> 00:09:35,090
why the hell did she marry Gerald?

147
00:09:36,170 --> 00:09:38,010
The first time I saw Rowan

148
00:09:38,170 --> 00:09:40,050
was one of the great moments
of my life.

149
00:09:40,170 --> 00:09:42,210
I, I don't mince my words.

150
00:09:42,370 --> 00:09:45,050
I was a young Radio 2 producer doing
a show called Late Night Extra

151
00:09:45,250 --> 00:09:48,930
and every year we used to go
to the Edinburgh Festival
and cover the shows there.

152
00:09:49,130 --> 00:09:54,090
And me and a young sound recordist
called John Whitehall went to see
what was billed as The Oxford Revue,

153
00:09:54,290 --> 00:09:58,370
er, which I understood originally
had six or eight undergraduates
in it.

154
00:09:58,570 --> 00:10:02,490
But Rowan had decided that
they weren't terribly funny
but Richard Curtis was funny

155
00:10:02,650 --> 00:10:05,170
and so the two of them ended up
doing the revue on their own.

156
00:10:05,370 --> 00:10:09,130
And then several years later
when I was starting
Not the 9 O'Clock News,

157
00:10:09,250 --> 00:10:10,690
obviously he had to be the man.

158
00:10:17,850 --> 00:10:20,930
His timing is the thing
that makes it superb.

159
00:10:21,090 --> 00:10:23,850
Er, he could time something
musically -

160
00:10:24,010 --> 00:10:26,610
a mime or, or an attitude
or there'd be a flicker in

161
00:10:26,810 --> 00:10:32,370
his face that would turn something
that would be seemingly not very
funny, someone playing a scale,

162
00:10:32,490 --> 00:10:35,370
into something hilarious.

163
00:10:39,690 --> 00:10:44,410
He is the rubber-faced clown that
we all used to call him at that time.

164
00:10:44,570 --> 00:10:48,250
He has a kind of feline physicality
about him

165
00:10:48,410 --> 00:10:52,090
which I've never seen reproduced
by any of our other comics.

166
00:10:52,250 --> 00:10:56,970
Rowan just creates
a whole, bizarre, weird world.

167
00:10:57,130 --> 00:11:01,770
The comedy performance of the year
winner, Mr Rowan Atkinson.

168
00:11:01,930 --> 00:11:06,130
With the 26-year-old's career
climbing, Rowan Atkinson,

169
00:11:06,330 --> 00:11:11,450
accompanied by Richard Curtis,
turned his hand to the British
comedy staple of sitcom.

170
00:11:11,610 --> 00:11:14,530
The reason we wrote Blackadder
was because of Fawlty towers.

171
00:11:17,290 --> 00:11:19,530
Fawlty Towers seemed so perfect

172
00:11:19,650 --> 00:11:20,970
to us at that point

173
00:11:21,130 --> 00:11:24,210
that the idea of writing a
modern sitcom was too demoralising.

174
00:11:24,370 --> 00:11:27,250
So the first thing I did was
try and write a detective sitcom.

175
00:11:27,450 --> 00:11:32,050
I thought it'd be fun to do
something which had a real plot where
there was a murder or something like

176
00:11:32,250 --> 00:11:39,370
that so it wouldn't be an incident in
a domestic situation but would have
some kind of extra dimension to it.

177
00:11:39,490 --> 00:11:41,010
I couldn't make that work.

178
00:11:41,170 --> 00:11:45,290
And so the next thought
to try and avoid this almighty

179
00:11:45,450 --> 00:11:49,530
shadow of Fawlty Towers was to do
something set back in, in history.

180
00:11:49,690 --> 00:11:52,770
The first script that I saw,
King Edmund and his two friends,

181
00:11:52,890 --> 00:11:55,770
I thought was very, um, er...

182
00:11:55,970 --> 00:11:59,170
soft and a bit sentimental.
I couldn't see the point
of it, really.

183
00:11:59,330 --> 00:12:03,330
My sort of contribution, if I might
call it that, was to try and say

184
00:12:03,490 --> 00:12:05,250
"this should be set
in real history"

185
00:12:05,450 --> 00:12:10,450
so that you've never heard
of Blackadder or Baldrick but you've
heard of all the people around them.

186
00:12:10,610 --> 00:12:13,610
So that's why the first series
was set in this mythical...

187
00:12:13,770 --> 00:12:17,170
piece of forgotten history
between Richard III and Henry VII.

188
00:12:17,370 --> 00:12:22,090
And I think they'd
got the title Blackadder
not from Dr Blackadder,

189
00:12:22,290 --> 00:12:26,090
the BBC doctor, as he sometimes
likes to claim, but from,
I think it was

190
00:12:26,250 --> 00:12:29,290
The Black Knight of Falworth,
which was a Tony Curtis movie.

191
00:12:29,450 --> 00:12:34,170
It was those sort of medieval
Hollywood type movies that, that

192
00:12:34,370 --> 00:12:39,650
seemed to have the word black or the
colour red - The Red Badge Of Courage
or whatever - in front of it.

193
00:12:39,810 --> 00:12:42,290
And then,
God knows where adder comes from.

194
00:12:42,410 --> 00:12:46,490
As I shall be known from now on.

195
00:12:47,810 --> 00:12:51,170
The Black Vegetable.

196
00:12:53,370 --> 00:12:55,010
My Lord?

197
00:12:55,170 --> 00:12:59,450
Wouldn't something like The Black
Adder sound better? No.

198
00:12:59,570 --> 00:13:01,570
Wait.

199
00:13:01,690 --> 00:13:03,370
I think I have a better idea.

200
00:13:04,410 --> 00:13:08,290
What about The Black Adder?

201
00:13:09,770 --> 00:13:11,610
Written by Curtis and Atkinson,

202
00:13:11,810 --> 00:13:15,890
The Black Adder
hit our screens in 1983
and took us back to the bloody and

203
00:13:16,090 --> 00:13:22,650
debauched days of 1485 and medieval
England to tell the tale of Prince
Edmund, the first Blackadder.

204
00:13:22,770 --> 00:13:24,970
What's his name?

205
00:13:25,130 --> 00:13:30,090
Edmund. EDNA!
Fight you with us on the morrow?

206
00:13:30,250 --> 00:13:33,570
No, no, I thought
I'd fight with the enemy.

207
00:13:33,690 --> 00:13:36,730
'I remember it being sort of loose.'

208
00:13:36,890 --> 00:13:41,290
It was kind of, er, big and
sprawling. It looked incredibly...

209
00:13:41,490 --> 00:13:45,850
extravagant and it was exciting,
actually, it was exciting
to see people doing, er,

210
00:13:46,050 --> 00:13:49,930
anything comic outside
an ordinary sitting room
with a sofa and two chairs.

211
00:13:50,090 --> 00:13:53,010
You're, er, not putting him
anywhere near me, are you?

212
00:13:53,170 --> 00:13:55,810
Oh, no, no... He'll be
somewhere amongst the rabble.

213
00:13:55,930 --> 00:13:58,010
Oh, arrow fodder.

214
00:13:58,130 --> 00:14:00,770
Precisely. Yes.

215
00:14:02,330 --> 00:14:04,490
What a little turd.

216
00:14:04,610 --> 00:14:06,170
'One of the pleasures of, er...'

217
00:14:06,330 --> 00:14:09,930
the very first Blackadder
was that it had Peter Cook in it.

218
00:14:10,090 --> 00:14:13,210
It gave it a kind of blessing
from the original god

219
00:14:13,370 --> 00:14:15,650
of this kind of comedy.
So to have him...

220
00:14:15,810 --> 00:14:18,570
dying in the first episode
is like a...

221
00:14:18,730 --> 00:14:22,050
passing on, as it were, of the
great, er, comedy tradition.

222
00:14:22,210 --> 00:14:25,090
Rowan had to be on his toes
quite a lot because, er, Peter

223
00:14:25,250 --> 00:14:28,010
wasn't content with doing
the lines as written on the page.

224
00:14:28,170 --> 00:14:31,690
He would, um, there was quite a
lot of improvisation going on.

225
00:14:31,850 --> 00:14:34,890
Er, so Rowan had to get over his
shyness quite quickly with Peter.

226
00:14:35,010 --> 00:14:36,410
Frankly... Yes?

227
00:14:36,530 --> 00:14:40,490
Well, well, well, frankly, er,

228
00:14:40,610 --> 00:14:42,210
gosh, you look well.

229
00:14:42,370 --> 00:14:46,770
Frankly what? Spit it out,
you horrid little scabby reptile.

230
00:14:46,930 --> 00:14:53,090
Um, well frankly,
everyone thought you were dead.

231
00:14:53,210 --> 00:14:54,650
Well, frankly...

232
00:14:54,770 --> 00:14:56,970
I am.

233
00:14:57,090 --> 00:14:59,290
'We thought the funniest thing'

234
00:14:59,450 --> 00:15:02,370
in the first series was,
um, Jim Broadbent

235
00:15:02,570 --> 00:15:07,090
as the, er,
Spanish translator and I've never
worked out why it's so perfect.

236
00:15:07,250 --> 00:15:12,610
But I think it's that he
mis-stresses every single word.

237
00:15:12,770 --> 00:15:16,810
It's just a sort of astonishing
technical feat to get the rhythms of

238
00:15:16,970 --> 00:15:19,850
the English language
so completely wrong.

239
00:15:19,970 --> 00:15:22,690
Edmundo. Que tales?

240
00:15:22,810 --> 00:15:25,290
Now Edmund, what HE like?

241
00:15:25,450 --> 00:15:28,610
Well, I told you...
HE MURMURS

242
00:15:28,730 --> 00:15:31,570
No, no, no, en la camba?

243
00:15:32,050 --> 00:15:35,770
No, what he LIKE in BED?

244
00:15:35,890 --> 00:15:39,250
Yeah, well in bed

245
00:15:39,410 --> 00:15:42,570
he likes hot milk
with just a litle touch of cinnamon.

246
00:15:42,690 --> 00:15:44,210
No, no, no, no, no, no.

247
00:15:45,170 --> 00:15:46,530
What is...

248
00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:48,410
HE...

249
00:15:48,530 --> 00:15:50,410
like?

250
00:15:53,170 --> 00:15:55,250
Well, he's like
a little rabbit really.

251
00:15:55,370 --> 00:15:58,210
SPANISH

252
00:15:58,330 --> 00:16:00,010
I'm embarrassed to say that I had

253
00:16:00,170 --> 00:16:06,650
no, um, idea really of what a
Spanish accent was so I just came up

254
00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:10,450
with this thing which I suppose
is a very bad cod-Italian accent.

255
00:16:10,610 --> 00:16:13,730
But, er, it's, it's
seemed to be funny and nobody

256
00:16:13,930 --> 00:16:17,650
questioned it and, er, but
I'm embarrassed now because
I should have done my research.

257
00:16:17,810 --> 00:16:20,330
Oh, mummy, mummy,
how much I love him.

258
00:16:20,490 --> 00:16:24,370
In many ways, the first series was
the most ambitious of all the series.

259
00:16:24,530 --> 00:16:27,210
There was at least five minutes
of film in every episode,

260
00:16:27,370 --> 00:16:29,250
it wasn't shot
in front of a live audience.

261
00:16:29,410 --> 00:16:32,130
For that reason,
I think it should be cherished.

262
00:16:32,330 --> 00:16:37,650
Having said that,
it was kind of rough and messy,
and some things didn't work.

263
00:16:37,770 --> 00:16:39,650
The first series was ghastly.

264
00:16:39,850 --> 00:16:44,330
I...I... I can't think of another
word for it, it was, er,
really difficult.

265
00:16:44,490 --> 00:16:46,410
We were young,
we'd just won a Bafta for

266
00:16:46,570 --> 00:16:49,890
Not The 9 O'Clock News, we really
thought we knew what we were doing.

267
00:16:50,050 --> 00:16:52,290
And we bit off far more
than we could chew.

268
00:16:52,490 --> 00:16:59,250
My memory of it was that it was
very, very expensive and that it
had some fantastic things in it

269
00:16:59,450 --> 00:17:06,250
which I remember as being fun in it
but I'm a bit scared to watch whole
episodes in case they're not perfect.

270
00:17:08,930 --> 00:17:13,530
Thin on laughs and with its star,
Rowan Atkinson, not wanting to
co-write a second series,

271
00:17:13,730 --> 00:17:18,010
a radical overhaul was needed
to stop The Black Adder hanging up
his codpiece forever.

272
00:17:18,170 --> 00:17:21,810
Enter a 23-year-old
motormouth comic.

273
00:17:21,930 --> 00:17:22,450
Wow wacky!

274
00:17:22,610 --> 00:17:26,210
It's amazing! Anything could
happen on this programme. It's fab!

275
00:17:26,370 --> 00:17:29,250
'I got involved with Blackadder
because of Richard Curtis.'

276
00:17:29,370 --> 00:17:30,890
He'd contacted me with an idea

277
00:17:31,050 --> 00:17:34,290
that we should work together
after he'd seen The Young Ones.

278
00:17:34,450 --> 00:17:36,970
We decided to do a sitcom about
Madness which we actually

279
00:17:37,130 --> 00:17:40,490
did try and do but we came in just a
little bit late in Madness's career.

280
00:17:40,650 --> 00:17:42,810
At some point we thought
that if he were to do

281
00:17:42,970 --> 00:17:45,170
another Blackadder, we should
try and write it together.

282
00:17:45,370 --> 00:17:49,570
My sort of memory of it is him
basically saying "Look, it sort of
only half worked,"

283
00:17:49,730 --> 00:17:52,530
we think we got a lot of it right
and a lot of it wrong

284
00:17:52,690 --> 00:17:55,610
and would you like to come in
and, and we'll write it?

285
00:17:55,810 --> 00:17:59,330
And of course I thought
fantastic, the opportunity
to write lines for Rowan Atkinson.

286
00:18:00,690 --> 00:18:04,370
So we set about writing
six episodes together.

287
00:18:04,530 --> 00:18:08,250
You are safe
and I am a prince of the realm.

288
00:18:08,410 --> 00:18:10,770
Ben Elton, coming
from a completely different

289
00:18:10,970 --> 00:18:16,530
direction, a comedy direction,
had said "The problem with
it is you see, there's no focus.

290
00:18:16,730 --> 00:18:21,490
"There are all these horses and
outdoor scenes and castles and
guards. You don't want any of that.

291
00:18:21,650 --> 00:18:23,730
"You just want
the people at the centre."

292
00:18:23,850 --> 00:18:27,050
Dear Big Boy,

293
00:18:27,250 --> 00:18:34,730
sail south, as you know
your galleon is always assured
a warm welcome in my harbour.

294
00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:37,570
So Ben was really keen to reduce it.

295
00:18:37,730 --> 00:18:41,250
As it happened,
what he wanted to do in comic terms

296
00:18:41,410 --> 00:18:44,810
also meant that it would have
a drastically slashed budget.

297
00:18:44,970 --> 00:18:47,410
And at the point
the bombshell dropped.

298
00:18:47,570 --> 00:18:52,090
Michael Grade had just become
Controller of BBC1 and he'd taken a

299
00:18:52,290 --> 00:18:56,490
look at what was on commission
and he obviously decided
he didn't want The Black Adder.

300
00:18:58,090 --> 00:19:00,050
'I felt the show
was kind of indulgent'

301
00:19:00,210 --> 00:19:05,970
and a bit lost, er, but I could
see there was something there

302
00:19:06,130 --> 00:19:08,930
and I wanted to do it again and I
laid down the condition that I would

303
00:19:09,130 --> 00:19:13,810
do another series provided they came
in to the studio with audience,
got the show on its feet,

304
00:19:13,970 --> 00:19:16,650
shot it in sequence
and they'd find out what they had.

305
00:19:16,810 --> 00:19:19,010
Which I didn't think
they did on location.

306
00:19:19,210 --> 00:19:24,930
My memory is that the scripts were
written, they were basically finished
and the decision to go into studio,

307
00:19:25,090 --> 00:19:28,210
er, and to avoid the big
filmic sort of vibe of the previous

308
00:19:28,370 --> 00:19:32,330
series was one that we took on,
Richard and I took on day one.

309
00:19:32,530 --> 00:19:37,890
The idea that it was
a financially canny executive
that sort of pushed us

310
00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:40,690
back into the studio is not true.

311
00:19:40,890 --> 00:19:46,730
I'm pretty sure that Ben's version
of events is right which is that
we wrote a new series on spec,

312
00:19:46,890 --> 00:19:50,370
um, that they then
made up their minds not to do it.

313
00:19:50,530 --> 00:19:53,370
And then when we showed them
what we were actually

314
00:19:53,570 --> 00:19:58,770
going to do which was a studio sitcom
at half the price with twice as many
gags that they changed their minds.

315
00:20:00,010 --> 00:20:04,530
Thankfully, the filthy genes of
the Blackadder family bubbled
back on to our screens

316
00:20:04,690 --> 00:20:09,330
on the 9th of January 1986, a full
three years after the first series.

317
00:20:09,490 --> 00:20:14,130
Lord Edmund, a pompous peer,
reappeared in Elizabethan England.

318
00:20:14,250 --> 00:20:17,290
That was a terrific joke, wasn't it?

319
00:20:17,450 --> 00:20:19,730
Oh, magnificent.
That was so naughty.

320
00:20:19,850 --> 00:20:20,850
What, my lady?

321
00:20:21,050 --> 00:20:27,210
I do know why I wanted to see you
and I just pretended I didn't
and I fooled you and it

322
00:20:27,330 --> 00:20:29,770
worked brilliantly, didn't it?

323
00:20:29,890 --> 00:20:33,050
It was terrific, madam.

324
00:20:33,210 --> 00:20:39,370
I thank God I wore my corset
because I think my sides have split.

325
00:20:39,530 --> 00:20:43,330
The first series, we thought
originally was a funny period.

326
00:20:43,530 --> 00:20:48,050
And when that didn't really work
and Ben came on board he said
I hate that period, it's muddy

327
00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:51,650
and filthy and horrible and we
should do the Elizabethan thing
which is dead sexy.

328
00:20:56,330 --> 00:20:58,450
Hello there.

329
00:21:00,450 --> 00:21:05,770
Edmund, you didn't tell me
we were expecting guests.
And such a pretty one, too.

330
00:21:05,890 --> 00:21:08,450
Oh, God.

331
00:21:08,610 --> 00:21:11,250
We'd kind of talked
Elizabethan period through and

332
00:21:11,370 --> 00:21:12,930
come up with a number of things -

333
00:21:13,090 --> 00:21:16,330
discovery, disease, tobacco,
beheading, that sort of thing.

334
00:21:16,490 --> 00:21:20,890
And we felt instinctively we were on
the right track for touching certain

335
00:21:21,050 --> 00:21:24,890
sort of half-remembered school
history memories with people.

336
00:21:25,050 --> 00:21:28,530
And yet actually, you know, playing
very fast and loose with them.

337
00:21:28,690 --> 00:21:33,010
Using text book history
as a backbone, a new Edmund

338
00:21:33,170 --> 00:21:36,730
was needed to plot and connive his
way through the Elizabethan court.

339
00:21:36,890 --> 00:21:40,810
Bloody explorers, ponce up to
mumbo jumbo land, come home with

340
00:21:40,970 --> 00:21:44,250
a tropical disease, a sun tan and
a bag of brown lumpy things and

341
00:21:44,410 --> 00:21:47,770
Bob's your uncle, everyone's got
a picture of them in the lavatory.

342
00:21:47,930 --> 00:21:49,930
What about the people
who do all the work?

343
00:21:50,090 --> 00:21:52,770
The servants? No, me! I'm the people
who do all the work.

344
00:21:52,930 --> 00:21:56,090
Ben and I sort of went through
the vocabulary of the first series

345
00:21:56,250 --> 00:21:58,770
and then went through what
we knew Rowan could do.

346
00:21:58,930 --> 00:22:02,890
And decided that someone that
sharp and sarcastic would be fun.

347
00:22:03,090 --> 00:22:10,010
Between us we decided to reverse
the dynamic and make Baldrick the
idiot and Rowan the cunning one.

348
00:22:10,210 --> 00:22:16,770
Baldrick I would advise you to make
the explanation you were about
to give phenomenally good.

349
00:22:16,930 --> 00:22:19,890
You said get the door.
Not good enough, you're fired.

350
00:22:20,050 --> 00:22:23,490
But my Lord, I've been in
your family since 1532.

351
00:22:23,610 --> 00:22:25,330
So has syphilis, now get out.

352
00:22:27,770 --> 00:22:31,850
Still to come - we look at
the method behind the madness.

353
00:22:32,010 --> 00:22:38,370
I know that I was referencing
a friend I had at school.

354
00:22:38,530 --> 00:22:43,890
Splice me, Sir Walter, it's bucko
to see you, oh, matey!

355
00:22:44,090 --> 00:22:49,410
And reveal an insight in to the
writing partnership that would
make Blackadder a sitcom legend.

356
00:22:49,570 --> 00:22:54,450
I can't imagine I will ever have
a more satisfactory or satisfying,

357
00:22:54,610 --> 00:22:57,490
um, you know, artistic
experience with anyone else.

358
00:23:03,540 --> 00:23:07,820
He may have started as a
snivelling, blithering cretin,

359
00:23:07,980 --> 00:23:12,100
but the latest Blackadder descendent
was rather more debonair.

360
00:23:12,220 --> 00:23:13,900
Farewell.

361
00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:17,300
And, er,

362
00:23:17,420 --> 00:23:18,820
don't wait up.

363
00:23:22,180 --> 00:23:23,260
Gosh!

364
00:23:23,420 --> 00:23:25,940
I think series two,
Rowan wanted to be handsome.

365
00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:30,300
He's the court favourite, he has to
be dashing, he's wearing an earring.

366
00:23:30,460 --> 00:23:32,260
And he carried it off,
I have to say.

367
00:23:32,420 --> 00:23:38,020
The moment that Rowan stepped out of
the makeup caravan at Wilton House

368
00:23:38,180 --> 00:23:43,180
dressed in all that garb
and all us girls went, "ooh!"

369
00:23:44,300 --> 00:23:46,500
Oh, Edmund - you're so naughty.

370
00:23:46,660 --> 00:23:49,580
Well, I try Madam.
And then ten minutes later,

371
00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:52,260
when I've got my breath back,
I'll try again.

372
00:23:52,460 --> 00:23:57,660
Unfortunately for Edmund,
he's still saddled with
the same brainless servant.

373
00:23:57,820 --> 00:24:03,940
If I have two beans and then I add
two more beans. What do I have?

374
00:24:04,060 --> 00:24:06,180
Some beans.

375
00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:07,780
Yes.

376
00:24:07,900 --> 00:24:10,540
And no. Let's try again, shall we?

377
00:24:10,700 --> 00:24:13,540
I have two beans,
then I add two more beans.

378
00:24:13,660 --> 00:24:15,220
What does that make?

379
00:24:15,340 --> 00:24:16,900
A very small casserole.

380
00:24:17,020 --> 00:24:18,940
It wasn't until the second series

381
00:24:19,100 --> 00:24:23,260
when Ben Elton joined the writing
team that he had this idea,

382
00:24:23,460 --> 00:24:31,060
why don't we turn Baldrick into
the stupidest most brain-dead
creature that has existed

383
00:24:31,220 --> 00:24:33,340
in the whole course of
human history.

384
00:24:33,540 --> 00:24:40,220
And the clever thing about that
is that it meant that Blackadder
could be as stupid as

385
00:24:40,380 --> 00:24:44,380
the scriptwriters wanted him to be
but there would always be someone

386
00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:46,700
who was even more stupid
than Blackadder.

387
00:24:46,820 --> 00:24:48,540
Do you have a knife? Yeah.

388
00:24:48,700 --> 00:24:52,140
Good. Because I wish to quickly send
off some party invitations and to

389
00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:55,820
make them look particularly tough,
I wish to write them in blood.

390
00:24:55,940 --> 00:24:57,940
Your blood, to be precise.

391
00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:00,980
How much blood will you
actually be requiring, my Lord?

392
00:25:01,140 --> 00:25:03,140
Oh, nothing much -
just a small puddle.

393
00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:05,740
Oh. Will you be wanting
me to cut anything off?

394
00:25:05,860 --> 00:25:07,900
Er, an arm or a leg, for instance?

395
00:25:08,060 --> 00:25:10,700
Oh, good Lord no,
a little prick should do.

396
00:25:14,380 --> 00:25:18,500
Very well my Lord,
I am your bondsman and must obey.

397
00:25:18,660 --> 00:25:22,060
Oh, for God's sake Baldrick, I
meant a little prick on your finger.

398
00:25:22,180 --> 00:25:24,500
I haven't got one there.

399
00:25:24,700 --> 00:25:28,660
Oh, forget it, forget it.
Personally, I think Percy's
my favourite character.

400
00:25:28,820 --> 00:25:32,460
Bob, this is Percy - a dimwit I
don't seem to be able to shake off.

401
00:25:32,580 --> 00:25:34,180
He's like the runt of the litter.

402
00:25:34,340 --> 00:25:37,660
You want to kick him just because
he's so desperate to please

403
00:25:37,820 --> 00:25:39,740
that you just want to go,
"oh, go away."

404
00:25:39,860 --> 00:25:42,300
Simpering twit, wasn't he?

405
00:25:42,420 --> 00:25:43,940
He was great, fantastic.

406
00:25:44,100 --> 00:25:47,980
Um, Blackadder. Just, er,
so pleased with himself.

407
00:25:49,180 --> 00:25:52,500
He's just such a prat.
I mean, poor love.

408
00:25:52,660 --> 00:25:55,380
Edmund - come quickly, the Queen
wants to see you. What...?

409
00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:58,500
I said Edmund, come quickly,
the Queen wants to see you.

410
00:25:58,700 --> 00:26:02,420
Please let me finish. What
are you wearing round your neck?
Ah! It's my new ruff.

411
00:26:02,580 --> 00:26:05,740
You look like a bird who's
swallowed a plate, Percy.

412
00:26:05,940 --> 00:26:10,140
It's the latest fashion actually
and as a matter of fact it
makes me look rather sexy.

413
00:26:10,300 --> 00:26:12,900
To another plate-swallowing bird,
perhaps.

414
00:26:13,060 --> 00:26:14,940
I remember people asking me at
the time

415
00:26:15,100 --> 00:26:17,340
whether Percy
was actually based on anybody.

416
00:26:17,540 --> 00:26:21,660
He just naturally grew out of
the writing and the rhythm of
the writing.

417
00:26:21,860 --> 00:26:26,180
Every time you looked at
a page of Richard's writing, it
was just there and very clear.

418
00:26:26,380 --> 00:26:30,740
I'm very aware of the fact that
Percy is Sir Andrew Aguecheek
from Twelfth Night.

419
00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:34,060
I did a production of Twelfth
Night, I used to find that sort

420
00:26:34,220 --> 00:26:40,500
of mixture between arrogance and
insecurity of Aguecheek very funny.

421
00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:43,460
I must say, Edmund, it was jolly
nice of you to ask me to share

422
00:26:43,620 --> 00:26:46,140
your breakfast before the rigours
of the day begin.

423
00:26:46,340 --> 00:26:51,660
Well, it is said Percy that
civilised man seeks out good
and intelligent company,

424
00:26:51,860 --> 00:26:56,180
so that through learned discourse
he may rise above the savage
and closer to God.

425
00:26:56,300 --> 00:26:57,780
Yes, I'd heard that.

426
00:26:57,980 --> 00:27:02,420
Personally however, I like to start
the day with a total BLEEP head,
to remind me I'm best.

427
00:27:02,580 --> 00:27:07,260
One of my favourite moments
is him trying to get

428
00:27:07,420 --> 00:27:10,500
Blackadder out of his financial
difficulties and...

429
00:27:10,620 --> 00:27:12,580
discovering the secret of alchemy.

430
00:27:13,300 --> 00:27:14,620
Behold!

431
00:27:16,420 --> 00:27:19,900
Percy, it's green.

432
00:27:20,020 --> 00:27:21,700
That's right, my Lord.

433
00:27:21,900 --> 00:27:26,420
Yes, Percy - I don't want to be
pedantic or anything,
but the colour of gold is gold.

434
00:27:26,540 --> 00:27:28,340
That's why it's called gold.

435
00:27:28,500 --> 00:27:33,980
What you have discovered,
if it has a name, is some green.

436
00:27:37,260 --> 00:27:39,900
Ah, Edmund!

437
00:27:40,020 --> 00:27:42,140
Can it be true

438
00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:45,980
that I hold here in my mortal hand

439
00:27:46,100 --> 00:27:49,540
a nugget of purest green?

440
00:27:49,700 --> 00:27:53,100
Indeed you do Percy, except of
course it's not really a nugget,

441
00:27:53,220 --> 00:27:54,580
is it, it's more of a splat.

442
00:27:54,740 --> 00:27:59,380
Percy was so thrilled to
have created this, this thing.

443
00:27:59,540 --> 00:28:03,100
We could actually probably have made
a fortune by creating lots of bits

444
00:28:03,260 --> 00:28:05,220
of green and selling
them to the public.

445
00:28:05,340 --> 00:28:06,940
Maybe I could still do that now?

446
00:28:07,140 --> 00:28:11,620
Of course you know what your great
discovery means, don't you, Percy?
Perhaps, my Lord.

447
00:28:11,780 --> 00:28:16,780
That you, Percy,
Lord Percy...are an utter berk.

448
00:28:16,940 --> 00:28:21,020
Having two stupid sidekicks was the
least of Edmunds worries when facing

449
00:28:21,180 --> 00:28:24,940
the threat of losing his head
to a rather psychotic queen.

450
00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:36,140
I only didn't laugh at loud

451
00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:40,300
because I was afraid if I did,
then my head would have fallen off.

452
00:28:41,900 --> 00:28:43,580
If you don't start soon,

453
00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:46,260
your head will fall off!

454
00:28:46,420 --> 00:28:49,340
Glenda Jackson,
Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett,

455
00:28:49,500 --> 00:28:53,340
Judy Dench have all played
Queen Elizabeth I.

456
00:28:53,500 --> 00:28:56,580
None of them played her as well
as Miranda Richardson.

457
00:28:56,700 --> 00:28:57,380
SHE SQUEAKS

458
00:28:57,580 --> 00:29:03,460
The essence of caprice in a monarch
that she played as the young Queen
Elizabeth, it is one of the most

459
00:29:03,660 --> 00:29:08,980
joyous experiences of my life would
be standing next to her, watching
these incredible contortions

460
00:29:09,180 --> 00:29:13,700
and writhing and hearing these
phenomenal squeaks and squeals
and noises come out of

461
00:29:13,860 --> 00:29:18,220
this incredible woman. It was really
remarkable performance, I think.

462
00:29:18,380 --> 00:29:21,100
Do you know what I'm going to do?
What?

463
00:29:21,300 --> 00:29:25,060
I'm going to go along and find out
exactly what happens at these
boys' nights.

464
00:29:25,180 --> 00:29:27,020
Oh, good idea, poppet.

465
00:29:27,180 --> 00:29:31,860
And I'll wear a cloak with a cowl
so no-one will recognise me.

466
00:29:31,980 --> 00:29:33,420
Oh, that's another good idea.

467
00:29:33,580 --> 00:29:38,220
You're so clever today you better be
careful your foot doesn't fall off.

468
00:29:38,420 --> 00:29:44,340
I thought of her as somebody
with too much too soon,
you know, far too young.

469
00:29:44,540 --> 00:29:48,700
She's just got so much power
you know, she can just like,
snip off somebody's head

470
00:29:48,900 --> 00:29:54,180
if she feels a bit moody that day
and you know, she's a girl,
girls get moody.

471
00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:57,380
Grey, I suspect, Majesty.

472
00:29:57,540 --> 00:30:00,500
I think you'll find it
was orange, Lord Melchett.

473
00:30:00,620 --> 00:30:03,460
Grey is more usual, Ma'am.

474
00:30:03,580 --> 00:30:05,900
Who's queen?

475
00:30:06,060 --> 00:30:11,620
Yes, yes, Majesty. Er, there were
these magnificent orange elephants.

476
00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:15,700
She takes the character and, and of
course looks terrific in the costume

477
00:30:15,860 --> 00:30:19,780
and then makes the contrast as sharp
as possible with the real person.

478
00:30:19,940 --> 00:30:23,940
The real person was a,
was a fantastic politician

479
00:30:24,100 --> 00:30:27,300
and a tremendous figure in British
history, no doubt about that.

480
00:30:27,460 --> 00:30:29,940
The Elizabethan age, she
gave her name to an age.

481
00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:33,060
Well, you don't do that by speaking
as a five-year-old child.

482
00:30:33,220 --> 00:30:35,580
The other day there was this
enormous tree

483
00:30:35,700 --> 00:30:38,060
and I was sitting right on top of it.

484
00:30:38,220 --> 00:30:41,340
And then I dreamt once
that I was a sausage roll.

485
00:30:41,460 --> 00:30:44,740
Majesty... Sorry.

486
00:30:44,860 --> 00:30:46,780
So exciting.

487
00:30:46,900 --> 00:30:48,340
Don't know what I'm saying.

488
00:30:48,500 --> 00:30:54,540
I know that I was referencing
a friend I had at school.

489
00:30:54,700 --> 00:31:00,180
We'd sort of talk in this sort of
silly language to each other and...

490
00:31:00,300 --> 00:31:03,260
Going just sort of you know,

491
00:31:03,420 --> 00:31:08,460
sort of exacerbated
small girl kind of voice.

492
00:31:08,580 --> 00:31:12,220
Just tell me one thing.

493
00:31:12,340 --> 00:31:14,460
Is her nose as pretty as mine?

494
00:31:14,620 --> 00:31:18,260
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, Ma'am.

495
00:31:18,420 --> 00:31:22,140
Oh, good! Because otherwise
I would have cut it off

496
00:31:22,300 --> 00:31:25,300
and then you'd have had to marry
someone without a nose

497
00:31:25,460 --> 00:31:29,700
and that wouldn't be very nice,
would it? No, Ma'am. No.

498
00:31:29,860 --> 00:31:34,340
I mean, imagine the mess
when she got a cold - yuk!

499
00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:38,340
She gave a performance
of sustained imagination

500
00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:41,100
and she's just so clever.

501
00:31:41,260 --> 00:31:45,460
Helping Queenie rule were a
sycophantic Lord Chamberlain

502
00:31:45,620 --> 00:31:48,340
and a very jolly podgy
nursemaid named Nursie.

503
00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:53,020
I had three sisters and they were
called Donald, Eric and Basil.

504
00:31:53,180 --> 00:31:56,140
Then why is your name Nursie?
That isn't my real name. Isn't it?

505
00:31:56,260 --> 00:31:58,460
No. What is your real name then?

506
00:31:58,580 --> 00:32:00,260
Ha! Bernard.

507
00:32:02,980 --> 00:32:05,140
Suits you, actually.

508
00:32:05,340 --> 00:32:10,460
It ought to have been deeply
weird, pervy, peculiar, wrong
in Queenie's relationship with

509
00:32:10,660 --> 00:32:15,580
Nursie but it, instead of making
the Queen less dignified,
it somehow made her more so.

510
00:32:15,740 --> 00:32:19,100
I added just a little kind of, um,
colouring.

511
00:32:19,300 --> 00:32:25,180
She's an earthy character and I
think you've got to have a certain
roundness perhaps to the vowels.

512
00:32:25,340 --> 00:32:28,540
Or she would probably think more
of the bowels than the vowels.

513
00:32:28,700 --> 00:32:33,140
A tush and fi my tiddly. You didn't
always make such pretty speeches.

514
00:32:33,340 --> 00:32:38,180
Oh, lor. Twas but the twinkling of
a toe since you could say nothing
but, "Lizzie go plop, plop."

515
00:32:38,340 --> 00:32:41,380
"Lizzie go..."
Well, put a bung in it, Nursie.

516
00:32:41,540 --> 00:32:45,300
It was close knit and, er,
we knew how one another worked.

517
00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:49,700
It was a family of characters
and a team of actors who
got on extremely well.

518
00:32:49,860 --> 00:32:53,700
It's extraordinary how if you
grow a beard it doesn't really...

519
00:32:53,860 --> 00:32:58,620
irritate you but when it's
applied, it's absolutely maddening.

520
00:32:58,820 --> 00:33:04,020
The Melchett of series two was
was a rather a cowardly double
dealing political sort of figure

521
00:33:04,180 --> 00:33:07,540
who was a flatterer essentially,
a sycophant of the queen.

522
00:33:07,700 --> 00:33:09,940
Um, whom the queen
put up with because

523
00:33:10,100 --> 00:33:13,300
a part of the queen liked having
people saying nice things to her.

524
00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:17,500
But the other part of her of
course realised that Melchett
was just silly old Melchett.

525
00:33:17,660 --> 00:33:20,180
Oh, but I must profess, madam,
I am astonished that

526
00:33:20,340 --> 00:33:23,820
Blackadder could possibly have eyes
for any other woman than yourself.

527
00:33:24,020 --> 00:33:28,820
Good point. Though slightly grovelly.
And he was someone to be made
fun of by Blackadder.

528
00:33:28,980 --> 00:33:31,420
Er, there was a definite
rivalry between them.

529
00:33:31,580 --> 00:33:35,460
Blackadder would always win in terms
of style but Melchett would always

530
00:33:35,620 --> 00:33:38,980
be secure in terms of
you know, political face-saving.

531
00:33:39,180 --> 00:33:43,700
Ah Melty, you really are a beginner,
you're not even wearing a pair of
comedy breasts.

532
00:33:43,820 --> 00:33:46,300
Au contraire, Blackadder.

533
00:33:46,460 --> 00:33:49,820
Combining toilet humour and great
plots, the newly formed writing team

534
00:33:49,980 --> 00:33:52,060
took Blackadder from
strength to strength.

535
00:33:52,180 --> 00:33:53,940
Richard and I had I think

536
00:33:54,100 --> 00:33:59,580
the best imaginable,
um, writing collaboration.

537
00:33:59,740 --> 00:34:04,500
We, we very quickly, um,
evolved a work method

538
00:34:04,660 --> 00:34:06,900
that stood with us
through all three series.

539
00:34:07,060 --> 00:34:10,620
As far as I know they never wrote
a line together in the same room.

540
00:34:10,740 --> 00:34:12,500
Ben would write three of each series

541
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:16,020
and Richard write the other three
and then they'd swap them over

542
00:34:16,180 --> 00:34:18,740
and change
about 84% of each other's work.

543
00:34:18,940 --> 00:34:23,700
Basically it was a relationship
based on the handing over of
those square computer disks.

544
00:34:23,860 --> 00:34:29,500
And the fantastic thing was that, um,
you end up morphing in to each other

545
00:34:29,660 --> 00:34:34,100
you know, you end up actually trying
to write to please the other person.

546
00:34:34,260 --> 00:34:38,060
So you might think that I
was in charge of plots and history

547
00:34:38,220 --> 00:34:42,100
and Ben was in charge of knob gags
but in fact, er, I used to

548
00:34:42,300 --> 00:34:47,100
write jokes to try and make Ben
laugh and Ben used to try and write
plots in order to impress me.

549
00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:50,700
We had a sort of rule
that we would not

550
00:34:50,900 --> 00:34:56,700
question the other's edits, ie, you
wouldn't fight for a line that had
been cut which was quite difficult,

551
00:34:56,860 --> 00:35:00,180
cos often Richard would cut stuff
I thought was good and vice versa.

552
00:35:00,340 --> 00:35:03,820
The theory was you don't tell
a joke at dinner

553
00:35:03,980 --> 00:35:07,380
and then if no-one laughs say, wait
a minute, you weren't listening.

554
00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:10,340
I've just said something really
funny. You just move on.

555
00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:14,980
So that was very relaxing,
not having to rake back through
the stuff you did before.

556
00:35:15,180 --> 00:35:19,540
If he'd read it before, if I'd
read it before, um, it was,
and not laughed, it was out.

557
00:35:19,700 --> 00:35:22,420
This collaboration
together with Rowan's

558
00:35:22,620 --> 00:35:27,260
rather peculiar pronunciation
created one of the most mimicked
names of the second series.

559
00:35:27,380 --> 00:35:29,540
What do they call you? Kate.

560
00:35:29,660 --> 00:35:32,340
Isn't that a bit of a girl's name?

561
00:35:32,460 --> 00:35:36,420
Oh, it's, um, short for, um, Bob.

562
00:35:38,700 --> 00:35:40,420
Bob? Yes.

563
00:35:40,540 --> 00:35:43,580
Well...Bob - welcome on board.

564
00:35:43,740 --> 00:35:47,700
Rowan won't mind me saying that
he has in real life a slight

565
00:35:47,900 --> 00:35:52,860
and entirely erotically splendid,
stutter or stammer - I never know
quite which is which.

566
00:35:53,060 --> 00:36:01,340
Um, and particularly on the letter
B which makes him saying words
like Bob, very funny.

567
00:36:01,500 --> 00:36:06,180
The way that he combats that -
as a lot of stutterers do -

568
00:36:06,340 --> 00:36:12,020
is to in his mind, as he comes up to
that word that's got the plosive B

569
00:36:12,180 --> 00:36:16,060
or P in it, just to visualise it
and then say it.

570
00:36:16,220 --> 00:36:21,540
So that rather than just say
the word "Bob", he'll go "..Bob."

571
00:36:21,700 --> 00:36:24,660
Well, Bob we're a couple of
fine lads together, aren't we.

572
00:36:24,820 --> 00:36:27,380
Let's get ratted
and talk about girls, eh?

573
00:36:27,500 --> 00:36:29,060
B-O-B.

574
00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:31,460
It is an absolute joy
to hear how much he can get

575
00:36:31,580 --> 00:36:32,860
from those three letters.

576
00:36:33,020 --> 00:36:36,060
But as I say, the O, I think
I've known other people that can

577
00:36:36,180 --> 00:36:38,660
do better O's but his B's,

578
00:36:38,820 --> 00:36:43,420
beginning and ending B's...
un...beatable.

579
00:36:43,580 --> 00:36:47,060
I find you curiously
pleasant company, young Bob.

580
00:36:47,220 --> 00:36:50,060
There was a famous moment in
Blackadder where his stammer

581
00:36:50,260 --> 00:36:55,820
came to, er, into play where
he had the line, "God it's like
Battersea Dog's Home in here."

582
00:36:55,980 --> 00:36:59,500
And he got stuck on the Ba...
Battersea and he couldn't say it

583
00:36:59,660 --> 00:37:03,060
and we did about 25 takes
in front of the live audience.

584
00:37:03,220 --> 00:37:07,340
And I got on to the earpiece and
said tell him to say Crufts instead.

585
00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:09,660
Woof! Woof!

586
00:37:09,780 --> 00:37:12,380
God, it's like Crufts in here.

587
00:37:12,540 --> 00:37:14,180
And of course the audience
goes insane.

588
00:37:14,340 --> 00:37:16,660
But isn't that brilliant
on the part of John Lloyd?

589
00:37:16,820 --> 00:37:20,260
What other line is there,
except for Battersea Dog's Home?

590
00:37:20,420 --> 00:37:24,740
Crufts was the answer.
Superb on-the-wing producing.

591
00:37:25,780 --> 00:37:30,940
Coming up, the man who not
only stole Blackadder's bride,
but also stole the best lines.

592
00:37:32,740 --> 00:37:36,060
Flash by name, flash by nature.

593
00:37:36,220 --> 00:37:40,140
Hooray. Rick, he said, "I'm not
coming in unless every single line

594
00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:44,900
"is much funnier than every line
that Rowan has in the whole series."

595
00:37:45,100 --> 00:37:51,260
And we leap forward in time to
when our great nation was ruled
by a complete foppish fool.

596
00:37:51,420 --> 00:37:57,820
What a pair of trousers. I shall
be the belle of the Embassy ball.

597
00:38:05,590 --> 00:38:11,230
The first series may have been light
on laughs but the latest Blackadder
proved to be a rip roaring success,

598
00:38:11,390 --> 00:38:13,670
packed with gags and
unforgettable characters,

599
00:38:13,830 --> 00:38:18,110
including a scene-stealing
performance from this flash git.

600
00:38:18,230 --> 00:38:19,550
It's me.

601
00:38:22,190 --> 00:38:25,510
Flash by name, flash by nature.

602
00:38:25,630 --> 00:38:27,790
Hooray! ALL: Hooray!

603
00:38:27,990 --> 00:38:32,230
Of course I have a particularly
fond memory of Rick Mayall's
creation of Flashheart.

604
00:38:32,390 --> 00:38:35,790
I was working with Rick very closely
at the time on The Young Ones and

605
00:38:35,910 --> 00:38:37,470
Filthy Rich and Cat Flap and

606
00:38:37,590 --> 00:38:39,110
it was written very specifically

607
00:38:39,270 --> 00:38:41,590
with him in mind.
I thought it was quite brilliant.

608
00:38:41,750 --> 00:38:45,830
I remember meeting Rick and he said,
"I'll do your scuzzy series

609
00:38:45,990 --> 00:38:48,390
"as long as every single line
is much funnier

610
00:38:48,550 --> 00:38:51,870
"than every line that Rowan
has in the whole series."

611
00:38:51,990 --> 00:38:54,550
Thanks bridesmaid, like the beard.

612
00:38:56,150 --> 00:38:59,150
Gives me something to hang on to.

613
00:38:59,310 --> 00:39:02,790
Whenever he, er, arrives in
something, he always, um,

614
00:39:02,950 --> 00:39:06,110
gives it a good kick up the behind
so everybody has to look up

615
00:39:06,270 --> 00:39:08,390
and pay attention and,
and actually, er,

616
00:39:08,550 --> 00:39:11,990
look to their own game plan
and, er, improve it.

617
00:39:12,150 --> 00:39:15,830
All through rehearsal he played it
as the dashing character.

618
00:39:15,990 --> 00:39:18,670
But on the night, my goodness,
he gave it rock all

619
00:39:18,830 --> 00:39:21,630
and if you look at the scene
you will see that everyone's

620
00:39:21,830 --> 00:39:28,150
standing around on that set looking
completely amazed at what's the
force of nature that's just arrived.

621
00:39:28,270 --> 00:39:29,670
And Melchy.

622
00:39:32,070 --> 00:39:34,990
Still worshipping God? My Lord.

623
00:39:35,150 --> 00:39:37,310
Last thing I heard
he started worshipping me.

624
00:39:37,470 --> 00:39:41,110
A-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
ALL: A-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

625
00:39:41,230 --> 00:39:43,350
Ruh! Nursie!

626
00:39:43,470 --> 00:39:47,230
I like it firm and fruity.

627
00:39:47,390 --> 00:39:51,590
Am I pleased to see you or did
I just put a canoe in my pocket?

628
00:39:51,710 --> 00:39:53,270
Down boy, down.

629
00:39:58,270 --> 00:40:00,150
And now,

630
00:40:00,270 --> 00:40:02,070
where's this amazing bird?

631
00:40:02,230 --> 00:40:05,550
The sheer opposite nature of
his character from Rowan's

632
00:40:05,670 --> 00:40:06,990
both in the narrative terms

633
00:40:07,150 --> 00:40:09,670
and as performers made it
a fabulous contrast.

634
00:40:09,830 --> 00:40:12,470
Two of the most talented comic
performers of their day

635
00:40:12,630 --> 00:40:16,550
facing off against each other,
er, using their different styles.

636
00:40:16,710 --> 00:40:19,470
Rowan just gently stepped
back during those weeks

637
00:40:19,670 --> 00:40:25,870
and did his homework in private
while we indulged Rick's magnificent,
um, firework personality.

638
00:40:26,070 --> 00:40:30,630
So long suckers, next time you get
bored of your lives, give me a call
and I'll come round and kill you.

639
00:40:30,790 --> 00:40:33,430
Bye Edmund and thanks for everything.
Hooray!

640
00:40:36,590 --> 00:40:40,830
Um, it is customary
on these occasions for the groom
to marry the bridesmaid.

641
00:40:40,990 --> 00:40:44,310
I presume you intend
to honour this, um?

642
00:40:44,430 --> 00:40:45,950
I do.

643
00:40:46,150 --> 00:40:52,590
Someone once said a very sweet thing
to me about liking, um, the second
series because of all the IE's.

644
00:40:52,750 --> 00:40:56,990
And I said, what's that mean?
And he said well, it was Nursie,

645
00:40:57,150 --> 00:41:01,150
Queenie, Melchy, Percy -
that it was the cosiest of series,

646
00:41:01,310 --> 00:41:04,990
that they were like a,
they were really like a family

647
00:41:05,150 --> 00:41:08,630
and a family that played with
each other and teased each other.

648
00:41:08,790 --> 00:41:13,870
And I think there is a warmth about
that series which makes it unique.

649
00:41:14,070 --> 00:41:19,030
After six episodes and with more
than ten million viewers
tuning in weekly,

650
00:41:19,230 --> 00:41:23,790
the series ended in spectacular
style when Hugh Laurie popped
up as a mad German Prince.

651
00:41:23,910 --> 00:41:28,150
I shall return and reek my rewengey.

652
00:41:28,310 --> 00:41:31,630
And massacred all of
our favourite characters.

653
00:41:35,310 --> 00:41:38,750
I won't take much credit for
much of Blackadder but I will

654
00:41:38,910 --> 00:41:43,830
take credit for the closing
title sequence on the series two.

655
00:41:44,030 --> 00:41:49,790
We had a day's filming down in
Wilson House in Salisbury and
this was His Lordship's back garden.

656
00:41:49,950 --> 00:41:54,990
We put the camera back to
the window, locked it off

657
00:41:55,190 --> 00:42:00,430
and everyone came up with an idea
of what the minstrel could do and
what Rowan could do to the minstrel.

658
00:42:00,550 --> 00:42:02,870
And it just worked a treat.

659
00:42:03,070 --> 00:42:08,990
These credits were accompanied by
the now iconic tune created by an
old uni mate of Richard and Rowan's.

660
00:42:09,150 --> 00:42:13,870
They were fun doing those songs at
the end although my memory is that,

661
00:42:13,990 --> 00:42:15,990
er, Richard would give us the lyric

662
00:42:16,150 --> 00:42:18,430
about a minute before
it had to be recorded.

663
00:42:18,590 --> 00:42:21,750
So it was always a bit
tense to be honest cos, um,

664
00:42:21,870 --> 00:42:24,150
we were never quite ready to do it.

665
00:42:30,590 --> 00:42:35,150
I feel slightly nostalgic
about it because these
days you couldn't do that.

666
00:42:35,350 --> 00:42:39,670
Firstly you're only allowed a tiny
amount of time at the end of
the programme and secondly,

667
00:42:39,830 --> 00:42:43,030
they show you the next programme
over the credits and talk over it.

668
00:42:43,190 --> 00:42:46,270
So, I look back on it rather
with sort of familiarity,

669
00:42:46,430 --> 00:42:48,990
how nice it was that we were able
to do that extra gag,

670
00:42:49,150 --> 00:42:53,350
bonus gags,
um, during the final credits.

671
00:43:02,430 --> 00:43:04,510
Da-daa.

672
00:43:04,670 --> 00:43:08,910
By 1987, the next reincarnation of
Blackadder had not only slipped

673
00:43:09,070 --> 00:43:12,430
down the social scale
from Lord to butler...

674
00:43:12,550 --> 00:43:14,110
Something wrong, Mr B?

675
00:43:14,310 --> 00:43:18,270
I've had it up to here with that
prince. One more insult and
I'll be handing in my notice.

676
00:43:18,390 --> 00:43:19,950
Ooh, does that mean I'll be butler?

677
00:43:20,110 --> 00:43:23,910
But had lost his faithful and
dim-witted friend, Lord Percy.

678
00:43:24,070 --> 00:43:28,710
The idea of it being fun and friends
together making something, you know,

679
00:43:28,910 --> 00:43:35,230
that we'd enjoy even if other people
didn't had snowballed into such
a huge success that,

680
00:43:35,390 --> 00:43:42,550
um, I felt it was getting
in the way of, of my, er,

681
00:43:42,750 --> 00:43:46,790
of the public perception of me
and my perception of
myself as an actor.

682
00:43:46,950 --> 00:43:52,270
And I didn't want it to, er,
overpower other things I was doing.

683
00:43:52,430 --> 00:43:55,590
When I heard that Tim wasn't going
to do it, you think oh, dear,

684
00:43:55,790 --> 00:44:01,590
this is a bit of a disaster because
he'd become so much part of
the second series.

685
00:44:01,750 --> 00:44:04,870
And if Tim had wanted to do the
third series and had he been free,

686
00:44:05,030 --> 00:44:07,430
he might well have played
the Hugh Laurie part.

687
00:44:07,590 --> 00:44:09,630
But there's always
an advantage to it.

688
00:44:09,790 --> 00:44:14,550
Actually, in some ways, Hugh
Laurie's character is a sort of,

689
00:44:14,710 --> 00:44:18,390
a sort of Percy,
similar sort of twittish type.

690
00:44:18,550 --> 00:44:22,270
We took Percy who hadn't been clever
and, and scooped out the final

691
00:44:22,430 --> 00:44:27,390
teaspoonful of brains and,
and presented, um, Hugh Laurie.

692
00:44:30,150 --> 00:44:33,430
We now find ourselves in
18th century England during

693
00:44:33,590 --> 00:44:37,070
the reign of mad King George III
and his dotty son the Prince Regent.

694
00:44:37,230 --> 00:44:40,750
I was conscious of filling
the great Tim McInnerny's shoes

695
00:44:40,910 --> 00:44:45,270
and that's, um... And he takes,
in comic terms, a size 22.

696
00:44:45,390 --> 00:44:47,630
He's, er, very big-footed comically.

697
00:44:47,830 --> 00:44:53,430
I suppose George was sufficiently
different, um, rather than being
a sidekick of Blackadder's,

698
00:44:53,590 --> 00:44:56,550
he was his you know, the actual
dynamic of it was different.

699
00:44:56,670 --> 00:45:00,310
Oh, oh, oh, Blackadder, Blackadder!

700
00:45:00,470 --> 00:45:02,630
Your Highness.
Wha... What what time is it?

701
00:45:02,790 --> 00:45:04,750
Three o'clock in the afternoon,
your highness.

702
00:45:04,910 --> 00:45:07,990
Oh, thank God for that -
I thought I'd overslept.

703
00:45:08,190 --> 00:45:12,590
Ben and Richard had written some
fantastic jokes and some great
opportunities to shout and

704
00:45:12,750 --> 00:45:15,630
pull faces which is what I do
or what I did at the time.

705
00:45:15,790 --> 00:45:18,990
I've moved on since then.
Oh, yes - I've grown, um, matured.

706
00:45:19,150 --> 00:45:22,870
But at the time, shouting was
very good fun, very enjoyable.

707
00:45:22,990 --> 00:45:25,270
Marry? Never.

708
00:45:25,390 --> 00:45:27,990
I'm a gay bachelor, Blackadder.

709
00:45:28,150 --> 00:45:32,550
I'm a roarer, a rogerer,
a gorger and a puker.

710
00:45:32,710 --> 00:45:36,350
I can't marry. I'm young,
I'm firm-buttocked, I'm...

711
00:45:36,470 --> 00:45:37,670
Broke.

712
00:45:37,790 --> 00:45:40,070
Well, yes, I suppose so.

713
00:45:40,230 --> 00:45:43,790
I found shouting very easy. Talking
quietly I find extremely difficult.

714
00:45:43,990 --> 00:45:47,550
Not now, but in front of an audience
it just makes me want to shout.
I think its nerves.

715
00:45:47,750 --> 00:45:52,070
Hugh wears his heart on his sleeve,
you know, he doesn't
conceal anything.

716
00:45:52,270 --> 00:45:56,910
If Hugh is nervous or
depressed, you see it,
it's all over him, you know.

717
00:45:57,070 --> 00:46:00,110
Hugh would be beating himself up
going, "oh, God, God, oh, God,

718
00:46:00,670 --> 00:46:03,630
"I'm so unfunny, I'm the least funny
person in the world."

719
00:46:03,790 --> 00:46:06,510
They must throttle him
on the House, mustn't they?

720
00:46:06,670 --> 00:46:08,790
Now come on Blackadder,
let's get packing.

721
00:46:08,950 --> 00:46:11,310
I want to look my best for those
fabulous French birds.

722
00:46:11,430 --> 00:46:13,470
He never thinks he's good enough.

723
00:46:13,630 --> 00:46:16,630
But really honestly I think
the prince is just

724
00:46:16,790 --> 00:46:24,950
such a fantastic buffoon and he's
so consistently buffoon-like

725
00:46:25,110 --> 00:46:27,950
in the characterisation,
he works a treat.

726
00:46:28,110 --> 00:46:32,350
I think Hugh is being a little
self-deprecating there.

727
00:46:32,510 --> 00:46:35,710
Honestly Blackadder I don't know
why I'm bothering to get dressed.

728
00:46:35,910 --> 00:46:40,550
Soon as I get to the Naughty
Hellfire Club I'll be de-bagged and
radished for non-payment of debts.

729
00:46:40,670 --> 00:46:42,150
Radished, sir?

730
00:46:42,310 --> 00:46:44,670
Yes, they pull your britches down and
push a large radish right up...

731
00:46:44,670 --> 00:46:46,550
Yes, yes, yes, all right.

732
00:46:48,910 --> 00:46:51,190
There's no need to hammer it home.

733
00:46:51,790 --> 00:46:52,750
As a matter of fact, they do often...

734
00:46:52,750 --> 00:46:53,910
No, no!

735
00:46:54,030 --> 00:46:55,150
I thought he was dreadful.

736
00:46:55,310 --> 00:46:58,190
I couldn't bare,
I couldn't bare watching... No!

737
00:46:58,390 --> 00:47:04,550
Um, I thought it was brilliant and I
thought it worked terribly well and
it wasn't the same as Percy anyway.

738
00:47:04,710 --> 00:47:08,470
Hugh's Prince Regent I think perhaps
you know, should be celebrated more.

739
00:47:08,630 --> 00:47:12,470
I mean a truly brilliant performance
of a foppish regency idiot.

740
00:47:12,630 --> 00:47:16,670
Thank God you're here, we desperately
need you. Who, me sir?

741
00:47:16,790 --> 00:47:20,110
Mr thicky Black thicky Adder thicky?

742
00:47:20,310 --> 00:47:24,470
Oh, this nonsense.
Just the hopelessly drivelly can't
write for toffee crappy butler...

743
00:47:24,670 --> 00:47:30,070
Yes, well... Mr brilliantly
undervalued butler who hasn't
had a raise in a fortnight?

744
00:47:30,190 --> 00:47:32,750
Take an extra 1,000.

745
00:47:32,870 --> 00:47:35,190
Guineas, per month?

746
00:47:35,310 --> 00:47:37,670
All right, what's your problem?

747
00:47:37,830 --> 00:47:42,830
Underlying all this stupidity
there's a desperate loneliness.

748
00:47:43,030 --> 00:47:49,790
The reason I think why he craves
Blackadder so much is it's somebody
to talk to and somebody

749
00:47:49,950 --> 00:47:54,590
who'll talk to him on a level that
won't make him feel too threatened.

750
00:47:54,750 --> 00:47:58,510
Even though Blackadder is
manipulating him shamelessly.

751
00:47:58,670 --> 00:48:02,710
It was an absolutely perfect triangle
really that Blackadder has a...

752
00:48:04,350 --> 00:48:08,350
..a cretin, as a master
and a cretin as a servant.

753
00:48:08,510 --> 00:48:11,350
Then he's stuck in
a cretinous triangle.

754
00:48:11,470 --> 00:48:14,870
You made...

755
00:48:14,990 --> 00:48:17,030
Baldrick a Lord?

756
00:48:17,230 --> 00:48:22,870
Oh, yes. One who has recently done
sterling work matching the political
machinations of the evil Pitt.

757
00:48:23,070 --> 00:48:27,990
Good old Lord Baldrick.
It's all right, Blackadder - you
don't have to curtsey or anything.

758
00:48:28,150 --> 00:48:32,230
Sir, might I let loose
a short, violent exclamation?

759
00:48:32,350 --> 00:48:32,910
Oh, why certainly.

760
00:48:32,910 --> 00:48:35,670
DAMN! (Thank you, sir.)

761
00:48:35,830 --> 00:48:38,950
Even though Edmund is reduced
to serving and saving the skin

762
00:48:39,110 --> 00:48:43,990
of a bumbling Prince Regent, he does
have his faithful dogsbody to bully.

763
00:48:45,030 --> 00:48:46,030
MIAOW! >

764
00:48:47,630 --> 00:48:49,870
Oh, sir -
poor little Mildred the cat.

765
00:48:49,990 --> 00:48:51,550
What's he ever done to you?

766
00:48:51,710 --> 00:48:55,150
It is the way of the world Baldrick,
the abused always kick downwards.

767
00:48:55,270 --> 00:48:56,870
I am annoyed and so I kick the cat.

768
00:48:57,030 --> 00:49:00,710
The cat... SQUEAK! ..pounces on the
mouse and finally the mouse... Ah!

769
00:49:00,830 --> 00:49:02,510
..Bites you on the behind.

770
00:49:02,670 --> 00:49:05,750
Baldrick puts up with all the
physical and mental torture that

771
00:49:05,910 --> 00:49:09,430
he receives from Blackadder cos he
thinks that's the way of the world.

772
00:49:09,630 --> 00:49:16,390
He suffers pain and he accepts it
because that's what people do
to people like Baldrick.

773
00:49:16,550 --> 00:49:18,790
Um, he doesn't notice it
most of the time.

774
00:49:18,990 --> 00:49:25,870
Takes a very long time for pain
to get from any part of his body,
er, up to his brain and by the time

775
00:49:26,030 --> 00:49:29,790
it gets there it's tired and
doesn't really register very much.

776
00:49:29,950 --> 00:49:33,710
And what do I do? Nothing, you
are last in God's great chain.

777
00:49:33,910 --> 00:49:38,110
Unless of course there's
an earwig around here that
you'd like to victimise?

778
00:49:38,310 --> 00:49:43,430
However, for all his stupidity,
Baldrick did come up with
the show's only catchphrase.

779
00:49:43,590 --> 00:49:48,710
Don't worry Mr B, I have a
cunning plan to solve the problem.

780
00:49:48,870 --> 00:49:52,310
Yes, Baldrick, let us not forget
that you tried to solve the problem

781
00:49:52,470 --> 00:49:55,230
of your mother's low ceiling
by cutting off her head.

782
00:49:55,390 --> 00:49:59,630
Ben Elton wrote this line which was
I have a plan, for me.

783
00:49:59,790 --> 00:50:03,910
And I said, can I not say,
"I have a CUNNING plan?"

784
00:50:04,070 --> 00:50:07,390
Cos that way "I have a plan"
is rather a flat line,

785
00:50:07,550 --> 00:50:10,990
but "I have a cunning plan",
you dwell on it, it's so exciting,

786
00:50:11,150 --> 00:50:15,230
it's so sexy this plan, that
it's bound to be fantastically good.

787
00:50:15,390 --> 00:50:17,830
Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick,
or are the words,

788
00:50:18,030 --> 00:50:23,150
"I have a cunning plan" marching
with ill-deserved confidence in
the direction of this conversation?

789
00:50:23,270 --> 00:50:24,910
You certainly are.

790
00:50:25,110 --> 00:50:30,870
Well, forgive me if I don't jump up
and down with glee. Your record in
this department is not exactly 100%.

791
00:50:30,990 --> 00:50:34,230
So what's the plan? We do nothing.

792
00:50:34,350 --> 00:50:36,870
Yes, it's another world-beater.

793
00:50:37,030 --> 00:50:40,150
The phrase "I have a cunning plan"
seems to have lasted

794
00:50:40,350 --> 00:50:45,670
and I always feel a sort of
strange sense of warmth
when I use it in a letter.

795
00:50:45,790 --> 00:50:47,590
Cos I think oh, I'm allowed to.

796
00:50:47,750 --> 00:50:51,870
Some people would get bored when they
had that called to them in the street

797
00:50:52,030 --> 00:50:54,590
ten times a day, but it
never fails to amuse me.

798
00:50:54,750 --> 00:50:57,430
The Duke of Wellington.
Have I the honour of...

799
00:50:57,630 --> 00:51:02,710
A familiar face from the second
series reappeared to fill a rather
large pair of Wellington boots.

800
00:51:02,870 --> 00:51:05,590
Take my hat at once, unless you wish
to feel my boot in your throat

801
00:51:05,750 --> 00:51:08,350
and be quicker than you were
with the door. Yes, my Lord.

802
00:51:08,470 --> 00:51:10,070
I'm a duke, not a lord.

803
00:51:10,230 --> 00:51:14,630
There wasn't even a part for me
in all of Blackadder the Third

804
00:51:14,790 --> 00:51:19,550
but they did offer me this part
of Wellington in the last episode

805
00:51:19,670 --> 00:51:21,430
which I was delighted to play.

806
00:51:21,590 --> 00:51:24,430
Especially as it involved
hitting Hugh Laurie

807
00:51:24,590 --> 00:51:27,230
which is the thing that I
had become very expert at.

808
00:51:30,390 --> 00:51:35,990
I remember him arriving to do this,
the violent stuff, the slapstick
stuff with some trepidation

809
00:51:36,150 --> 00:51:39,350
because I've doe things with Stephen
before, physical things,

810
00:51:39,510 --> 00:51:46,190
where he's had to act punching me and
his acting... Well, how can I put it?

811
00:51:46,350 --> 00:51:48,790
He's punched me basically,
he's just punched me.

812
00:51:48,950 --> 00:51:52,910
As anybody who's ever done that kind
of slapstick knows, the skill is not

813
00:51:53,110 --> 00:51:57,270
in the person punching or throwing
the slap, it's always
in the person receiving it.

814
00:51:57,390 --> 00:51:59,710
Anyone can do that or that.

815
00:51:59,830 --> 00:52:02,030
It's the timing of your "ow!"

816
00:52:02,190 --> 00:52:05,790
And Hugh is an absolute genius
at being hit.

817
00:52:05,950 --> 00:52:09,670
And something about those enormous
blue lagoons of eyes,

818
00:52:09,830 --> 00:52:12,790
um, and their sorrowfulness,
um, makes it all the funnier

819
00:52:12,950 --> 00:52:15,990
because he doesn't really
understand why he's being hit.

820
00:52:16,150 --> 00:52:19,510
Oh, hell and buckshot, here's that
tiresome servant of yours again.

821
00:52:19,630 --> 00:52:22,030
Oh, budge up, budge up.

822
00:52:22,190 --> 00:52:25,230
How dare you sit, sir, in the
presence of your betters? Get up!

823
00:52:25,430 --> 00:52:29,270
Oh, Christ yes, I forgot,
I'm so sorry.
You speak when you're spoken to.

824
00:52:29,430 --> 00:52:32,590
Unless you'd rather be flayed
across a gun carriage. Well?

825
00:52:35,190 --> 00:52:40,030
Sir, I fear you have been too long
a soldier. We no longer treat
servants that way in London society.

826
00:52:40,150 --> 00:52:42,590
Why, I hardly touched the man.

827
00:52:42,790 --> 00:52:47,710
I think you hit him very hard.
Nonsense! THAT would have been
a hard hit.

828
00:52:48,710 --> 00:52:50,750
I just hit him like that.

829
00:52:50,910 --> 00:52:53,630
No, sir.
A soft hit would be like this.

830
00:52:55,230 --> 00:52:56,710
Whereas you hit him like this.

831
00:53:01,390 --> 00:53:02,430
Mercy.

832
00:53:04,790 --> 00:53:08,150
I, um, I wonder if I might be
excused your highness, your highness?

833
00:53:08,310 --> 00:53:11,390
Most certainly. Both Rowan and I
had a great time punching him

834
00:53:11,590 --> 00:53:18,270
in one scene and kicking him and
generally, um, yelling at him,
shouting at him. Um, very enjoyable.

835
00:53:18,430 --> 00:53:23,190
Coming up, Blackadder is given
the ultimate accolade by the BBC.

836
00:53:23,390 --> 00:53:28,550
Your series has made it
if you are asked to do
a one-hour Christmas special.

837
00:53:28,670 --> 00:53:30,510
< Humbug.

838
00:53:32,230 --> 00:53:34,870
Humbug, Mr Baldrick?
Oh, thank you very much.

839
00:53:35,070 --> 00:53:40,790
And an exclusive glimpse into
the rehearsal rooms where the
Blackadder magic was created.

840
00:53:43,950 --> 00:53:46,550
A wandering minstrel wandered.

841
00:53:49,550 --> 00:53:52,990
It was very, er, you know,
difficult and testing,

842
00:53:53,150 --> 00:53:57,150
but the pain in the BLEEP about it
was that it was effective.

843
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:10,080
Medieval madness, Elizabethan glory
and Regency pomp.
Tally-ho, Blackadder.

844
00:54:10,240 --> 00:54:13,840
By 1988, Blackadder had wiped
the floor with its sitcom rivals

845
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,880
as its third series picked up
a Bafta for Best Comedy.

846
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:18,560
Well - hoorah for that.

847
00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:22,560
Building on this success,
Blackadder's Christmas Special

848
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:30,280
delved into Victorian history and
saw our anti-hero completely muck up
Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol.

849
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:31,560
There is a sense in which

850
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:36,320
a Christmas Special is
a kind of accolade,
er, it is a kind of decoration.

851
00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:41,640
Your series has made it
if you are asked to do a one-hour
Christmas Special.

852
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,280
You may not do it, but you
want to be asked to do it.

853
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:46,520
They in fact did deliver,
which was great.

854
00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:49,760
Um, so it was kind of mark of,
you've arrived,

855
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,760
you've been asked to do a Christmas
one-hour special.

856
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,240
That's pretty important.

857
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:57,520
< Humbug! Humbug!

858
00:54:59,240 --> 00:55:02,240
Humbug, Mr Baldrick?
Ah, thank you very much.

859
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:05,600
The Christmas Blackadder,
again a brilliant Richard idea,

860
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:08,200
we, why don't we play
Christmas Carol in reverse -

861
00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:10,760
let's make him start
off good and turn horrible.

862
00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:14,640
A brilliant plotting idea and
I think we wrote a great script.

863
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,560
Baldrick, I want you to take this
and go out and buy a turkey so large

864
00:55:18,720 --> 00:55:21,560
you'd think its mother had
been rogered by an omnibus.

865
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:27,080
I'm going to have a party
and no-one's invited but me.

866
00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:29,640
Between us, and it really was
an ensemble piece,

867
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:32,280
between us we produced some
pretty good bits of comedy.

868
00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:37,080
Almost 12 million viewers tuned
in to Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

869
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,560
What are you doing Albert? Nothing.

870
00:55:39,720 --> 00:55:43,400
Oh, yes, you are,
you naughty German sausage.

871
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:46,960
Tell me what you're doing?
I just said, I'm not doing anything!

872
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:52,080
Woman, when you're busy ruling India
you don't tell me what you are doing
so why should I tell you

873
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:57,200
what I am doing when I am busy
wrapping up this cushion for
your surprise Christmas present?

874
00:55:57,320 --> 00:55:58,800
Damn!

875
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:01,560
Now I have only two
surprise presents for you.

876
00:56:01,720 --> 00:56:04,960
Oh, dear Alby -
don't worry, I don't mind.

877
00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:08,640
Building on the success of my,
er, my Spanish,

878
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:11,360
I thought I could do
a German accent and God knows

879
00:56:11,560 --> 00:56:17,320
what I did for, for, er, Albert.
It probably wasn't German
or any other recognisable accent.

880
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:19,920
I love surprises.

881
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:27,040
Christmas without surprises is
like ze nuts wizout the nutcrack.

882
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:31,040
Which is why I have bought you
this surprise nutcracker for...

883
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:32,880
Damn!

884
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:34,160
Damn!

885
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:38,480
Richard and I share a huge love of
history, I know that Stephen and Hugh

886
00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:42,440
love history, er, and John,
I'm certain of that.

887
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:48,040
I think it gave us a a rich...
I think history gave us

888
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:51,600
a rich comic you know,
smorgasbord to pluck from.

889
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:56,400
Blackadder is a bit like taking
a bunch of guys who got history
GCSE and just letting them

890
00:56:56,560 --> 00:56:59,160
run wild with a budget and lots
of really good actors,

891
00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:01,120
right the way through
British history.

892
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:04,480
Although they went to enormous
lengths to construct

893
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:07,400
this historical setting and
the props

894
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:11,200
and the incidents, er,
and the backdrop are historical,

895
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:14,200
the joke of the whole thing is that
the attitudes are the same.

896
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:18,480
The attitudes are contemporary -
some things never change,
people never change.

897
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:24,520
But the backdrop changed
dramatically for the 4th series

898
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:28,160
when Blackadder moved to modern
history and confined itself

899
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:31,600
in the claustrophobic trenches
of the First World War.

900
00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:35,160
All of those of us who were
performing in Blackadder had this

901
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:40,600
ambition that we would do a series
which was a genuine situation comedy.

902
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:44,120
In other words, you would
just have the characters

903
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,640
who were your main characters. They
would be trapped in an environment.

904
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:55,280
And in a way, the trenches was the
perfect place for that to happen.

905
00:57:55,440 --> 00:58:00,880
We wanted a place and a time that
could reproduce to a certain extent

906
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,080
the claustrophobia and the, er,

907
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:05,560
the sordidness of medieval England.

908
00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:10,560
And the best way to do that is
to set it in the middle of a war.

909
00:58:10,720 --> 00:58:13,360
Baldrick,
what are you doing out there?

910
00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:17,320
I'm carving something on this
bullet, sir. What are you carving?

911
00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:19,480
I'm carving "Baldrick", sir.

912
00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:23,000
Why? It's a cunning plan, actually.

913
00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:29,320
Of course it is. You see, you know
they say that somewhere there's
a bullet with your name on it?

914
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:37,600
Yes... Well, I thought if I owned
the bullet with my name on it,
I'd never get hit by it.

915
00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:39,720
Cos I won't ever shoot myself.

916
00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:42,360
Oh, shame.

917
00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:46,520
I was very anxious to do
the First World War period, it's a
period I'm very interested in

918
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:51,080
and have read a lot about and both
my grandfathers served in it
on either side as it happened.

919
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:57,080
From the beginning, Richard and I
were absolutely committed to being

920
00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:03,960
extremely respectful and aware of
the unimaginable human tragedy
that the First World War was.

921
00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:06,400
Do you know, we did
a lot of research.

922
00:59:06,520 --> 00:59:08,440
Ben knew it all, I read a few books

923
00:59:08,600 --> 00:59:11,520
and they were interesting all the
books about the First World War

924
00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:15,320
because all the stuff we'd wanted to
write about, the clash of the classes

925
00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:19,720
and getting stuck and everything
in a small confined space,
were funny.

926
00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:24,160
There was a lot of funny stuff
and then you just had the
astonishing tragedy at the end.

927
00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:30,720
Er, so we felt it was OK
on the condition that we ended
the series the way we ended it.

928
00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:36,840
That was the feeling that,
er, it was quite true, but it had
to be very harsh at the end.

929
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:41,920
Sir? Yes, Lieutenant?
I'm...scared, sir.

930
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:44,880
I'm scared too, sir.

931
00:59:45,080 --> 00:59:50,640
I mean I'm the last of the
Tiddlywinking leapfroggers from
the Golden Summer of 1914.

932
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:52,360
I don't want to die.

933
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:55,240
Really, not over-keen
on dying at all, sir.

934
00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:57,160
How are you feeling, Darling?

935
00:59:58,920 --> 01:00:02,520
There was, as far as I know,
no complaints apart from famously

936
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:07,960
my uncle who's a, was a famous
historian and had served in
the British army and had felt

937
01:00:08,120 --> 01:00:12,640
very, very committed to Britain
and the army as a Jewish refugee

938
01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:18,320
from Nazi Germany and he felt
that I was being disrespectful
to the British armed services.

939
01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:22,640
And he quickly changed his mind,
he was oh, it was only one episode
and I changed.

940
01:00:22,800 --> 01:00:27,040
He actually totally agreed
that it was, respectful to all.

941
01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:30,640
And yes, we had some fun with the
old lines led by donkeys idea, um,

942
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:36,440
but you know, that's legitimately
part of our world experience as
Britons and Europeans

943
01:00:36,640 --> 01:00:40,680
inheriting the memories and
the history of our forefathers
of the First World War.

944
01:00:40,840 --> 01:00:43,800
At this very moment over three
quarters of a million Germans

945
01:00:43,960 --> 01:00:46,520
are leaving the Russian front
and coming over here

946
01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:49,960
with the express purpose of using
my nipples for target practice.

947
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:51,600
There's only one thing for it,

948
01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:54,760
I'm going to have to desert and
I'm going to do it right now.

949
01:00:54,920 --> 01:00:57,360
Are you leaving us, Blackadder?
No, sir.

950
01:00:57,560 --> 01:01:02,120
Well, I'm relieved to hear it,
because I need you to help me
shoot some deserters later on.

951
01:01:02,280 --> 01:01:05,720
Throughout it, Blackadder's
endlessly trying to find a way

952
01:01:05,840 --> 01:01:07,040
of not going to fight.

953
01:01:07,200 --> 01:01:10,520
Everybody watching that
is sort of with him on that one,

954
01:01:10,680 --> 01:01:13,760
understanding why you would not
want to go through with that.

955
01:01:13,920 --> 01:01:16,680
He was the person that could see
the madness all around

956
01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:20,000
whilst everybody else, particularly
Hugh's character there,

957
01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:23,880
who was always sort of saying,
"yes, certain suicide,
I'll volunteer, sir."

958
01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:25,320
And Baldrick was Baldrick.

959
01:01:25,520 --> 01:01:30,480
He saw the madness in his own
trench, let alone what was going on
outside and into No Man's Land.

960
01:01:30,680 --> 01:01:35,880
My instincts lead me to deduce
that we are at last about
to go over the top.

961
01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:39,560
Great Scott, sir, you mean...you
mean the moment's finally arrived

962
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:44,080
for us to give Harry Hun a darn
good British-style thrashing,
six of the best, trousers down?

963
01:01:44,240 --> 01:01:47,880
If you mean are we all going to
get killed, yes.

964
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:49,880
George's sort of happy-go-lucky

965
01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:53,600
home-in-time-for-tea attitude
was especially tragic.

966
01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:55,440
Don't forget your stick, Lieutenant.

967
01:01:55,600 --> 01:01:58,760
Rather, sir. Wouldn't want to face
a machine gun without this.

968
01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:02,160
His ideas about war come from games.

969
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:05,640
George could only see real
warfare in those terms.

970
01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:08,440
He genuinely was
a lamb to the slaughter.

971
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:10,840
Yes? And how are all the boys now?

972
01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:16,160
Oh, well, er, Jocko and the Badger
bought it at the first Ypres
unfortunately. Quite a shock that.

973
01:02:16,320 --> 01:02:20,160
I remember Bumfluff's housemaster
wrote and told me that Sticky had

974
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:26,160
been out for a duck and McGubber had
snitched a parcel sausage end and
gone goose over stump frog side.

975
01:02:26,280 --> 01:02:27,400
Meaning?

976
01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:31,920
I don't know, sir, but I read in The
Times that they'd both been killed.

977
01:02:32,040 --> 01:02:33,920
And Bumfluff himself?

978
01:02:34,080 --> 01:02:36,400
Copped a packet at Gallipoli
with the Aussies.

979
01:02:36,520 --> 01:02:39,040
So did Drippy and Strangely Brown.

980
01:02:39,240 --> 01:02:46,320
I think the kinship of stupidity
between Baldrick and George was
a very heart-warming one.

981
01:02:46,480 --> 01:02:49,840
They were companions
on the great road of idiocy.

982
01:02:49,960 --> 01:02:53,560
Oh, now sir, I will not have that.

983
01:02:53,720 --> 01:02:56,200
Baldrick and I will always
be more stupid than you.

984
01:02:56,360 --> 01:02:58,800
Isn't that right, Baldrick?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.

985
01:02:58,920 --> 01:03:02,120
Yeah stupidy, stupidy, stupidy.

986
01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:07,160
Stupidest stupids in the whole
history of stupidityness.

987
01:03:07,320 --> 01:03:10,720
Although written by Richard Curtis
and Ben Elton, the scripts were

988
01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:14,600
given added comedy value by
its cast behind the scenes.

989
01:03:14,760 --> 01:03:17,680
One of the great things
about Blackadder was

990
01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:21,000
you used to go whistling to work
cos it was so funny in rehearsal.

991
01:03:21,200 --> 01:03:25,720
What would happen was just so very,
very entertaining and the rehearsal
was often funnier than the show.

992
01:03:25,880 --> 01:03:31,080
Every single line in the rehearsal
script was challenged, always.

993
01:03:31,280 --> 01:03:36,520
Tim or Stephen or Hugh or Rowan
would be asking questions of it.
How can we make this better?

994
01:03:36,720 --> 01:03:42,960
It was really, really rigorous and
incredibly frustrating when we could
all see that something was wrong

995
01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:45,960
and weren't quite sure
how to make it right.

996
01:03:46,120 --> 01:03:48,800
I hate to raise this having
worked on it for three hours,

997
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:52,320
but do you think it's a very good
joke this, since you suggested it?

998
01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:54,200
Richard took the brunt of that...

999
01:03:54,360 --> 01:03:57,880
We'd say well, I mean this doesn't
work and then re-writing it.

1000
01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:01,560
Um, or not or arguing as to
why it did work.

1001
01:04:01,760 --> 01:04:06,400
It was very exasperating because
you'd say, actually this scene
will work if you act it out.

1002
01:04:06,560 --> 01:04:08,880
It's a scene about one person
talking very loud to a person

1003
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:11,560
on a balcony while another
person whispers to them.

1004
01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:14,680
You won't be able to understand the
scene until we do it like that.

1005
01:04:14,880 --> 01:04:19,000
And they'd say no, no, no -
but surely he should say this
thing about that and the other.

1006
01:04:19,200 --> 01:04:24,720
So sometimes it was frustrating cos
the actors didn't get on their feet
as much as you'd like.

1007
01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:27,480
No, hang on, hang on,
there's something wrong here.

1008
01:04:27,640 --> 01:04:31,360
Because surely if you're ordering
a cab for a Mr Redgrave...

1009
01:04:31,560 --> 01:04:34,880
"From Arnot's Grove",
in that case it should be,
rather than "to Arnot's Grove".

1010
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:39,120
I thought it was Mr Redgrave who
was ordering the cab, when in fact

1011
01:04:39,280 --> 01:04:43,000
what you're saying is
that Mr Redgrave is the person

1012
01:04:43,160 --> 01:04:46,120
who's going to be picked up
and who's on the top bell.

1013
01:04:49,240 --> 01:04:56,320
We were working with
an extraordinarily creative group of
people and, you know, to expect,

1014
01:04:56,520 --> 01:05:00,280
Stephen and Hugh not to chip in,
"Wouldn't this be a good idea
or wouldn't that be a good idea?"

1015
01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:04,000
would be madness. Obviously,
the actors had a real part to play.

1016
01:05:04,120 --> 01:05:05,840
It's a good joke.

1017
01:05:06,000 --> 01:05:11,840
So because they come right
at the end of the word...

1018
01:05:12,040 --> 01:05:16,800
But an order for six lengths
of Hungarian crushed velvet
curtain material.

1019
01:05:16,960 --> 01:05:21,120
You know, it's something. Six
lengths of Hungarian crushed velvet.

1020
01:05:21,280 --> 01:05:25,200
This is after the...
Curtain material. In cerise,

1021
01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:28,000
in cerise and banana.

1022
01:05:28,160 --> 01:05:32,000
The legendary coffee
scene is an example

1023
01:05:32,160 --> 01:05:35,440
of the improvisation that we all
used to do in the rehearsal rooms.

1024
01:05:35,600 --> 01:05:39,520
Because in the original script,
the only line was about the fact

1025
01:05:39,720 --> 01:05:45,640
that the coffee was made out of
mud and then somebody said, "Why
don't you have sugar, er, dandruff?"

1026
01:05:45,800 --> 01:05:49,760
And we all giggled like the naughty
late adolescents we really were.

1027
01:05:49,920 --> 01:05:52,240
Baldrick,
fix us some coffee, will you?

1028
01:05:52,400 --> 01:05:55,240
And try to make it taste
slightly less like mud this time.

1029
01:05:55,400 --> 01:05:59,160
Not easy, I'm afraid, Captain.
Why is this? Cos it is mud.

1030
01:05:59,280 --> 01:06:01,960
We ran out of coffee 13 months ago.

1031
01:06:02,160 --> 01:06:07,000
So every time I've drunk your
coffee since, I have in fact
been drinking hot mud?

1032
01:06:07,160 --> 01:06:11,080
With sugar. Which of course
makes all the difference.

1033
01:06:11,280 --> 01:06:17,760
Well, it would do if we had
any sugar but unfortunately,
we ran out New Year's Eve, 1915.

1034
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:20,600
Since when,
I've been using sugar substitute.

1035
01:06:20,720 --> 01:06:24,240
Which is? Dandruff.

1036
01:06:24,360 --> 01:06:27,520
Brilliant.

1037
01:06:27,680 --> 01:06:30,680
Still, I could add some milk
this time.

1038
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:33,080
Well, saliva.

1039
01:06:33,240 --> 01:06:37,560
It was very, you know,
difficult and testing

1040
01:06:37,720 --> 01:06:41,120
but the pain in the BEEP
about it was that it was effective.

1041
01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:43,880
On the contrary, George,
we've had plenty of orders.

1042
01:06:44,080 --> 01:06:50,560
We've had orders for
six metres of Hungarian
crushed velvet curtain material.

1043
01:06:50,720 --> 01:06:53,720
Four rock salmon
and a ha'p'orth of chips.

1044
01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:56,160
And a cab for a Mr Redgrave.

1045
01:06:56,320 --> 01:07:00,240
Picking up from 14 Arnot's Grove,
ring top bell.

1046
01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:07,160
One of the examples of how
everyone would join in with ideas

1047
01:07:07,360 --> 01:07:12,240
and suggestions would be in
those long Baldrick or Blackadder
similes of sort of,

1048
01:07:12,440 --> 01:07:17,680
"Baldrick, you are as much use
as a..." and then you could go on
for ages.

1049
01:07:17,800 --> 01:07:19,720
We're in the stickiest situation

1050
01:07:19,880 --> 01:07:24,320
since sticky the stick insect
got stuck on a sticky bun.

1051
01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:28,360
The more these things got laughs
in front of the audience,

1052
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:32,000
the more it got
ridiculously overblown.

1053
01:07:32,160 --> 01:07:36,720
It was an area where real
creative madness could go on and on

1054
01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:41,000
and then it was the trick
of trying to find which were

1055
01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:45,600
the best little aspects of
that simile and pull it back
so it wasn't over-weighted.

1056
01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:49,160
Baldrick. Captain B?
This is a crisis. A large crisis.

1057
01:07:49,360 --> 01:07:55,320
In fact, if you've got a moment,
it's a 12-storey crisis with a
magnificent entrance hall,

1058
01:07:55,480 --> 01:07:58,080
carpeting throughout,
24-hour porterage

1059
01:07:58,240 --> 01:08:02,120
and an enormous sign on the roof
saying, "This is a large crisis."

1060
01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:07,080
I remember saying to Hugh
and to Rowan and to John Lloyd,

1061
01:08:07,240 --> 01:08:10,520
I said, "What will happen
in six months' time

1062
01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:14,560
"when a taxi driver says to you,
'Oh, those Blackadders,

1063
01:08:14,720 --> 01:08:16,640
"'I bet they're fun to make,
aren't they?'

1064
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:19,440
"Will you go,
'Yes, they're marvellous fun'"?

1065
01:08:19,640 --> 01:08:23,880
And they all said, "No,
we'll be honest and say they're
hell, they're absolute hell."

1066
01:08:24,000 --> 01:08:26,320
Wibble.

1067
01:08:26,480 --> 01:08:32,200
Still to come, we reveal how these
barking mad characters were created.

1068
01:08:32,400 --> 01:08:38,280
It was done as much as anything to
amuse Rowan and Hugh, to do this
rather bizarre way of speaking.

1069
01:08:38,400 --> 01:08:41,160
Um, and of barking.

1070
01:08:41,320 --> 01:08:45,800
And how Britain's smelliest underdog
became a national hero.

1071
01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:48,200
The healthy humour
of the honest Tommy.

1072
01:08:48,360 --> 01:08:51,760
Somebody once told me that more
than half the regimental goats

1073
01:08:51,920 --> 01:08:53,960
in the British Army
are now called Baldrick.

1074
01:09:00,010 --> 01:09:04,610
Over four series,
the Blackadder family have fumbled
their way through history.

1075
01:09:04,770 --> 01:09:08,170
The latest conniving kinsman
is desperate to flee the trenches.

1076
01:09:08,330 --> 01:09:12,450
I'm going to have to desert
and I'm going to do it right now.

1077
01:09:12,610 --> 01:09:15,930
And escape the commands
of a totally incompetent general.

1078
01:09:16,050 --> 01:09:19,090
What have we here? Name?

1079
01:09:19,210 --> 01:09:21,530
Permission to speak. Baldrick, sir.

1080
01:09:21,690 --> 01:09:25,490
Oh, tally-ho, yibbidy dap
and zing-zang spillet.

1081
01:09:25,650 --> 01:09:28,570
Looking forward to
bullying off for the final chukka?

1082
01:09:28,690 --> 01:09:31,410
Permission to speak.

1083
01:09:34,570 --> 01:09:39,530
Answer the General, Baldrick.
I can't answer him, sir,
I don't know what he's talking about.

1084
01:09:39,650 --> 01:09:41,170
Ha-ha.

1085
01:09:41,330 --> 01:09:44,250
Are you looking
forward to the big push?

1086
01:09:44,370 --> 01:09:47,450
No, sir, I'm absolutely terrified.

1087
01:09:49,090 --> 01:09:53,050
The healthy humour
of the honest Tommy. Ha ha!

1088
01:09:53,250 --> 01:09:57,250
The Melchett in Series 4 was
a very different character
to the one in 2.

1089
01:09:57,450 --> 01:10:01,890
He was much, much more aggressive,
much more insane,
much more powerful.

1090
01:10:02,050 --> 01:10:06,610
He was really for almost the
entire series, THE source of power.

1091
01:10:06,770 --> 01:10:09,210
He represents the
absolute insanity of the war.

1092
01:10:09,330 --> 01:10:11,490
Our battles are directed, sir?

1093
01:10:11,690 --> 01:10:15,170
Of course they are, Blackadder,
directed according
to the grand plan.

1094
01:10:15,370 --> 01:10:19,250
Would that be the plan to continue
with total slaughter until
everyone's dead

1095
01:10:19,410 --> 01:10:23,330
except Field Marshal Hague,
Lady Hague and their tortoise, Alan?

1096
01:10:23,450 --> 01:10:27,170
Great Scott! Even you know it!

1097
01:10:27,330 --> 01:10:29,690
With Stephen playing
General Melchett,

1098
01:10:29,890 --> 01:10:34,010
he had this madness in the character
and he started to develop
the madness.

1099
01:10:34,210 --> 01:10:38,650
And that sometimes just came out
as being extraneous noises that
he would put on at the end

1100
01:10:38,850 --> 01:10:42,610
of a sequence. So he would say,
"Off we go Blackadder,
baa!" and then that would be off.

1101
01:10:42,730 --> 01:10:44,850
And you'd think, "What was that?"

1102
01:10:44,970 --> 01:10:46,610
Ha, ha, ah!

1103
01:10:46,770 --> 01:10:49,730
And it was done as much as anything
to amuse Rowan and Hugh,

1104
01:10:49,890 --> 01:10:52,770
to do this rather bizarre way
of speaking.

1105
01:10:52,890 --> 01:10:54,890
Um, and of barking.

1106
01:10:55,010 --> 01:10:58,130
So that you knew he was coming

1107
01:10:58,290 --> 01:11:01,250
just because you heard a
noise somewhere in the background.

1108
01:11:01,370 --> 01:11:03,850
Ah, Blackadder, so you escaped?

1109
01:11:04,010 --> 01:11:07,090
Yes, sir.
Bravo. Don't slouch, Darling.

1110
01:11:07,250 --> 01:11:10,770
I was wondering whether having
been tortured by the German army,

1111
01:11:10,930 --> 01:11:12,890
I might be allowed a week's
leave to recuperate, sir?

1112
01:11:13,090 --> 01:11:17,650
Excellent idea. Your commanding
officer would have to be stark
raving mad to refuse you.

1113
01:11:17,810 --> 01:11:21,130
Well, YOU are my commanding officer.
Well?

1114
01:11:21,290 --> 01:11:23,250
Can I have a week's
leave to recuperate, sir?

1115
01:11:23,370 --> 01:11:26,090
Certainly not. Thank you, sir.

1116
01:11:26,250 --> 01:11:30,650
One of the things I gave him,
that just sounds ridiculous,

1117
01:11:30,810 --> 01:11:35,090
was the idea that he had piles
so that every time I sat down,

1118
01:11:35,210 --> 01:11:36,130
he went, "Ah!"

1119
01:11:36,250 --> 01:11:38,490
Right, ooh, ah!

1120
01:11:38,650 --> 01:11:43,530
And I would try and make Rowan laugh
by sometimes sitting down like that

1121
01:11:43,650 --> 01:11:45,930
and going, "Urgh!" like that

1122
01:11:46,090 --> 01:11:49,250
and only Rowan knew it was
cos I had these apparent piles.

1123
01:11:49,410 --> 01:11:53,490
Ooh, ah! So, any news of the spy,
Blackadder?

1124
01:11:53,650 --> 01:11:57,410
Yes, sir. Excellent. The Germans
seem to know every move we make.

1125
01:11:57,530 --> 01:11:59,370
I had a letter from Jerry yesterday.

1126
01:11:59,530 --> 01:12:03,850
It said, "Isn't it about time you
changed your shirts, Walrus face?"

1127
01:12:04,010 --> 01:12:07,250
Even though we of course were
the same age, or very often older

1128
01:12:07,410 --> 01:12:11,050
than the characters we
were playing, slightly older,

1129
01:12:11,210 --> 01:12:17,290
Stephen seemed
to be more like Melchett

1130
01:12:17,410 --> 01:12:19,250
than the real Melchett ever could be.

1131
01:12:19,410 --> 01:12:25,050
He just physically carried off that
sort of wine-soaked barking fascist

1132
01:12:25,250 --> 01:12:28,930
more convincingly
than a real wine-soaked
barking fascist could ever do.

1133
01:12:29,050 --> 01:12:30,930
The court is now in session.

1134
01:12:31,090 --> 01:12:34,290
General Sir Anthony Cecil
Hogmanay Melchett in the chair.

1135
01:12:34,450 --> 01:12:36,650
The case before us
is that of the Crown

1136
01:12:36,810 --> 01:12:42,370
versus Captain Edmund Blackadder,
the Flanders pigeon murderer.

1137
01:12:42,570 --> 01:12:47,650
My favourite episode
was probably the court martial
episode, Corporal Punishment,

1138
01:12:47,850 --> 01:12:52,210
for all kinds of reasons.
Personal ones, it was one of the
best ones to play Melchett in.

1139
01:12:52,370 --> 01:12:55,570
He had the full range
of shuddering emotions.

1140
01:12:55,770 --> 01:13:00,770
The Lear-like, I like to think,
response to the death of his
favourite pigeon, Speckled Jim.

1141
01:13:00,930 --> 01:13:06,330
General, did you own a lovely, plump
speckly pigeon...

1142
01:13:08,450 --> 01:13:12,010
..called Speckled Jim which
you hand-reared from a chick

1143
01:13:12,170 --> 01:13:14,570
and which was your
only childhood friend?

1144
01:13:14,690 --> 01:13:16,690
Yes! Yes, I did.

1145
01:13:16,850 --> 01:13:19,890
And did Captain Blackadder shoot the
aforementioned pigeon? Yes, he did.

1146
01:13:20,050 --> 01:13:23,330
Can you see Captain Blackadder
anywhere in this courtroom?

1147
01:13:23,490 --> 01:13:26,370
That's him,
that's him, that's the man!

1148
01:13:26,490 --> 01:13:28,690
Argh! No more questions, sir.

1149
01:13:28,810 --> 01:13:30,290
Excellent, first class.

1150
01:13:30,490 --> 01:13:36,290
Aiding General Melchett
is the pencil-pushing Staff Officer,
Captain Darling.

1151
01:13:36,410 --> 01:13:38,850
What do you want, Darling?

1152
01:13:39,010 --> 01:13:44,730
The reincarnation of Percy
as Kevin Darling was masterful.

1153
01:13:44,890 --> 01:13:46,970
The whole idea of doing
the fourth series,

1154
01:13:47,130 --> 01:13:51,090
I mean, it took a great deal of
thought as far as I was concerned

1155
01:13:51,290 --> 01:13:58,290
but doing Darling was
a way of hoping people might
forget a little bit about Percy.

1156
01:13:58,450 --> 01:14:00,930
Come on, Darling.
Just give me an application form.

1157
01:14:01,130 --> 01:14:04,210
It's out of the question.
This is simply a ruse to waste
five months of training

1158
01:14:04,410 --> 01:14:08,050
after which you'll claim
you can't fly after all because
it makes your ears go pop.

1159
01:14:08,170 --> 01:14:09,690
I wasn't born yesterday, Blackadder.

1160
01:14:09,850 --> 01:14:12,410
Pity - we could have started
your personality from scratch.

1161
01:14:12,610 --> 01:14:18,090
To play Darling,
who hated Blackadder and
throughout the series wanted him

1162
01:14:18,250 --> 01:14:21,410
to go on the front line
and be killed, is quite extreme.

1163
01:14:21,570 --> 01:14:26,010
And would love
when he was in a position

1164
01:14:26,170 --> 01:14:30,330
to mock and ridicule him,
was great.

1165
01:14:32,010 --> 01:14:34,010
Good luck, Blackadder.

1166
01:14:34,130 --> 01:14:36,890
Why, thank you, Darling.

1167
01:14:37,010 --> 01:14:38,850
And what's your big job here today?

1168
01:14:38,970 --> 01:14:41,650
Straightening chairs?

1169
01:14:41,810 --> 01:14:44,170
No, in fact, I'm appearing
for the prosecution.

1170
01:14:44,370 --> 01:14:47,770
I wouldn't raise your hopes
too much - you're guilty as hell,
you haven't got a chance.

1171
01:14:47,890 --> 01:14:49,810
Why, thank you, Darling.

1172
01:14:49,970 --> 01:14:53,290
And I hope your mother dies
in a freak yachting accident.

1173
01:14:53,450 --> 01:14:57,250
One thing I always give credit
for is, as far as I recall,

1174
01:14:57,410 --> 01:14:59,930
it was Stephen who came up
with the name Darling,

1175
01:15:00,090 --> 01:15:03,090
which I think is one
of the truly great Blackadder jokes.

1176
01:15:03,210 --> 01:15:05,290
Next to me, Darling. Thank you, sir.

1177
01:15:05,450 --> 01:15:10,690
I can remember the very first
read-through of the first episode

1178
01:15:10,810 --> 01:15:14,250
of the last series, Blackadder 4.

1179
01:15:14,410 --> 01:15:17,170
Tim was a bit distressed, cos
his character seemed to be nothing.

1180
01:15:17,370 --> 01:15:21,690
He was called Cartwright
and I suggested in a rare moment
of brilliance

1181
01:15:21,850 --> 01:15:26,130
that maybe he should have a name
that was a constant torment to him.

1182
01:15:26,330 --> 01:15:33,490
For the next three days,
his name was changed to Darling
and we all, you know, fell about.

1183
01:15:33,610 --> 01:15:36,450
How dare you, Darling.

1184
01:15:36,610 --> 01:15:39,770
And then I remember we actually
had a vote and said,

1185
01:15:39,930 --> 01:15:42,010
"Is this Darling
joke going to run very dry

1186
01:15:42,210 --> 01:15:47,010
"and is it going to seem really
embarrassing after the third episode
or will it sustain?"

1187
01:15:47,170 --> 01:15:48,770
And Tim said,
"No, please let me keep it."

1188
01:15:48,930 --> 01:15:51,730
Because Tim being the wonderful
actor he is knew how to play someone

1189
01:15:51,890 --> 01:15:55,010
who all his life had been
called Darling in a sarcastic way.

1190
01:15:55,170 --> 01:15:58,610
We thought the name Darling
was funny,

1191
01:15:58,810 --> 01:16:03,970
but it really didn't occur to us
that people would pick it up
in the way that they did.

1192
01:16:04,130 --> 01:16:06,970
Which is very stupid
of us obviously, but

1193
01:16:07,130 --> 01:16:13,410
the idea that in every single scene,
whenever Melchett called me Darling,

1194
01:16:13,570 --> 01:16:15,290
that there was a double entendre
there.

1195
01:16:15,450 --> 01:16:17,850
We just thought it was
a silly, embarrassing name,

1196
01:16:18,010 --> 01:16:21,050
we didn't realise what it would mean
for the other character.

1197
01:16:23,930 --> 01:16:27,450
What is the matter
with you today, Darling?!

1198
01:16:27,610 --> 01:16:31,490
I'm so sorry, Blackadder.
Come on, Darling, we're leaving.

1199
01:16:31,610 --> 01:16:33,850
The fact that Tim was able to play

1200
01:16:34,010 --> 01:16:38,210
a sort of annoyance at his own
name, it was sort of Tim,

1201
01:16:38,370 --> 01:16:41,970
he sort of twitched at the use
of his own name as if it still...

1202
01:16:42,090 --> 01:16:43,890
it was a dagger in his ribs.

1203
01:16:44,050 --> 01:16:48,090
The twitch stayed with me
for months, actually.

1204
01:16:48,290 --> 01:16:52,290
It was really difficult.
I did actually get quite
scared that it was never going to go.

1205
01:16:52,450 --> 01:16:55,170
I'll deal with this, Darling.
Delicate touch needed, I fancy.

1206
01:16:55,330 --> 01:16:59,530
The scene when Melchett is getting
ready for dinner with Georgina,

1207
01:16:59,690 --> 01:17:02,890
who is of course you know
Hugh Laurie anyway,

1208
01:17:03,090 --> 01:17:09,010
and the whole misunderstanding
of him practising his speech
to her and calling her "darling"

1209
01:17:09,170 --> 01:17:13,210
but at the same time, I think he's
talking to me, I think is brilliant.

1210
01:17:13,370 --> 01:17:16,930
I think it's a
fantastic piece of writing.

1211
01:17:17,090 --> 01:17:21,770
God, it's a spankingly beautiful
world and tonight's my night.

1212
01:17:21,890 --> 01:17:23,930
I know exactly what I'll say to her.

1213
01:17:24,050 --> 01:17:26,170
Darling. Yes, sir?

1214
01:17:27,210 --> 01:17:29,090
Um, I don't know, sir.

1215
01:17:29,210 --> 01:17:31,450
Well, don't butt in. Sorry, sir.

1216
01:17:31,570 --> 01:17:33,930
I want to make you happy, darling.

1217
01:17:34,090 --> 01:17:37,370
Well, that's very kind of you, sir.
Will you kindly stop interrupting?

1218
01:17:37,530 --> 01:17:39,970
If you don't listen, how can
you tell me what you think?

1219
01:17:40,170 --> 01:17:44,730
I want to make you happy, darling,
I want to build a nest
for your 10 tiny toes,

1220
01:17:44,930 --> 01:17:51,050
I want to cover every inch
of your gorgeous body in
pepper and then sneeze all over you.

1221
01:17:51,170 --> 01:17:52,570
Really, sir!

1222
01:17:52,730 --> 01:17:55,330
I must protest. What is the matter
with you, Darling?

1223
01:17:55,450 --> 01:17:57,730
Well, it's just all so sudden, sir,

1224
01:17:57,930 --> 01:18:02,890
and I mean the nest bit's fine,
but the pepper business
is definitely out.

1225
01:18:03,050 --> 01:18:07,010
How dare you tell me how I may or
may not treat my beloved Georgina?

1226
01:18:07,130 --> 01:18:08,530
Georgina?

1227
01:18:08,690 --> 01:18:11,410
Yes. I'm working out what
I want to say to her this evening.

1228
01:18:11,530 --> 01:18:13,170
Oh, yes, of course.

1229
01:18:13,330 --> 01:18:17,210
Thank God. All right?
Yes, sir, listening, sir.

1230
01:18:17,410 --> 01:18:22,690
Honestly, Darling, you really are
the most graceless, dim-witted
bumpkin I ever met.

1231
01:18:22,850 --> 01:18:25,090
I don't think you should
say that to her, sir.

1232
01:18:25,290 --> 01:18:31,210
One of the things I love about
Series 4 is that strangely,
I think Baldrick gained meaning.

1233
01:18:31,410 --> 01:18:36,450
You know, he'd just been a fool and
a butt the whole way through but
there was a remarkable thing

1234
01:18:36,650 --> 01:18:41,250
I think happened right at the end
of that series when he did suddenly
seem to represent the working man.

1235
01:18:41,410 --> 01:18:44,730
We've been stuck here
for three flipping years.

1236
01:18:44,850 --> 01:18:46,410
We haven't moved.

1237
01:18:46,530 --> 01:18:48,290
All me friends are dead.

1238
01:18:48,410 --> 01:18:50,610
My pet spider, Sammy.

1239
01:18:50,730 --> 01:18:53,290
Katie the worm.

1240
01:18:53,410 --> 01:18:55,050
Bertie the bird.

1241
01:18:55,210 --> 01:18:58,090
Everyone except
Neville the fat hamster.

1242
01:18:58,250 --> 01:19:01,570
I'm afraid Neville
bought it too, Baldrick.

1243
01:19:01,730 --> 01:19:08,610
Baldrick is the hero really because
wherever you go, every school,

1244
01:19:08,770 --> 01:19:12,770
organisation, every company, every
shop, whatever, has got a Baldrick.

1245
01:19:12,890 --> 01:19:15,010
They just loved that character.

1246
01:19:15,130 --> 01:19:17,650
Baldrick, I love you!

1247
01:19:17,810 --> 01:19:21,370
There's such affection for
Baldrick, it's quite amazing.

1248
01:19:21,530 --> 01:19:26,490
I spy with my little eye
something beginning with M.

1249
01:19:26,610 --> 01:19:29,450
Er, um. Mm.

1250
01:19:29,570 --> 01:19:33,490
Ma, ma, ma.

1251
01:19:33,610 --> 01:19:36,330
M... M...

1252
01:19:36,450 --> 01:19:37,370
Mug!

1253
01:19:37,490 --> 01:19:40,490
Oh, I say. Well done, sir, your turn.

1254
01:19:40,650 --> 01:19:46,010
I spy with my bored little eye,
something beginning with T.

1255
01:19:46,130 --> 01:19:48,290
Breakfast! What?

1256
01:19:48,410 --> 01:19:51,010
My breakfast always begins with tea.

1257
01:19:51,170 --> 01:19:55,610
Then I have a little sausage. Then
an egg with some little soldiers.

1258
01:19:55,810 --> 01:20:00,370
I think Baldrick has got
stupider and stupider
as the centuries have gone on.

1259
01:20:00,570 --> 01:20:05,890
In the first series, he was
actually the brightest out of
Baldrick, Percy and Blackadder.

1260
01:20:06,050 --> 01:20:11,250
Um, and then he got a bit stupider
and now he's terminally stupid.

1261
01:20:11,450 --> 01:20:16,370
Right, my turn again, what starts
with a "come here" and ends with
"ow"? Don't know. Come here.

1262
01:20:18,770 --> 01:20:21,450
Well done.

1263
01:20:21,610 --> 01:20:24,770
Who would have thought that this
smelly, turnip-loving sidekick

1264
01:20:24,930 --> 01:20:26,650
would become the nation's
favourite underdog?

1265
01:20:26,810 --> 01:20:30,570
Even the armed forces
fell for Baldrick and Blackadder.

1266
01:20:30,730 --> 01:20:34,090
It does seem to be the
case that the Army, or at least

1267
01:20:34,250 --> 01:20:38,010
an awful lot of people in the Army
love the fourth series.

1268
01:20:38,170 --> 01:20:42,210
And I think that's probably
because it expresses

1269
01:20:42,370 --> 01:20:45,570
a part of their experience which
isn't allowed to be expressed.

1270
01:20:45,690 --> 01:20:47,690
You've got it, mwah!

1271
01:20:47,850 --> 01:20:50,130
Well, if I've got it,
you've got it too now.

1272
01:20:50,330 --> 01:20:56,690
Blackadder
was so funny because it reflected
so many aspects of army life.

1273
01:20:56,850 --> 01:21:02,050
So many of the words now have gone
in to sort of Army vocabulary

1274
01:21:02,210 --> 01:21:05,130
and we use them on operations,
for example.

1275
01:21:05,250 --> 01:21:07,210
Wibble wobble.

1276
01:21:07,370 --> 01:21:10,050
Cunning plan.
We use them all the time.

1277
01:21:10,210 --> 01:21:13,490
I used them all the time when I was
in Bosnia or in Northern Ireland.

1278
01:21:13,690 --> 01:21:17,650
In the first Gulf War,
many of the emplacements
and headquarters buildings

1279
01:21:17,810 --> 01:21:20,810
around Iraq were named
after characters in Blackadder.

1280
01:21:20,970 --> 01:21:23,890
There's the Melchett lines
and the Baldrick lines and so on.

1281
01:21:24,050 --> 01:21:27,290
And somebody once told me that more
than half the regimental goats

1282
01:21:27,450 --> 01:21:29,490
in the British Army
are now called Baldrick.

1283
01:21:29,610 --> 01:21:32,370
So that's a rather an honour.

1284
01:21:32,530 --> 01:21:35,610
Right, so what do we do now?
Shall I do my war poem?

1285
01:21:35,810 --> 01:21:42,450
How hurt would you be if I gave
the honest answer which is, "No,
I'd rather French kiss a skunk?"

1286
01:21:42,570 --> 01:21:45,490
So would I, sir.

1287
01:21:49,450 --> 01:21:51,770
All right, fire away, Baldrick.

1288
01:21:51,890 --> 01:21:54,530
Hear the words I sing

1289
01:21:54,650 --> 01:21:57,450
War's a horrid thing

1290
01:21:57,570 --> 01:22:01,050
So I sing, sing, sing

1291
01:22:01,170 --> 01:22:03,690
Ding-a-ling-a-ling.

1292
01:22:05,530 --> 01:22:07,170
Ah, bravo, yes, yes.

1293
01:22:07,330 --> 01:22:11,610
Yes. Well, it started badly and
it tailed off a little in the middle

1294
01:22:11,810 --> 01:22:16,730
and the less said about the end,
the better. But apart from that,
excellent.

1295
01:22:16,890 --> 01:22:19,330
Shall I do another one, sir?
No, we wouldn't want to exhaust you.

1296
01:22:19,530 --> 01:22:23,690
I could go on all night.
Not with a bayonet through
your neck, you couldn't.

1297
01:22:23,810 --> 01:22:27,450
This one is called The German Guns.

1298
01:22:27,570 --> 01:22:29,410
Oh, spiffing, yes, let's hear that.

1299
01:22:31,050 --> 01:22:38,650
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Boom, boom, boom.

1300
01:22:38,770 --> 01:22:43,410
Boom, boom, boom, boom.

1301
01:22:43,570 --> 01:22:46,690
Boom, boom, boom?
How did you guess, sir?

1302
01:22:46,810 --> 01:22:49,050
I say, sir, that is spooky.

1303
01:22:49,210 --> 01:22:51,290
I'm sorry,
I think I've got to get out of here.

1304
01:22:51,450 --> 01:22:55,570
I just had a touching thing the
other day, I might have been judging

1305
01:22:55,730 --> 01:22:58,090
a poetry competition
at my son's school.

1306
01:22:58,290 --> 01:23:03,570
And one of the boys,
they were doing, you know,
Rudyard Kipling and Roger McGough

1307
01:23:03,690 --> 01:23:07,410
and lots of other serious long poems.

1308
01:23:07,610 --> 01:23:13,810
And then one of the boys stood up
and said, "This poem is called
War, by S Baldrick."

1309
01:23:13,930 --> 01:23:16,610
And just said "boom" 10 times.

1310
01:23:16,770 --> 01:23:22,330
Boom, boom, boom, boo...
I've forgotten the rest of it.

1311
01:23:22,530 --> 01:23:28,050
Still to come, an insight into
how one of the greatest scenes
in sitcom history was created.

1312
01:23:28,170 --> 01:23:30,330
I just cried.

1313
01:23:30,490 --> 01:23:33,850
Er, partly because it was so
beautifully done, it was as well done

1314
01:23:33,970 --> 01:23:38,010
as any scene like that in a drama.

1315
01:23:38,170 --> 01:23:41,010
And you're also saying goodbye to
your character at the same time.

1316
01:23:41,170 --> 01:23:44,250
And Blackadder leaps
to the big screen.

1317
01:23:44,410 --> 01:23:47,650
'The final guest of honour arrives
at the Dome.

1318
01:23:47,850 --> 01:23:52,050
'Many of the crowds have been here
for up to 36 hours
waiting for this moment.

1319
01:23:52,210 --> 01:23:53,850
'But I'm sure they
won't be disappointed.'

1320
01:24:01,470 --> 01:24:06,070
This multi-award winning
sitcom produced some of the
best-loved moments in comedy.

1321
01:24:06,230 --> 01:24:08,070
I want to be remembered
when I'm dead.

1322
01:24:08,270 --> 01:24:13,470
I want books written about me,
I want songs sung about me and
then hundreds of years from now,

1323
01:24:13,630 --> 01:24:17,510
I want episodes from my life to be
played out weekly at half past nine

1324
01:24:17,670 --> 01:24:20,830
by some great heroic actor
of the age.

1325
01:24:21,030 --> 01:24:27,190
But perhaps the finest
and most poignant episode
was saved until last.

1326
01:24:27,310 --> 01:24:30,110
Hello, the Somme public baths.

1327
01:24:30,270 --> 01:24:33,310
No running, shouting
or piddling in the shallow end.

1328
01:24:33,430 --> 01:24:35,830
Ah, Captain Darling.

1329
01:24:35,950 --> 01:24:37,830
Tomorrow at dawn.

1330
01:24:37,950 --> 01:24:39,950
Oh, excellent.

1331
01:24:40,070 --> 01:24:41,870
See you later, then. Bye.

1332
01:24:42,030 --> 01:24:46,950
The luxury of the final episode
is that we were allowed to start

1333
01:24:47,110 --> 01:24:51,430
to play with emotion
and we made an effort to do that.

1334
01:24:51,630 --> 01:24:56,030
Clearly, the atmosphere
of the last episode was
deliberately thought provoking.

1335
01:24:56,190 --> 01:24:58,710
I mean, the whole idea you
have to be mad to be in it.

1336
01:24:58,910 --> 01:25:05,150
And I hope that the tone was set
not just by the script, but by
the fantastic performances.

1337
01:25:05,270 --> 01:25:07,430
Captain Darling.

1338
01:25:07,550 --> 01:25:08,990
Captain Blackadder.

1339
01:25:09,110 --> 01:25:11,950
Here to join us for the last waltz?

1340
01:25:12,070 --> 01:25:14,150
Um, yes.

1341
01:25:14,310 --> 01:25:18,390
Tired of folding
the General's pyjamas.

1342
01:25:18,550 --> 01:25:21,070
Well,
this is splendid comradely news.

1343
01:25:21,270 --> 01:25:25,790
Together we'll fight for king
and country and be sucking
sausages in Berlin by teatime.

1344
01:25:25,950 --> 01:25:29,070
Did feel immensely sad
at times, immensely sad.

1345
01:25:29,230 --> 01:25:33,030
Sad that these characters who
we all liked were going to die,

1346
01:25:33,190 --> 01:25:36,550
but sad because we were representing
the deaths of, you know,

1347
01:25:36,750 --> 01:25:41,430
even for comic effect, we were
representing the deaths of many
hundreds of thousands of people.

1348
01:25:41,550 --> 01:25:43,270
Don't forget your stick, Lieutenant.

1349
01:25:43,430 --> 01:25:46,230
Rather, sir. Wouldn't want to
face a machine gun without this.

1350
01:25:46,390 --> 01:25:50,270
Someone in Rowan's office
once told me that 93% of the mail

1351
01:25:50,430 --> 01:25:53,790
that he got, I can't believe he ever
got 100 letters but anyway,

1352
01:25:53,950 --> 01:25:58,710
93% of the mail they got
was about the final five minutes.

1353
01:25:58,910 --> 01:26:04,750
And I do think it was one of
those lucky occasions where
we got it mainly right and where

1354
01:26:04,910 --> 01:26:07,910
each of the little lines that
come before they go over the top

1355
01:26:08,070 --> 01:26:12,790
has a particular point
to do with defeatism and optimism.

1356
01:26:12,950 --> 01:26:16,270
And then the final twist when he says
it's the end of the war

1357
01:26:16,430 --> 01:26:19,390
and it's 1917 and you know
that that's not right.

1358
01:26:19,550 --> 01:26:24,030
Listen, our guns have stopped.
You don't think?

1359
01:26:24,150 --> 01:26:26,630
Maybe the war's over.

1360
01:26:26,750 --> 01:26:28,310
Maybe it's peace.

1361
01:26:28,510 --> 01:26:33,230
Oh, hurrah! The big nobs have
got round the table and
yanked the iron out of the fire.

1362
01:26:33,350 --> 01:26:35,950
Thank God. We lived through it.

1363
01:26:36,070 --> 01:26:40,110
The Great War, 1914 to 1917.

1364
01:26:40,230 --> 01:26:41,950
Hip-hip, hooray!

1365
01:26:42,070 --> 01:26:43,990
I'm afraid not.

1366
01:26:44,150 --> 01:26:47,710
The guns have stopped
because we're about to attack.

1367
01:26:47,870 --> 01:26:51,110
Not even our generals are mad
enough to shell their own men.

1368
01:26:51,270 --> 01:26:53,630
They think it's far more
sporting to let the Germans do it.

1369
01:26:53,790 --> 01:26:57,190
The icing on the cake, if such a
sort of naff expression can be used

1370
01:26:57,350 --> 01:26:59,230
for such an intensely moving
bit of television,

1371
01:26:59,390 --> 01:27:02,310
was this brilliant
freeze frame and fade to poppies.

1372
01:27:02,470 --> 01:27:07,470
I think John and Richard between
them, Richard Boden, produced

1373
01:27:07,670 --> 01:27:12,030
one of arguably the greatest
or one of the greatest moments
in the Blackadder.

1374
01:27:12,230 --> 01:27:18,950
That scene came out by accident
because we'd built this enormous
set in the other studio

1375
01:27:19,110 --> 01:27:21,390
and the actors went over the top
in pitch darkness

1376
01:27:21,550 --> 01:27:25,110
with pyrotechnics going off
and it wasn't a very good take.

1377
01:27:25,270 --> 01:27:28,870
So I just got on to the PA and said
they've got to do a take two.

1378
01:27:29,070 --> 01:27:32,390
And Rowan got on the line
he said "I'm sorry, we're
we're not going to do that, John."

1379
01:27:32,510 --> 01:27:34,270
I said, "What do you mean?"

1380
01:27:34,430 --> 01:27:37,310
He said, "It's really the most
frightening thing I've ever done

1381
01:27:37,470 --> 01:27:40,150
"and we all agreed we're not going
to do it, I'm very, very sorry."

1382
01:27:40,270 --> 01:27:43,150
Clicked off the mike.

1383
01:27:43,350 --> 01:27:46,390
So I turned to Richard the director
and, "Ooh, blimey,
this is a disaster,

1384
01:27:46,550 --> 01:27:48,910
"cos it was going so well,
it was so good,

1385
01:27:49,110 --> 01:27:53,510
"the acting was so good in
that episode and we've got this
awful end which doesn't work."

1386
01:27:53,710 --> 01:27:58,870
When we came to the editing of the
show, we then started investigating
with slightly slow motion.

1387
01:27:59,070 --> 01:28:05,950
And that we would then freeze
the slow motion of them going across
no man's land with the explosions.

1388
01:28:06,070 --> 01:28:07,830
It was very poignant, very moving.

1389
01:28:08,030 --> 01:28:14,150
And I had always had an image
in my mind from the First World War
of the poppy fields.

1390
01:28:14,350 --> 01:28:20,950
Richard Boden went up to the
news library in the BBC and
found a still of a poppy field.

1391
01:28:21,110 --> 01:28:24,470
And as I mixed between the
shots just to sort of, you know,

1392
01:28:24,630 --> 01:28:28,830
just see what it looked like,
it was a yes immediately.

1393
01:28:28,950 --> 01:28:30,790
This was a moment.

1394
01:28:30,910 --> 01:28:32,830
Good luck, everyone.

1395
01:28:32,950 --> 01:28:34,270
WHISTLES BLOW

1396
01:28:34,390 --> 01:28:37,670
SHOUTING, GUNFIRE

1397
01:29:28,350 --> 01:29:32,750
I just cried. Partly because
it was so beautifully done.

1398
01:29:32,910 --> 01:29:37,950
It was as well done as
any scene like that in a drama.

1399
01:29:38,110 --> 01:29:41,070
And you're also saying goodbye to
your character at the same time.

1400
01:29:41,190 --> 01:29:43,030
It's a very odd feeling.

1401
01:29:43,230 --> 01:29:48,950
I thought it was absolutely
brilliantly done and I thought it was
kind of groundbreaking for comedy.

1402
01:29:49,110 --> 01:29:51,430
I think it was always the idea
that that last episode

1403
01:29:51,630 --> 01:29:55,990
would be this kind of tragic thing
with all the
colour draining out of it slowly.

1404
01:29:56,150 --> 01:30:01,190
But I don't think we ever
decided it would be the last series

1405
01:30:01,350 --> 01:30:04,350
and I suppose in many ways,
we still haven't decided.

1406
01:30:04,510 --> 01:30:07,590
These final moments
helped bag Blackadder

1407
01:30:07,750 --> 01:30:11,990
two Baftas for Best Comedy
and Best Performance by Atkinson.

1408
01:30:12,150 --> 01:30:16,110
And apart from a short Millennium
film shown exclusively at the Dome,

1409
01:30:16,230 --> 01:30:18,710
a fifth series is yet to be made.

1410
01:30:19,990 --> 01:30:22,430
Look, lads,
we've captured Lord Blackadder!

1411
01:30:22,590 --> 01:30:25,910
The possibilities for Blackadder
going, you know, further back

1412
01:30:26,070 --> 01:30:29,590
into the past or into the future,
or to other continents.

1413
01:30:29,750 --> 01:30:32,990
I mean, there are
always possibilities, because

1414
01:30:33,150 --> 01:30:36,830
Richard Curtis and Ben Elton
are immensely talented writers

1415
01:30:37,030 --> 01:30:41,150
and they could make, you know,
an awful lot of different kinds
of thing work.

1416
01:30:41,310 --> 01:30:44,990
There was a great idea that
was around at one time

1417
01:30:45,190 --> 01:30:51,630
which was that it would be a 1960s
Blackadder with Rowan as the
bastard son of Queen Elizabeth.

1418
01:30:51,790 --> 01:30:55,830
Um, but he's also a loose swinging
'60s type who hangs round

1419
01:30:55,990 --> 01:30:58,670
in the King's Road
and he's got this rock band

1420
01:30:58,830 --> 01:31:03,110
with a drummer with
no hair in it called Bald Rick.

1421
01:31:03,230 --> 01:31:04,670
I would love us to do that one.

1422
01:31:04,870 --> 01:31:09,350
We once thought of doing one set
in a university and everybody
would be there as dons

1423
01:31:09,510 --> 01:31:12,710
and they would just hate
all the students.

1424
01:31:12,910 --> 01:31:18,550
Um, so I think that we might,
I think we might, you know,
do one when we're old.

1425
01:31:18,710 --> 01:31:22,710
But Tony Robinson is so old now,
I mean, he's in his early 80s now.

1426
01:31:22,870 --> 01:31:26,470
I'm not sure he'll be alive
when we want to go back to work.

1427
01:31:26,590 --> 01:31:29,350
I have a cunning plan.

1428
01:31:29,470 --> 01:31:31,870
Oh, ... off, Baldrick!

1429
01:31:47,950 --> 01:31:50,870
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd