The Blackadder
The first series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder,
written by Richard Curtis (writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting
Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually and The Boat
that Rocked, to name a few) and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) originally
aired on BBC 1 in 1983[1].
The series is set in the Middle Ages and it tells a secret history: King Richard III won the Battle of Bosworth Field, only to be unintentionally assassinated, and is succeeded by Richard IV, one of the Princes in the Tower. The series follows the adventure of the King’s second son, Edmund “The Black Adder”, and his various attempts to increase his standing with his father, who barely remembers his face and name, and his quest to overthrow him.
King Richard IV: “You, as compared to your beloved brother Harry, are as
excrement compared to cream!”
It opens on 21 August
1485, the eve of the Battle of
Bosworth Field, which in the series is not won by Henry Tudor, as in reality, but by Richard III who,
contrary to the Shakesperian view, is not presented as an infanticide monster
but is a good king who doted on his nephews.
After his victory in the battle, Richard III
is then unintentionally killed by Lord Edmund
“The Black Adder” Plantagenet: Richard borrows a stray horse, not knowing is
actually Blackadder's. Not recognizing the king, Edmund thinks he is stealing
it and cuts his head off[2]. The late King's nephew, Richard, Duke
of York, Lord Edmund's father, is then crowned as
King Richard IV.
King Richard IV of England and XII of Scotland
and his Queen Gertrude of Flanders, have two sons:
Harry, Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay, Captain of the Guard, Grand Warden of the Northern and Eastern Marches, Chief Lunatic of the Duchy of Gloucester, Viceroy of Wales, Sheriff of Nottingham, Marquis of the Midlands, Lord Po-Maker-In-Wardenry,
Harbinger of the Doomed Rat, and Prince Edmund,
"the Black Adder", Duke of Edinburgh, Lord
Warden of the Royal Privies, the Laird of Roxburgh, Selkirk,
and Peebles, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Needless to say that
Harry is, by far, his father’s favorite, the series though follows the
experiences of Prince Edmund and his two sidekicks - the imbecil Lord Percy Percy, Duke of Northumberland and Baldrick, a slightly more intelligent
servant of no status.
Edmund: “I like the cut of your jib, young
fella. What's
your name?”
Baldrick:
“My name is Baldrick, my lord.”
Edmund:
“Then I shall call you Baldrick, Baldrick.”
Baldrick:
“And I shall call you "my lord," my lord.”
Events eventually start to converge with
actual historical facts by the end of the series, when King Richard IV and his
entire family are poisoned, thus allowing Henry Tudor to take the throne as King Henry VII. According to the show is then that he rewrites history,
presenting Richard III as a monster, and eliminating Richard IV's reign from
the history books.
The series covers a number of actual medieval
issues in the history of Britain, such as witchcraft, Royal successions, the
Crusades and the conflict between the Crown and the Church, in a humorous and anachronistic manner. One
of the funniest and recurrent gags of the first series is the Shakespearean
dialogues, pronounced by Edmund, adapted for comic effect.
“Oh God! Bills, bills, bills. One is born, one runs up bills, one dies!
And what have I got to show for it? Nothing but a butler's uniform and a
slightly effeminate hairdo! Honestly, Baldrick, I sometimes feel like a
pelican: whichever way I turn, I've still got an enormous bill in front of me!”
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