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00:02Tell me, Edmund, do you have someone special in your life?
00:06Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
00:08Who?
00:08Me.
00:11No, I mean, someone you love and cherish and want to keep safe from all the horror and the hurt.
00:18Still me, really.
00:19I was traveling on a plane several years ago, and an episode of The Blackadder came up on the entertainment
00:26channels,
00:27and it was the nurse episode from the fourth series with Miranda.
00:32And as far as I'm aware, it was an episode that I had never, ever seen.
00:36Cigarette?
00:37No, thank you. I only smoke cigarettes after making love.
00:41So back in England, I'm a 20-a-day man.
00:45I'm not a great laugher, sadly.
00:48But I might have sniggered at it, which was my way of saying that was very funny.
00:56Remarkably, Blackadder first slithered onto our screens all of 25 years ago.
01:01I'd mud-wrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a sack of French porn.
01:06So tonight, we celebrate the series that sired a comic generation and a quantum of quotable lines.
01:13You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?
01:15No, not really. This is a different thing. It's spontaneous, and it's called wit.
01:19We travel by train, plane, boat, and automobile to track down the original cast and creators
01:25who've gone on to conquer all corners of the known universe.
01:29If you should falter, remember that Captain Darling and I are behind you.
01:33About 35 miles behind you.
01:37We travel from Northumberland...
01:39When we were filming here, it was the first time I'd ever met a camp Geordie.
01:43...to northern France.
01:44If ever there was a subject requiring of satire, it's people blindly going to war.
01:50From Hollywood...
01:51There were some rather large egos.
01:54I happen to be perfect, but everyone else is just a sort of big-headed twerp.
01:59To the Horn of Africa.
02:01After Blackadder, I sort of semi-retired, really, and I bought this small African town, Pitendwe.
02:06And the land you can see there, up until the hills, that's all mine.
02:09Behind is Christopher Biggins.
02:11Except the hill further on, that's the S-Club 7 and Boys Zone Accountant.
02:22Blackadder, to remind those from another planet, followed the exploits of the devilishly cunning Edmund Blackadder and his trustily stupid
02:29sidekick, Baldrick.
02:31Baldrick, believe me, eternity and the company of Beelzebub and all his hellish instruments of death will be a picnic
02:38compared to five minutes with me and this pencil.
02:44The pair journey from the mayhem of the Middle Ages, through the terrible Tudors, to the gorgeous Georgians, ending up
02:55in the First World War.
03:02As an historical sitcom, it's timeless and keeps on twisting and turning its way into the public's affections like, well,
03:09a twisty-turny thing.
03:11And your chosen subject?
03:12Blackadder.
03:13Blackadder, the TV series.
03:14Blackadder goes forth.
03:16It's even the backbone of school history lessons.
03:18Now, who's heard of Blackadder?
03:21I want you remembered when I'm dead.
03:23I want books written about me.
03:24I want songs sung about me.
03:26And then hundreds of years from now, I want episodes from my life to be played out weekly at half
03:31past nine by some great heroic actor of the age.
03:35Now, for the first time, Blackadder himself, Rowan Atkinson, and producer John Lloyd, are retracing the story of the show.
03:43A story that began at Oxford University, where a young Atkinson first met the show's fellow creator, Richard Curtis.
03:54I did nothing of a theatrical nature in my first term at Oxford.
04:00I, you know, I was just relishing the whole, you know, sort of slightly oldie-worldie, you know, privileged nature
04:06of the place.
04:07And going to endless organ recitals.
04:08I was a great lover of the organ.
04:10I met Rowan in a small room, a don's room, in some college, with people who'd answered an advertisement for
04:18the Etceteras, which was the Oxford sort of sketch writing group.
04:23He described me as being like a cushion.
04:26Like a cushion, because I sat on the chair and said nothing.
04:30I thought he was a stuffed toy.
04:31I mean, he didn't say anything for the first three meetings, just a curiously shaped object in the corner.
04:35And then, just when we were trying to decide what the material should be, and we'd all been handing in
04:40sketches for months,
04:41Rowan actually stood up and did two absolutely astonishing sketches.
04:48Ainsley.
04:55Babcock.
04:58Lavender.
05:01I was an enormous admirer of Rowan Atkinson.
05:03And I'd seen him in Edinburgh, where he'd been a cult performer from his earliest performances there.
05:08Nancy Boy Potter.
05:15Nibble.
05:18And I don't remember ever having laughed so much.
05:21I really genuinely weed myself at one point.
05:23Just a small amount, you'd be pleased to know.
05:24But I did weed myself at Rowan's Schoolmaster monologue.
05:27Nibble!
05:29Leave orifice alone.
05:37Not the Nine O'Clock News, the show that brought alternative comedy to TV, was the next step for Rowan
05:42and Richard.
05:45It was while working together on the groundbreaking sketch show,
05:49that the idea for Blackadder started to take shape.
05:52And they made a pilot that's never been seen till now.
06:03And then there's the Morris dancers, of course.
06:05Now look, we're not having them.
06:06Morris dancing is the most despicable, fatuous, tenth-rate entertainment I've ever seen.
06:10A load of ephemeral blacksmiths waving bits of white cloth they've been wiping their noses on.
06:15It's a positive health hazard.
06:17Go away!
06:18The thing we really didn't want to do was anything that could be, in any sense, be compared to Fawlty
06:25Towers.
06:26I remember that was almost the starting point.
06:29You know, it was one thing it must be, that's Fawlty Towers, or anything like it.
06:31And, of course, the great inspiration on the other side of it, the thing we did want it to be
06:35quite like,
06:35was Errol Flynn's Robin Hood.
06:43The pilot turned into the first series, featuring a Blackadder very different from the brilliant Bounder we came to know.
06:50What a little bird.
06:54It was a grand affair, set in the Middle Ages at the stately Annick Castle in Northumberland.
07:04Well, so, 25 years ago, we found ourselves coming to this town for the first time.
07:11Oh, look, there's a bit of castle, there's a sort of gate.
07:13I'm sure when we came on the recce, we thought, oh no, this is really disappointing.
07:17It's...
07:17Yeah.
07:17Is that it, just that gate?
07:19Just that gate?
07:20It's a bit squat.
07:22Oh, my God, there it is.
07:25Ah, now this does ring bells.
07:27Yes.
07:27Although, I have to say, the whole feel is an awful lot more spruce.
07:32It's a lot.
07:33It's very trim, isn't it?
07:34It was like this.
07:35I mean, look at that grass.
07:51You know, there are lots of castles in, you know, Kent or somewhere,
07:53which just don't have this sense of openness and bleakness.
07:57Which Annick has, particularly in the snow, in February.
08:01All I can remember is thinking, look at all the stuff that would...
08:03You know, this place would have been full of people, wouldn't it?
08:06As far as the eye could see, horses and dogs and...
08:10This is where the first shot we shot begins, as you say goodbye to Baldrick.
08:16And I remember the fantastic sound of hooves on this stone, on this stone inside this tunnel.
08:23And I remember when you were on that horse that first day, you leaned down from the horse
08:28and there was a little dewdrop hanging off the end of your nose because it was so cold, you know.
08:32Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:33Raindrop there.
08:34And then you said, um, what voice shall I use?
08:38Help.
08:39Help.
08:40We haven't thought about this at all.
08:42Get out of my way.
08:44Going on a journey, my lord?
08:46No, I thought I'd stand here all day and talk to you.
08:49You'll be needing someone to tend your horse, then.
08:51What is your profession?
08:53Oh, excuse me.
08:55Oh, excuse me.
08:57God, a retired Morris dancer.
09:00I found this the other day.
09:01I actually kept a diary of the few days.
09:0412th of February, 1983.
09:06Filming has been fantastically slow and tedious.
09:08The snow comes down on the words turnover as if summoned by an incantation
09:13and a remarkable variety of textures.
09:15Often it's as big as gravel stones,
09:17and the flagstones look like a working model of Brownian motion.
09:20Oh, that's rather...
09:21That's exactly an excellent lyrical writing.
09:23Very good.
09:24Very well written.
09:25Thank you so much.
09:26Farther better than the series.
09:31On Monday, Tuesday, worried Drevly that Rowan's character was a disaster,
09:35but it seems to be gelling well.
09:36Oh.
09:37Oh, it's gelled.
09:38Tim McInerney is brilliant,
09:39has his Tony Robinson quite splendid juices
09:41being squeezed from a rather shriveled selection of lemons.
09:45What comes in my head first about series one
09:48is freezing to death in Annie Castle.
09:50I can remember on the very first day,
09:52Tim McInerney and I started to get the giggles
09:54because in the previous hour,
09:56we had been subjected to five different kinds of snow.
09:59It was everything the North East had to throw at us.
10:03The hailstones are as fat as mint Imperials,
10:06and it's so cold we have to wear our long johns in the bath.
10:09Despite its quite graphic description of the difficult conditions,
10:13actually, the tone is quite optimistic.
10:15I mean, you don't sound like a man about to jump off a cliff.
10:19What used to be strong about British comedy
10:21was that people went from writing sketches to writing sitcom,
10:25and their sketch craft was carried through.
10:28Now let's get down to business, shall we?
10:29Business level?
10:30Yes, because we're looking at some of the ways
10:32we can actually make a bit of money on this job.
10:35Some of the things that are best in series one are really sketches.
10:39There appear to be four major profit areas.
10:43Curses, pardons, relics, and selling the sexual favours of nuns.
10:47Selling the sexual favours of nuns?
10:48You mean some people actually pay from them?
10:50Well, foreign businessmen, other nuns...
10:52We weren't an ensemble at that time,
10:54and in a way, for me, I think,
10:56that scene was the first time that it really gelled.
10:59Moving on to relics, we've got shrouds from Turin.
11:04Wine from the wedding at Cana.
11:07Splinters from the cross.
11:09Then, of course, there's a lot of stuff made by Jesus
11:12in his days in the carpentry shop.
11:14We've got pipe racks, coffee tables, cake stones.
11:19Waterproof sandals, should I remember?
11:21This was my one good scene in the first book ever since.
11:26I was so pleased I got this.
11:27Oh, I haven't finished this one yet.
11:29It's so verbal, isn't it?
11:30Nice props, I'm not knocking them at all,
11:32but just the three of us being serious and pulling faces.
11:36Absolutely.
11:37I have here a true relic.
11:40What is it?
11:42It's a bone from the finger of our Lord.
11:46It cost me 31 pieces of silver.
11:50Baldrick, you stand amazed.
11:52Ah!
11:53I thought they only came in boxes at ten.
11:55Look at you.
11:57You should be shocked for that kind of acting.
11:59No, I could have been much worse.
12:01I remember Blackadder being lots of fun.
12:03In the end, you were about as much rest of me as a woman in the head.
12:07And a picture with which you must be familiar,
12:09never actually having had a break.
12:11Hello.
12:11The Spanish Infanta didn't know she was ugly.
12:15That's the sad thing, really, about it.
12:17Here I am, awaiting the arrival of the most beautiful, ravishing...
12:21Look at me alone, will you?
12:22I'll try to talk to someone.
12:24While you're whittering away like a pox-ridden moorhead.
12:28She loved Blackadder.
12:30And she was electrified sexually by him.
12:39I have waited for this moment all of my life.
12:46Your nose is smaller than I expected.
12:48For him, it was tough.
12:50He felt a huge responsibility.
12:54Kind of carrying the show.
12:59It's extraordinary, the physical difference with Rowan
13:01between the first and the second series.
13:03Yeah.
13:04Do your funny walk, then, Adder.
13:06What?
13:06Do the funny Blackadder walk.
13:09I haven't got a funny Blackadder walk.
13:11What's that?
13:12You didn't want to take that?
13:13Or something Weasley.
13:18What seems odd now is that
13:21Tony was the streetwise smart guy
13:24and Rowan was an idiot.
13:34Incredibly dysfunctional, almost twisted person.
13:37A bit like what Mr. Bean became.
13:41Rowan wasn't entirely relaxed in the first series,
13:45as were none of us,
13:46because we weren't quite sure,
13:47we were still not quite sure what we were doing.
13:49Rowan's character wasn't properly sorted out.
13:51Oh my God, this is impossible, I can't do this!
13:54We tried to do too much with Rowan's character in series one,
13:59because he was sort of aggressive and stupid
14:01and posh and cowardly and brave.
14:05So I think it was a sort of agglomeration
14:07of quite a few funny things that we knew Rowan could do.
14:11But it's interesting how, you know,
14:13an amusing costume and a daft haircut,
14:16an amusing character doth not make.
14:20I sat there wanting to laugh
14:22and unable to a lot of the time.
14:24I did laugh quite a lot,
14:26but I hope desperately that I shall laugh more the next week.
14:28What exactly is funny about this?
14:31What is funny about having that character?
14:34Farewell, sweet England and noble castle,
14:39first watering place in the desert of my life.
14:44Farewell, gentle gibbets and sweet crenellations
14:48and farewell, dearest gutters.
14:53I remember that famous comment of yours,
14:55you know, it looks like a million dollars
14:56but cost a million pounds.
14:57I suppose a good thing about the modern BBC
15:00is that they would never have allowed us to do this,
15:02you know, to do what we did.
15:04I mean, you know, they would never, you know,
15:06just let a few young, you know,
15:09creative people come up to Anik and shoot.
15:11Well, no, they wouldn't, but then, on the other hand,
15:13we were very proud of it at the time we did it.
15:16The basic fault is the script, finally.
15:18Yes.
15:18Because Rowan Atkinson and this chap who he writes with
15:20have written an awful lot,
15:21and it seems to me that six episodes are too much for them.
15:23There were an awful lot of half-employed scriptwriters around
15:26who could have been brought in to good effect.
15:30There was, in fact,
15:31a slightly more than half-employed scriptwriter knocking about.
15:34Ben Elton was behind the cult series of The Young Ones
15:37and was brought in to hone the writing of the second series.
15:40Is the sitcom written or is it from this?
15:42I mean, not the sitcom, the drama, the comedy.
15:44That sounds like a good idea, by the way.
15:45I'm working on the pilot episode.
15:48I've now had a screening cancelled
15:50and the end is hard to get right
15:51and I don't know how to get the special effects right.
15:53I think we met at a script meeting
15:56for what was going to turn into Spitting Image
15:59and I was startled to find a huge fan of Blackadder 1.
16:03These were before the days of ratings.
16:05That was always the shock.
16:06I mean, I still don't know how many people watched any episode of Blackadder.
16:11And I remember on BBC,
16:12I used to wander around Shepherds Bush
16:15looking in people's windows,
16:17particularly people with basement flats,
16:19to see whether or not anyone was watching Blackadder 1.
16:21You were looking to see if there were any nude girls
16:23who left their windows.
16:23I was looking to see whether or not anyone was watching Blackadder 1
16:25because one didn't know whether or not it would be a success or otherwise.
16:28I wasn't who that kind of ginger perv was
16:30whilst Kate and I were singing the theme tune.
16:33He lived rough.
16:35He talked rough.
16:38He wore a rough.
16:41Blackadder 2.
16:43Coming soon.
16:45Ish.
16:46They would sit in different rooms,
16:48probably even in different houses,
16:50having divided the series into two halves
16:52and they'd write three episodes each
16:54and then swap over.
16:55And it always led you somewhere else.
16:56You know, okay, execution, head being cut off,
16:58how's he going to get out of it?
16:59Obviously stick the head down the back of his tights.
17:00Obvious, you know,
17:01but it may not have been obvious to the person
17:02who started with the beheading.
17:06Well, I've got the body, my lord,
17:07and I see you've got the head.
17:08Yes, but look, it's no good, Percy.
17:09No one's ever going to believe we've just cut it off.
17:11It's gone green.
17:12Ben and I never wrote together,
17:14mainly because we had better things to do with our time.
17:16We were both completely obsessed by pop music.
17:20Madness.
17:20Very great era for Madonna.
17:22I seem to remember endless meetings
17:24when all we talked about was,
17:25which was our favourite track on True Blue.
17:27I remember us going to see Kylie Minogue,
17:29and we were literally the only two men there.
17:32It was very early on in her career,
17:33and the entire audience was made up of 30-year-old women
17:36who watched Neighbours,
17:37and their daughters, who also watched Neighbours,
17:40and were, by the time Kylie came on, fast asleep.
17:44However enjoyable the writing process
17:45and however well the scripts were shaping up,
17:48Ben and Richard were less than lucky, lucky, lucky
17:50to get an ominous letter from the BBC's Head of Comedy.
17:54Michael Grade had come in,
17:56and he looked at the ratings,
17:57and it doesn't stack up.
17:58It's not good enough for the little ratings they're getting,
18:01and it doesn't get enough good reviews.
18:02It's finished.
18:03And I remember the sentence very clearly,
18:05for this season, and realistically,
18:06that means for good.
18:07Very sorry about this.
18:08It's over.
18:09At which point,
18:11a combination, really, of John Lloyd,
18:13Rowan Atkinson,
18:14and Rowan's agent, Richard Armitage, at the time,
18:16went into overtime.
18:18So there was this mad weekend
18:19where Richard and Ben and I
18:20were sitting at the three tightrovers,
18:21desperately cutting out all the film,
18:23taking out anything that had a silly costume,
18:25anything that was at all expensive.
18:27And we went back,
18:28I went back two days later,
18:30beginning of the next week,
18:31to John Howard Davis,
18:32and said,
18:33here you are.
18:34These are the cheapest sitcoms on telly,
18:35and please, may we have another chance.
18:38The key element to the success
18:39of the second series, though,
18:41would be the transformation
18:42of Blackadder himself
18:43from nerdy medieval prince of series one
18:46to suave Elizabethan courtier.
18:49The very first lesson
18:51was to pick Rowan's character,
18:53to get it exactly clear
18:55what it was he was going to do.
18:56And as Ben says,
18:58there was a whole imperious,
19:01sarcastic, posh side of Rowan,
19:03which we both loved,
19:04which we knew how to write,
19:06which came very naturally to both of us.
19:07Tell me, young Crone,
19:09is this Putney?
19:10That it be.
19:11That it be.
19:12Yes, it is,
19:14not that it be.
19:16You don't have to talk
19:17in that stupid voice to me.
19:19I'm not a tourist.
19:20It's lovely to have this sort of pecking order,
19:23and to place Blackadder somewhere in it,
19:25somewhere in the middle,
19:26so he can be very cynical
19:27about those above him,
19:28and indeed very cynical
19:29about those below him.
19:32Oh, very good shot, my love.
19:34Thank you, Rowan.
19:37Sorry, I'm late.
19:38I don't bother apologising.
19:40I'm sorry you're alive.
19:42There's a thing about comedy in Britain.
19:44Britain's a terrible place for class,
19:46as everybody knows.
19:47You look at a sitcom,
19:49the moment the lights go up,
19:50as it were,
19:51and you think,
19:52oh, God, it's upper-class people.
19:53I don't care about them.
19:54Or, oh, God, it's middle-class dentists.
19:56I don't care about them.
19:57Or, oh, God, it's wacky scousers.
20:00I don't care about them.
20:00You know what I mean?
20:01Everybody seems to hate
20:02everybody else in Britain
20:03and thinks up a reason
20:04not to care about them.
20:06And one of the marvellous things
20:07about Blackadder, too,
20:08and all the subsequent Blackadders,
20:09is that they're set
20:10in a very rigidly hierarchical world.
20:12My lord,
20:13the Queen does demand
20:14your urgent presence
20:15on pain of death.
20:16Oh, damn.
20:16The path of my life
20:18is strewn with cowpats
20:20from the devil's own satanic herd.
20:23You've got real threat.
20:24Blackadder is going to be,
20:25have his head chopped off
20:26at any moment.
20:27It's perfectly possible
20:27this mad, capricious Queen
20:29really could say,
20:30this time I mean it.
20:31Oh, Edmund.
20:32I do love it
20:33when you get cross.
20:34Sometimes they think
20:35about having you executed
20:36just to see the expression
20:37on your face.
20:41It's within court,
20:42which is a very
20:43small, bejeweled world,
20:45you know,
20:45and there are these little,
20:46little people in there
20:48who think
20:49they rule the world.
20:50And, of course,
20:50it was only me
20:51that ruled the world.
20:54What is it?
20:55A stick.
20:58Is it a stick,
20:58Claude Blackadder?
20:59Yes, ma'am,
21:00but it is a very special stick
21:02because when you throw it away,
21:04it comes back.
21:07Well, that's no good, is it?
21:10Because when I throw things away,
21:12I don't want them to come back.
21:14You!
21:15Get rid of it.
21:16Rich and Ben had created this idea
21:18which the Queen
21:19was like a little girl
21:20with an enormous amount of power.
21:22I think we interviewed
21:2440 actresses.
21:25We were really beginning
21:26to get desperate.
21:27It was probably written
21:28in a pretty two-dimensional way.
21:30They all just were playing
21:31girls from B-dales.
21:32The 41st person
21:33who walked in
21:34where we were really about
21:35to shoot ourselves
21:36was this blonde
21:37who clearly hadn't
21:37washed her hair.
21:39Apparently,
21:40I walked in like
21:40something that had been
21:41pulled through a hedge backwards.
21:43I spot the difference.
21:45Here was this astonishing
21:46actress
21:47who did nothing
21:49like we expected it.
21:50Every line was odd,
21:51peculiar,
21:52weirdly pitched.
21:53I may have the body
21:55of a weak and feeble woman,
21:57but I have the heart
21:59and stomach
22:00of a concrete elephant.
22:03Prove it!
22:05Certainly well.
22:07First, I'm going to have
22:08a little drinky,
22:09and then I'm going to execute
22:11the whole,
22:12fairly lot of you.
22:18Unbeknown to most people
22:19and Miranda
22:20in a secret corner
22:21of the BBC,
22:23where few dare to tread,
22:24there's the
22:25forgotten costumes department.
22:27In the bowels of the building.
22:34What have they got
22:35in its pockets?
22:39Oh!
22:41God!
22:41This looks rather familiar.
22:46Aww.
22:48I hope several hundred moths
22:50don't fly out.
22:52Look at this!
22:54Look at even the work
22:55in the cuffs.
22:58All these little individual
23:00pearls,
23:01most of them
23:02still there,
23:03just
23:04bobbling away.
23:06I remember the weight!
23:08Oof!
23:08Bloody hell!
23:10Yes,
23:10but dear friend,
23:12as I remembered,
23:13and not only,
23:14not only the dress,
23:15not only the wig,
23:16not only the ruff,
23:18but also
23:18a pomander
23:20and a mirror
23:22attached to my dress.
23:24Do I look
23:24absolutely divine
23:25and regal
23:26and yet,
23:26and at the same time,
23:27very pretty
23:28and rather accessible?
23:30You are every
23:31jolly jack-tower's
23:32dream,
23:33Majesty.
23:34I thought it was much.
23:35Had we not lucked out
23:36and getting Miranda,
23:37probably Blackadder 2
23:38wouldn't have worked.
23:39Yeah.
23:40I think it's held together
23:41rather well.
23:44Rather better than I have.
23:48Even though,
23:48in theory,
23:49I had the title role
23:51of the programme,
23:52that because there was
23:53Stephen Fry
23:54and Hugh Laurie
23:54and Tony Robinson
23:55and there was this
23:56wonderful feeling
23:56of being able to delegate,
23:58of being almost like
23:58the man in the middle
23:59who was able to say,
24:01you know,
24:01ladies and gentlemen,
24:01Mr Tony Robinson
24:02will now be extremely amusing.
24:06Bordick,
24:07I would advise you
24:08to make the explanation
24:08you were about to give
24:11phenomenally good.
24:12You said get the door.
24:14Not good enough,
24:14you're fired.
24:16But my lord,
24:16I've been in your family
24:17since 1532.
24:19So is syphilis,
24:19now get out of here.
24:20And ladies and gentlemen,
24:21Mr Stephen Fry.
24:22Now, Melty,
24:23you really are a beginner.
24:24You're not even wearing
24:25a pair of comedy breasts.
24:26Au contraire,
24:34you silly,
24:35silly people
24:36to have come
24:37all the way
24:38to Indigwe
24:39with a pair
24:40of comedy breasts.
24:41Well,
24:42down the hatch.
24:43Yay!
24:46Mmm.
24:47They still smell the same.
24:49How fantastic.
24:50I always felt sorry
24:51for those who came
24:52into the Blackadder
24:53to, you know,
24:54do their roles,
24:55you know,
24:55do their cameos.
25:00It's me!
25:03Some people
25:04managed it
25:05better than others.
25:06Flash by name,
25:07flash by nature.
25:09Come here, camera.
25:10Come here.
25:12Come here.
25:13Hello, girls.
25:14It's Rick.
25:16Happy Christmas.
25:17Hooray!
25:18Hooray!
25:19Where have you been?
25:20Where haven't I been?
25:21What?
25:23I was surprised
25:24when they asked me.
25:25Very honouring
25:25that they should ask me.
25:27I said,
25:27all right,
25:27I'll do it
25:28as long as I get
25:28more laughs than Rowan.
25:29So, my old mate,
25:31Eddie's getting hitched, eh?
25:33What's the matter?
25:34Can't stand the pace
25:35of the in-ground?
25:37Many actors have
25:39many facets.
25:40I do,
25:41I can do ego,
25:43and that's about it.
25:44Am I pleased to see you
25:45or did I just put
25:46a canoe in my pocket?
25:48Down, boy, down!
25:50I've got a big one.
25:52It's a big one.
25:53But Flash out
25:53isn't really you,
25:54is it?
25:54I mean, it's...
25:55No, my ego.
25:57Who is that?
25:59I don't know,
25:59but he's in your place.
26:01Not for long!
26:03It really helped
26:04somebody coming in
26:05with, uh,
26:06a different style,
26:08shall we say.
26:10It gave everybody
26:10a bit of a kick
26:11up the arse, I think.
26:14There was a very good
26:15headbutt.
26:15I'm rather proud of that
26:16when I headbutt him
26:17through the door.
26:20Look, I only took
26:20the part of Flash out
26:21for the women.
26:23Hi, Queenie.
26:24You look sexy.
26:26He's like Errol Flynn
26:27coming in, you know,
26:28and she's,
26:29she's obsessed.
26:30I've got such a crush
26:31on him.
26:32He's just bigger
26:33and louder
26:34and got more
26:34testosterone.
26:35Still worshipping God?
26:37Fancier tights.
26:38Last thing I heard,
26:38he started worshipping me!
26:40Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
26:43To be standing next
26:44to Rowan
26:44is quite an experience.
26:45My fiancée, Kate?
26:47Hi, baby.
26:49You see there
26:49that Rowan
26:49is also a great reactor.
26:59And at the end of it,
27:00Rick said,
27:01did I win?
27:02Which isn't really
27:03in the spirit
27:04of the ensemble,
27:05is it?
27:06I don't know.
27:07Of course,
27:08I haven't counted,
27:08but I got three and a half
27:09rounds of applause
27:09and he didn't get one.
27:11Hooray!
27:14Series 2 was a brilliant success
27:16and nothing stood
27:17in the way of Series 3.
27:19Dastardly duo
27:19moved from
27:20Elizabethan excess
27:21to the bewigged
27:22and perfumed finery
27:24of the 18th century.
27:26Series 3,
27:27we took a big old gamble
27:28in the beginning
27:28that we ended up
27:29with such a small cast
27:31because there'd been
27:32sort of five of them,
27:34hadn't there?
27:34There'd been Melchette
27:35and Nursey
27:35and Queenie
27:36and Percy
27:36and Baldrick
27:37and Rowan
27:38and then this time
27:38suddenly there was
27:39just Baldrick,
27:40Rowan and Hugh.
27:42It was the casting
27:43of Prince George
27:44alongside Blackadder
27:45and Baldrick
27:46that brought new life
27:47to the show.
27:48The role went to an actor
27:50who's since quickened
27:51the pulse of America.
28:07It's a trial, John.
28:09You've no idea.
28:09Have you learned anything
28:10about medicine?
28:11Can you remember
28:11all the stuff?
28:12For about 20 minutes.
28:14You know,
28:14I can hold it in my head
28:15for about 20 minutes
28:16and I could,
28:16for about 20 minutes
28:17I could probably
28:19do a coronary bypass operation.
28:21If you catch me
28:22at the right hour
28:23then by all means
28:25have an aortic infarction
28:27at my feet
28:28and I'll fix it.
28:29But if it's the wrong hour
28:31you're a goner.
28:32I have to say
28:33it's my favourite series, Hugh,
28:34that one,
28:34and it's because of you.
28:35And I remember saying to you
28:37on the set
28:37that one day
28:38you are going to be
28:39such a world famous actor.
28:40Stop it.
28:41I told you, stop it.
28:42I bet you say that
28:43to all the actors
28:43in Blackadder third series.
28:45Hugh's always very
28:46self-deprecating about it
28:48but that's the kind
28:48of bloke he is.
28:49He always says,
28:49oh, I just shouted a lot.
28:50I'm a gay bachelor, Blackadder.
28:53I'm a roarer, a rogerer,
28:55a gorger and a puker.
28:57I can't marry, I'm young,
28:58I'm firm buttocked,
29:00I'm...
29:00Broke.
29:02Well, yes, I suppose so.
29:03You used to get quite stressed
29:05when you were the Prince Regent.
29:07I came pre-stressed.
29:09Right.
29:09There was no stress
29:10that was added.
29:11I mean, that's what I do.
29:12I don't know why.
29:13I wish I didn't.
29:14I wish I could sort of
29:15relax and enjoy things more
29:17but I don't.
29:18I worry about them.
29:19Just occasionally
29:19one can say,
29:20now, come on, Hugh,
29:21it's the entire idea
29:22of your misery
29:23for us to spend
29:24the next three hours
29:24telling you how great you are
29:25because whether or not
29:26that was the idea,
29:27that is the end result.
29:28Prince George is shy
29:29and just pretends to be
29:31bluff and crass
29:32and unbelievably thick
29:33and gist.
29:34Whilst deep down
29:35he is a soft little
29:37marshmallow-y,
29:38piglet-y type of creature.
29:39But I do love
29:40the Prince Regent.
29:40I love his...
29:42his attempt to be better
29:43all the time.
29:44I think that's one of the things
29:45that's so likeable about him
29:46is he's always trying
29:47to improve himself
29:48and we know how doomed it is.
29:49I mean that vacant
29:50panicky look in his eye,
29:51it's bliss.
29:52I terminated my
29:53uninterrupted categorisation
29:55of the vocabulary
29:56of our post-Normantine.
30:00I don't know what you're talking about
30:01and it sounds damn saucy,
30:03you lucky thing.
30:03The classic episode
30:05of series three
30:06saw the arrival
30:07of Robbie Coltrane
30:08as Dr. Johnson.
30:09Here it is, sir.
30:10Author of the very first
30:11English dictionary.
30:12This book, sir,
30:14contains every word
30:15in our beloved language.
30:17Every single one, sir?
30:18Every single word, sir.
30:20Well, in that case, sir,
30:22I hope you will not object
30:22if I also offer the doctor
30:24my most enthusiastic
30:26contrafimularities.
30:30Contrafimularities, sir?
30:31It is a common word
30:32down our way.
30:33Definitely.
30:34Oh, I'm sorry, sir.
30:36I'm anuspeptic,
30:38frasmodic,
30:40even compunctuous
30:41to have caused you
30:42such pericombolation.
30:46The funny thing
30:46about the dictionary episode
30:47is there are things in it
30:48which I really don't like.
30:51Robbie's wig,
30:52which doesn't fit properly.
30:54The poet.
30:55Be quieter.
30:56Can't you see we're dying?
30:58The dream.
30:59I've suddenly realised
30:59I don't like dreams.
31:01Baldrick,
31:01who gave you permission
31:02to turn into an Alsatian?
31:05Oh, God,
31:06it's a dream, isn't it?
31:07It's a bloody dream.
31:10But the fundamental idea
31:12of the plot
31:12was a brilliant moment for us.
31:14Now, Baldrick,
31:15where's the manuscript?
31:16You mean the big papery thing
31:18tied up with string?
31:19Yes, Baldrick,
31:20the manuscript
31:20belonging to Dr Johnson.
31:22So you're asking
31:23where the big papery thing
31:24tied up with string
31:25belonging to the
31:26baity fellow
31:27in the black coat
31:28who just left is?
31:29Yes, Baldrick,
31:30I am.
31:31And if you don't answer,
31:32then the booted,
31:33bony thing
31:34with five toes
31:35on the end of my leg
31:36will soon connect sharply
31:37with a soft,
31:39dangly collection
31:39of objects
31:40in your shop.
31:41I can remember
31:41Richard saying
31:42I had a great idea.
31:43Did you know
31:44it took Dr Johnson
31:4525 years
31:45to write this dictionary?
31:46How about
31:47he finishes it,
31:48lends it to Blackadder,
31:49Baldrick puts it on the fire,
31:50Blackadder's got a weekend
31:51to rewrite the dictionary.
31:52And what about D?
31:53I'm quite pleased with dog.
31:54Yes,
31:54and your definition
31:55of dog is
31:56not a cat.
32:00And I just thought
32:01that is such
32:02a beautiful conceit
32:04and that's
32:05a lot better
32:06than writing
32:06three good knob gags,
32:07which is what
32:07I was sort of
32:08trying to do.
32:11The dictionary episode
32:12was an appropriate highlight
32:13for a series
32:14that reveled
32:15in the richness
32:16of the English language
32:17and was never shy
32:18of a scintillating simile.
32:20He's madder than
32:21Mad Jack McMad,
32:23the winner of last year's
32:24Mr. Madman competition.
32:25You look as happy
32:26as a man
32:27who thought a cat
32:27had done its business
32:28on his pie,
32:29but it turned out
32:29to be an extra big blackberry.
32:31I'm as poor
32:31as a church mouse
32:32that's just had
32:33an enormous tax bill
32:34on the very day
32:35his wife ran off
32:36with another mouse
32:36taking all the cheese.
32:38A burnt novel
32:38is like a burnt dog.
32:40Oh, shut up!
32:44The Blackadder scripts
32:45are so revered
32:46that all these years later
32:48the team still
32:49pour over
32:49the subtleties
32:50of their trade
32:51with fellow
32:52literary luminaries
32:53wherever they can be found.
32:55I'm going to dedicate
32:55something to Derek, please.
32:58Enough time, team.
32:59Thank you very much.
33:00And you really are
33:01a national treasure,
33:02Mr. Robinson.
33:03I think you were
33:04kind of pretty now.
33:05We used to play the game
33:06of guessing who'd written
33:07which line
33:08and we were invariably wrong.
33:10Thanks.
33:13When it actually came
33:14to the rehearsals
33:15and this got more
33:16and more intense,
33:16I think,
33:17sort of series by series,
33:19everyone became
33:20fantastically
33:21and in the end
33:22wonderfully greedy.
33:24We would do no rehearsing.
33:25We would just sit
33:26round at a table
33:27just kind of arguing
33:28about the script
33:28and pulling the script
33:29to pieces.
33:30There was one
33:30where I said,
33:31I have a message,
33:32my lord,
33:33and Rowan said,
33:34that's the worst message
33:35I've ever read.
33:36And we all went,
33:37uh,
33:37and it ended up,
33:40that's the worst message
33:41I've ever heard
33:42since...
33:43Lord Nelson's
33:43famous signal
33:44at the Battle of the Nile.
33:46England knows
33:47Lady Hamilton
33:47is a virgin.
33:49Poke my eye out
33:50and cut off my arm
33:51if I'm wrong.
33:52But I mean,
33:53people fought
33:53for their patch.
33:56You know,
33:56nobody just sort of
33:58towed the line
33:58and stood where
33:59they were told to stand
33:59and do what they were
34:00told to do.
34:00Everyone stood up
34:01for themselves
34:02and for their characters.
34:03Let's just say
34:04it was very free.
34:05Yes.
34:06And creative.
34:07But Richard
34:07wouldn't have said that.
34:08No.
34:09No,
34:09just read it out,
34:10I think it was Richard's.
34:11Just read it out.
34:13They would literally
34:13sit around
34:14for the entire time
34:15discussing the script
34:16and I know
34:17we would sometimes
34:17say,
34:18but actually
34:18if you stood up
34:19and tried to act
34:20this script out
34:21you might
34:22find out
34:23things about it.
34:24I hate to raise this
34:25having worked on it
34:26for three hours
34:26but do you think
34:27it's a very good joke
34:28this orders Hugh
34:29to suggest it?
34:30This was nothing
34:31to me.
34:31It was.
34:33It was nothing
34:33to me.
34:33It was up on the board.
34:34I just read it out.
34:36John and Richard
34:37and Hugh
34:39and Stephen
34:41conduct themselves
34:42in a very affable way
34:44and when they talk
34:46about Blackadder now
34:47it all seems like
34:48it was a bit jolly
34:49slightly sticky sometimes
34:51but basically fine.
34:54I don't really remember
34:55it quite like that.
34:56It was hard.
34:57Hours would pass
34:58and packets of cigarettes
34:59would be got through
35:00and huge quantities
35:01of polystyrene
35:02hideous muddy coffee
35:03would be drunk
35:05in an effort
35:06to try and get
35:07the script right.
35:08No, hang on,
35:08hang on,
35:09there's something
35:09wrong here
35:10because surely
35:11if you're ordering
35:12a cab for a Mr. Redgrove
35:13from Arnestgrove
35:15in that case.
35:15Sometimes it was
35:16very tense.
35:17I remember
35:18some very difficult
35:18times when we
35:20appeared to be
35:21just sitting around
35:22for two and a half
35:22hours
35:24bemoaning
35:26the, you know,
35:27lack of writing
35:29clarity in a
35:30particular scene
35:30and desperately
35:31trying to think
35:31how that might
35:32be reorientated
35:33to work.
35:33Just change it
35:34to four.
35:35Who are we getting
35:36to play the cab?
35:37If you are
35:38a young writer
35:39and you're in
35:39with your mates
35:40and because you've
35:41known them for a
35:41long time
35:42they're going to
35:43be able to slag
35:43you off in a way
35:44that other people
35:44probably won't now
35:45because you're
35:46becoming successful.
35:47That's going to be
35:47difficult.
35:48I remember this,
35:49you know,
35:49like a heart attack.
35:52That was when I felt
35:53that the analysis
35:55was getting overblown
35:56and that we were,
35:57I remember feeling,
35:58you know,
35:59it was better.
36:00We're now kind of
36:01feeling a duty
36:01to open everything up
36:03at all times.
36:04I thought it was
36:04Mr. Redgrove
36:05who was ordering the cab.
36:06In fact,
36:07what you're saying
36:08is that Mr. Redgrove
36:10is the person
36:10who's going to be
36:11picked up
36:11but who's on the
36:12top bell.
36:16That's roughly
36:17how it was
36:17when it was good
36:19and when it wasn't
36:20so good
36:20it wasn't really
36:21like that.
36:21It was more strained.
36:24I'm not saying
36:25that those moments
36:25were rare
36:26because they weren't.
36:27They were quite
36:27commonplace
36:28but there was
36:29lots of,
36:29you know,
36:29long geurs
36:30in between.
36:32People sitting
36:33with their heads
36:33in their hands.
36:34I remember
36:35Stephen
36:36at one point
36:37just scraping
36:38his chair back.
36:39It's an enormous
36:39person,
36:40enormous person
36:41striding around
36:42the room,
36:42striding around
36:42the room
36:43and he came
36:43back to the table
36:43and he just
36:44grabbed a pencil
36:44and a piece of paper
36:47and put it in front
36:47of me
36:48and it just said
36:49fuck it.
36:50And a cab
36:53for a Mr. Redgrave
36:54picking up
36:55from 14 Arnott's Grove
36:56ring topper.
36:58There we go!
37:01On the back
37:02of the third series
37:03Blackadder was awarded
37:04its own
37:04Christmas special
37:05a parody of
37:06Dickens' Christmas Carol
37:07with Ebenezer Blackadder
37:09in very different form.
37:11But the fourth series
37:13would take our comic
37:14anti-heroes
37:15into a place
37:16where heroes dwell
37:17the First World War.
37:24Writer Ben Elton
37:25and producer
37:26John Lloyd
37:26have come to the Somme
37:28to reflect on the setting
37:29for the final series.
37:31Always been so interested
37:32in the First World War
37:33and yet I've never been
37:35to the cemeteries.
37:37I mean we've all seen
37:38the footage
37:39and I've seen many
37:40a panning shot
37:41as we're doing now.
37:43But until you actually
37:44stand amongst
37:45tens of thousands
37:46of crosses
37:46each with a name on it
37:48it's really...
37:51I had a grandfather fight
37:52on either side.
37:53Did you know my German
37:54grandfather got an iron cross?
37:56No.
37:56Yes he got an iron cross
37:57which actually
37:58is buried in England
38:00because when as
38:01Jewish refugees
38:02they escaped
38:03from Nazi Europe
38:04well
38:05escaped
38:06got out
38:07my granddad
38:08brought his iron cross
38:09with him
38:09and my grandma
38:11on discovery
38:12was horrified
38:13you know
38:13here we are
38:14German accents
38:14iron cross
38:17people might put
38:18two and two together
38:18so she buried it
38:20in a garden
38:20in Hampstead.
38:22What we discussed
38:23back in 88
38:24when we were writing
38:25it was not
38:26sort of not taking
38:27easy laughs
38:28at the expense
38:29of
38:29sort of
38:30such mass heroism
38:32and
38:33you know
38:34coming here today
38:35I'm very glad
38:36we didn't.
38:37By the time
38:38we got to
38:39Blackadder Goes Forth
38:40we'd always said
38:41that more than anything
38:43what we'd like to do
38:44would be to create
38:45a series
38:46that was very
38:47claustrophobic
38:48where the five or six
38:49of us who were
38:50the performers
38:51were trapped
38:52in a space
38:52and what better way
38:54to feel that
38:55notion of claustrophobia
38:57than in the trenches
38:57in the First World War.
39:00Hear the words
39:01I sing
39:02War's a horrid thing
39:05So I sing
39:06sing sing
39:08Ding-a-ling-a-ling
39:10It was a
39:11really peculiar
39:12and bold thing
39:13to try and make
39:14a comedy out of
39:14but I think
39:15ultimately a very
39:17sympathetic
39:18and respectful one
39:19even though
39:19the characters
39:21were absurd
39:22and moronic
39:23at times
39:25it never
39:27sort of
39:28disrespected
39:29their courage
39:30or their sacrifice
39:30I think.
39:31Oh I joined up
39:32straight away sir
39:33August the 4th
39:341914
39:34Oh what a day that was
39:36myself and the rest
39:37of the fellows
39:38leapfrogging down
39:38to the Cambridge
39:39recruiting office
39:40and then playing
39:41tiddlywinks in the queue
39:42We'd hammered Oxford's
39:44tiddlywinkers only the week
39:44before and there we were
39:45off to hammer the bot
39:46and how are all the boys
39:48and how are all the boys now?
39:49Well Jocko and the Badger
39:51bought it at the first
39:51Ypres unfortunately
39:52What a shock dad
39:55There's awful policies
39:56of what we call
39:57the Pals Brigade
39:58because in 1914
39:59people joined up together
40:00whole gangs
40:00the pub would all
40:01march to the recruiting
40:02station
40:02a cricket team
40:03or the tiddlywinks team
40:05as we said in Blackadder
40:06and they'd all go together
40:08and they'd all be put
40:08in the same
40:09because the idea was
40:09they'll fight together
40:10they'll fight for each other
40:11and of course
40:12this industrial war
40:13didn't really have
40:14a lot of time
40:14for people to fight
40:15for each other
40:15because people would
40:16be moaned down
40:16in an instant
40:17Gosh yes
40:18I suppose I'm the only
40:20one of the Trinity
40:20tiddlers still alive
40:23Blummy there's a thought
40:24and not a jolly one
40:24People don't stop
40:26making jokes
40:26because somebody
40:27who's killed
40:28just around the corner
40:28in many ways
40:29life as people say
40:31have actually been
40:31in fighting in real wars
40:33life becomes
40:34very precious
40:35and pumped up
40:35Baldrick
40:36what are you doing
40:37out there
40:38I'm carving something
40:39on this bullet sir
40:40what are you carving
40:41I'm carving Baldrick sir
40:44why
40:45it's a cunning plan
40:46actually
40:47of course it is
40:48you see
40:49you know they say
40:50that somewhere
40:50there's a bullet
40:51with your name on it
40:55well I thought
40:56if I owned
40:56the bullet
40:57with my name
40:58on it
40:58I'd never get hit
40:59by it
41:00one of the things
41:01that always strikes me
41:02about that last series
41:03is how isolated
41:04all the characters
41:05in it are
41:06you're a bit
41:07cheesed off sir
41:08George
41:08the day this war
41:09began I was cheesed off
41:10within ten minutes
41:12of you turning up
41:12I'd finished the cheese
41:14and moved on to the coffee
41:15and cigars
41:15the world weariness
41:17of Blackadder
41:18was something
41:19kind of extraordinary
41:20was something
41:20kind of beaten down
41:21he was not necessarily
41:23going to win
41:23all the time
41:25I knew that he wasn't
41:26which gave it a kind
41:27of darker edge
41:28I thought
41:29Baldrick finds his
41:30absolute apotheosis
41:31as the Tommy
41:32he can make the best
41:33of everything
41:34he can turn things
41:35to his advantage
41:36however ghastly it is
41:37he can find a better
41:38puddle to go to
41:39I believe that
41:40Baldrick is the key
41:41to Blackadder
41:41and the key
41:42to why it's popular
41:43because he's the
41:44common man
41:44we actually all identify
41:46with this poor
41:46downtrodden guy
41:47who's not respected
41:48by anybody
41:48even when he's
41:49supposed to be stupid
41:50Baldrick's analysis
41:51of everything
41:52is simple
41:53but basically truthful
41:54are you looking forward
41:56to the big push
41:57no sir
41:59I'm absolutely terrified
42:02the healthy humour
42:03of the honest Tommy
42:05I had the privilege
42:07of performing a part
42:08that represented
42:09the ordinary lives
42:10of the grandfathers
42:12of an awful lot of people
42:13in the country
42:13in which I live
42:14but really
42:16it was for them
42:17to imbue Baldrick
42:18with that notion
42:20rather than me
42:20I was just a bloke
42:22who couldn't make coffee
42:22Baldrick
42:23fix us some coffee
42:24will you
42:24and try to make it
42:26taste slightly less
42:26like mud this time
42:27not easy I'm afraid
42:29captain
42:29why is this
42:30because it is mud
42:31in the original script
42:32Ben had just written
42:34this line
42:34about Baldrick
42:35saying that he'd
42:36made the coffee
42:37out of mud
42:37he ran out of coffee
42:3813 months ago
42:39so every time
42:40I've drunk your coffee
42:41since
42:42I have in fact
42:42been drinking hot mud
42:43and then in rehearsals
42:45as was so often the case
42:46someone said
42:47well
42:48shouldn't there be
42:49milk in the coffee
42:50well
42:50saliva
42:51and then
42:52there should be sugar
42:53which is
42:55dandruff
42:56and then I know
42:57this was Tim McInerney
42:58very late in the week
43:00he suddenly said
43:01just for us
43:02not because he thought
43:03it would go in the script
43:04because we could always
43:05make it cappuccino
43:11here you are sir
43:13ah
43:14cappuccino
43:19have you got any of that
43:21any of that brown stuff
43:22you sprinkle on the top
43:23well I'm sure I could
43:25no
43:25no
43:27in the initial rehearsals
43:28he wasn't even called
43:29Darling
43:30he was called
43:31Captain Cartwright
43:32which is kind of dull
43:33I mean I didn't really know
43:35who he was
43:35and couldn't get an angle
43:36on him
43:37and I had this
43:37bizarre idea really
43:39that maybe
43:40there was something
43:40laughable about him
43:41that was teasable
43:42and then it occurred to me
43:43maybe a name
43:44a really silly name
43:45what's going on darling
43:47and suddenly this character
43:48was born out of nowhere
43:49just because of the name
43:50you never mention this to me sir
43:51well we have to have
43:52some secrets
43:53don't we darling
43:53I mean it's such a simple joke
43:55calling someone darling
43:56especially if he's such a bitter
43:58nasty man
43:59they call him darling
43:59and the way that Stephen
44:00could come out
44:01oh darling
44:01they get a laugh
44:03every single time
44:04Captain Darling
44:04funny name for a guy
44:06isn't it
44:07last person I called
44:08Darling was pregnant
44:0820 seconds later
44:11and every time his name
44:12is mentioned
44:13it's just like a knife
44:13in his heart
44:14always stinging around
44:15and his hatred
44:16and self-loathing
44:17and his self-denial
44:18is just getting
44:19more and more tortured
44:21just doing my job
44:22Blackadder
44:22obeying orders
44:24and of course
44:25having enormous fun
44:26into the bargain
44:27I mean darling
44:28and Blackadder
44:29are kind of the same
44:30really
44:30they're kind of
44:31lower middle class
44:32you know
44:32sort of semi-gentlemen
44:34but obviously
44:34you know
44:35one of them's managed
44:35to connive himself
44:36onto the staff
44:37and the other one's
44:39you know
44:39bad lucked
44:40into the trenches
44:41you're a damn fine chap
44:42not a pin pushing
44:44desk sucking
44:45blotter jotter
44:45like darling
44:46here
44:46nay darling
44:47no sir
44:53oh you're always
44:54so good at this
44:54oh yes
44:58oddly enough
44:58these feet
45:00are not the same feet
45:01that I used
45:01to play
45:02General Melchert
45:03in Blackadder
45:05those were my
45:06earlier feet
45:06I lost those feet
45:07those two feet
45:08in a card game
45:09to Keith Allen
45:10in 1992
45:11so these are
45:12my second pair of feet
45:15young people
45:15playing old people
45:16is very funny
45:17because I was
45:18in my 20s
45:19and I was playing
45:20a general
45:21it was somehow
45:22funnier than if I'd
45:23been the right age
45:24to be a general
45:24which I now am
45:25and it had to be
45:26a 30 year old
45:27playing a 60 year old
45:28if it had been
45:28a 60 year old
45:29actor it wouldn't
45:29it would have been
45:30different
45:30it wouldn't have been
45:31it might have been
45:32funny but in a
45:32different way
45:33it wouldn't have
45:33worked the way
45:34Melchert worked
45:34it's the sort of
45:35it's the authority
45:36of youth
45:37slightly red cheeks
45:38I remember having
45:39because he was
45:39constantly puffing
45:40and blowing
45:42and constantly
45:44it had in my head
45:45that he had piles
45:46so that when I sat
45:46down
45:48like that
45:49all the time
45:49there's strange
45:50noises and bleats
45:52and bars
45:52and things
45:57it's an extraordinary
45:58gift to play
45:59a character
45:59who isn't afraid
45:59of no one
46:00who is in supreme
46:01command
46:01it was just
46:02a wonderfully
46:03sort of seamless
46:04there was this
46:05feeling of a
46:06of an unstoppable
46:07train of a performance
46:09who is the judge
46:10by the way
46:12I'm dead
46:17the court is now
46:19in session
46:20general Sir
46:20Anthony
46:20Cecil Hognet
46:21Melchert in the chair
46:22and I remember
46:23about five or six
46:24years after
46:25Black Panther
46:26I was walking
46:27along the street
46:28and somebody
46:28shouted at me
46:29you bastard
46:30pigging murderer
46:32and I thought
46:32oh god
46:33it's a loo
46:34so I quickened
46:35my step
46:36then I heard
46:36footsteps hurrying
46:38after me
46:38I said
46:38Mr Fry
46:39Mr Fry
46:40and I went
46:40yes
46:41he said
46:41sorry
46:42sorry
46:42you seem
46:42very upset
46:43and I said
46:43why don't you
46:43call me a
46:44bastard pigging
46:44murderer
46:45he said
46:45no
46:45no
46:46I said
46:46Flanders
46:47pigeon murderer
46:48the case before
46:49us is that
46:49of the crown
46:50versus Captain
46:51Edmund Blackadder
46:52the Flanders
46:53pigeon murderer
46:56oh Clark
46:57hand me the
46:58black cap
46:58shall we
46:59I'll be needing
46:59that
47:00I love a fair
47:02trial
47:04for all the comedy
47:06bawling and bleating
47:07the final episode
47:08saw events take
47:09an extraordinary
47:10turn
47:10as Captain
47:11Blackadder
47:12and his troops
47:12braced themselves
47:13for the inevitable
47:14don't get your
47:16stick letter
47:16brother sir
47:17wouldn't want to face
47:18a machine gun
47:18without this
47:20I just remember
47:21feeling
47:21you know
47:22the
47:23you know
47:24the impending doom
47:25for my character
47:26I remember feeling
47:27this strange
47:28sort of
47:29knot
47:29in the pit
47:30of my stomach
47:32and it was the
47:32first time
47:33you know
47:33as an actor
47:34that I had felt
47:35the predicament
47:36of my character
47:37I was going to die
47:39at the end of the week
47:41it was much more
47:42like a serious play
47:43or a drama
47:44as all the comedy
47:45kind of melts
47:46and fades
47:46out of it
47:47and it becomes
47:47sadder and sadder
47:48and more and more
47:49tragic
47:49and eventually
47:50almost unbearably
47:51moving and sad
47:53it's valedictory
48:03I hope no one
48:04was left in any doubt
48:05of the respect
48:05I think everybody
48:06on the team
48:07had for
48:09for the sacrifices
48:10made in the honour
48:10of the people involved
48:11but
48:12it was a damn
48:13silly war
48:13and if ever
48:14there was a subject
48:16you know
48:16requiring of satire
48:18it's people
48:19no matter how honourably
48:20and no matter
48:20how nobly
48:22blindly
48:23going to war
48:24company
48:25one
48:26face
48:27forward
48:29on the signal
48:30company
48:31will advance
48:34good luck everyone
48:40in those days
48:41you had to get out
48:42of the studio
48:43by ten o'clock
48:44if you didn't
48:44the electricians
48:45would pull the switch
48:46at ten to ten
48:47we finished filming
48:49in our normal studio
48:50we then had to
48:51race across
48:52to the other studio
48:53and it was then
48:54that we saw
48:55this no man's land
48:56set for the first time
48:57and it looked dreadful
48:59okay well
49:00this apparently
49:01is the
49:03original footage
49:04from the very last
49:05scene of black
49:05out of four
49:06where they all
49:06go over the top
49:07and I haven't seen
49:07this since
49:091989
49:10action
49:14they're only actually
49:15running
49:16what 15 yards
49:17before they hit
49:18the barbed wire
49:18and then they all
49:19stand around
49:19looking like lemons
49:20and then pretend
49:21to die
49:22and it's very
49:22embarrassing
49:41it's pretty unconvincing
49:43isn't it
49:45now they've done
49:46a close-up here
49:47there's a
49:49ghastly shot
49:49of Hugh
49:50and Tim
49:51and Baldrick
49:52dying
49:55Rowan
49:56pretending to die
49:57but keeping
49:57his eyes open
49:58and he's getting
49:58up and he looks
49:59cross
50:03me looking
50:04decidedly
50:04miffed
50:05and that's
50:06the end of it
50:06I can remember
50:07coming away
50:08thinking
50:09I've no idea
50:11how we're going
50:11to end the series
50:12I thought
50:12they would have
50:13to end it
50:13before we actually
50:14went over the top
50:15it was one of the
50:15lowest points
50:16I think
50:17of my television
50:17career
50:18thinking the end
50:19of this amazing
50:19series
50:20and I just
50:21screwed it up
50:21as it was so
50:22obvious that we
50:23had so little
50:23material to work
50:24with
50:25we had to
50:26really slow
50:27the pictures
50:28right down
50:28in order to
50:29stretch them
50:29in time
50:30but that produced
50:31an incredibly
50:32good effect
50:33with the flashes
50:34which were going
50:35over on the
50:36right of the picture
50:37and the debris
50:38that falls over
50:39Rowan's character
50:40in slow motion
50:41this suddenly
50:42achieved a grandeur
50:43which was not
50:44obvious in the
50:45full motion
50:46so then the
50:47assistant editor
50:48says what if
50:48we slowed
50:48the sound down
50:49as well
50:51and suddenly
50:52we got this
50:53slow motion
50:54sound effects
50:55and it starts
50:55to get
50:56really quite
50:57spooky
51:06having got
51:07Rowan virtually
51:08obscured by
51:09the debris
51:10to go to the
51:11next shot
51:12where we are
51:13now in a blank
51:13no man's land
51:14wide shot
51:15our characters
51:16are seen
51:16virtually to melt
51:17into the landscape
51:21and then somebody
51:22I think it was
51:23the PA
51:24said
51:25we should get
51:26some poppies
51:26what if
51:27I think
51:27and somebody
51:28got very excited
51:29and ran upstairs
51:29to the picture
51:30library and got
51:31a still
51:32a transparency
51:32some poppies
51:35last decision
51:36some bright spark
51:38in sand
51:38let's put some
51:39birdsong on it
51:45even in the edit
51:46it was obviously
51:47one of the most
51:48moving things
51:48that I had ever
51:50seen
51:56in the 19 years
51:57since the series
51:58ended
51:58the team
51:59have each
51:59gone on
51:59to achieve
52:00greatness
52:00in their own
52:01right
52:02but for all
52:03of them
52:03there remains
52:04something special
52:05about the
52:05Blackadder era
52:09I think
52:10that I'd have
52:10to say
52:10that it just
52:11seems
52:12an unbelievably
52:14lucky break
52:15that something
52:16which was just
52:17a bit of work
52:17that I did
52:18for a chunk
52:19of time
52:20you know
52:20doing the best
52:21I could
52:21with people
52:22I really liked
52:23has turned out
52:24to last
52:25so well
52:26I don't think
52:28there'd been
52:28anything
52:29that enjoyed
52:29history like that
52:30the relationships
52:31between lords
52:32and ladies
52:33and dukes
52:33and peasants
52:34and the whole
52:35panoply
52:36and richness
52:37of what it is
52:37to come from
52:38our culture
52:39it was just
52:40a very
52:40enjoyable
52:41experience
52:42of spending
52:43extended
52:44periods
52:45of time
52:46with people
52:47with whom
52:48you felt
52:48a tremendous
52:49creative empathy
52:50I was doing
52:51time team
52:52once
52:52and somebody
52:53said to me
52:53here
52:53I knew
52:54that bloke
52:54who used
52:55to be funny
52:59only one
53:00question remains
53:01dear old
53:02dear old
53:03will they ever
53:04be funny
53:05together
53:05again
53:07would you
53:07do it again
53:08what
53:09like Adam
53:10no
53:11because
53:15too old
53:17for one thing
53:18I don't think
53:18people want to
53:19see us
53:19the way we look
53:20now
53:21I really don't
53:22they want those
53:23memories
53:24there's often
53:24talk of a fifth
53:25series
53:26if you had to
53:27do another one
53:28what setting
53:29would you like
53:30to do it in
53:31if we'd done
53:31another one
53:32I think we
53:32were going to
53:34set it
53:34in the 60s
53:35he had this idea
53:36of Adder
53:37as a sort
53:37of Brian Epstein
53:38figure
53:38and Baldrick
53:39as a drummer
53:40a Ringo
53:41style drummer
53:42called Baldrick
53:43who has to
53:43wear a beetle wig
53:44Rowan as the
53:45bastard son
53:46of Queen Elizabeth
53:46the second
53:47but also running
53:48a rock band
53:48in the King's Road
53:50it's already
53:50sounding shit
53:51that's probably
53:51why we never
53:52made it
53:52what I really
53:53liked the idea
53:54for was the
53:54one set in
53:56Neanderthal times
53:57out of the jungle
53:58comes Homo Blackadder
54:00oh I thought
54:01you meant
54:02Jay Blackadder
54:02oh I thought
54:03you meant
54:04Homo Blackadder
54:04I was just
54:05going not many
54:06parts for girls
54:06there and then
54:07what about you
54:08Tony
54:08where would
54:08you have liked
54:08well we talked
54:10about loads
54:11of different
54:11ones
54:11throughout the days
54:12I love the idea
54:13of a cowboy one
54:14I'd do that
54:16definitely
54:17if I get to be
54:17sort of Calamity Jane
54:18or something
54:19fantastic
54:20I would set it
54:21in a prisoner of war
54:21camp in the second
54:22world war
54:22I've always
54:23personally favoured
54:24the colditz idea
54:25but maybe it's best
54:26to leave these things
54:27as a memory
54:28I don't know
54:31time's passed
54:31that's what they were