Halfway through your top choice,
and the next is a
hysterical history sitcom.
And the Simon Schama
guiding you through:
Britain's finest political reporter
(until he left the BBC of course).
Over series and nearly
years, Blackadder tells...
...the marvellously improbably
story of the Blackadder family.
They're all called Edmund, and they
are all played by Rowan Atkinson.
There's prince Edmund,
Lord Blackadder,
the rather dandy Edmund Blackadder,
and captain Blackadder.
They're all twisted schemers, which
means they fit quite naturally
into some of the key roles in
British history, and...
...oh yeah, they have a totally
useless sidekick called Baldrick.
Oh sir, poor little Mildred the cat,
what's he ever done to you?
It is the way of the world, Baldrick,
the abused always kick downwards.
I'm annoyed, and so I kick the cat,
the cat... pounces on the mouse,
and finally the mouse...
bites you on the behind.
I have a cunning plan.
Fantastic plots and epic scale,
and monstruous jokes about the
events that have shaped our history,
gives this sitcom the biggest
situation in television comedy.
No suburbia, no visits from the
vicar, and no jokes about minicabs.
Blackadder is history made
timeless, and the gag's on us.
Sometimes can this be
mere chance, it's even true!
It's got such a huge scope,
I mean, it's our island's story,
y'know, it covers everything,
it's what makes us British.
History, here I come!
It's the fanciest thing
I've ever written.
And if you don't answer,
then the booted boney thing
with five toes on the end of my
leg, will soon connect sharply,
with the soft dangly collection
of objects in your trousers.
I don't exclusively dwell
in the nether regions,
but my comedy has plumbed
a lot of orifices.
"Fart, fiddle, fornicate"?
- Well...
Sir, I hope you are not using
the first English dictionary...
...to look up rude words!
In a way that was the bonding.
Other people slash their
wrists and mix their blood,
but we talk about what we've
just done in the lavatory.
Ah, yes, without question
my favourite magazine:
Soft, strong, and
thoroughly absorbant.
Certainly he's suave, he's debonair,
he's witty, he's charming, and...
it's quite believable that the queen
would go girlish in-in his presence.
Life without you is like...
a broken pencil.
Explain?
Pointless.
Baldrick...
Ahhh...
You just want to cuddle
him, don't you really.
No, we did this robbery together,
so you get half the cash.
Oh, thank you, mr. B.!
This robbery on the other
hand I'm doing alone.
Hand it over, your
money or your life.
Good luck everyone.
Charge!
The one that people tend to remember
is Blackadder goes forth
and in particular the
very last episode,
which was kind of a
landmark in TV history.
Technically and dramatically,
I think it's beautifully done.
The last moment of that was
incredibly brave for a sitcom,
where they go over the front line.
Fantastic way to end a series.
So is Blackadder dead?
No of course he can't be.
He's a legend.
If Blackadder didn't exist
he would have to be invented.
But the marvellous thing
is, he was invented.
And of course he'll live forever.