List of Blackadder episodes

This is an episode list of the British sitcom Blackadder. Dates shown are original airdates on BBC One.

Episodes

Unaired pilot

Unaired Pilot (1982)

List of episodes

The Black Adder (First series, 1983)

The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC One on Wednesday evenings, 21:25 – 22:00. Note: The "Ultimate Edition" DVD retains the broadcast order, which switched the second and fourth episodes as "Born to Be King" was not ready for transmission, despite on-screen dates continuing to identify the true order as "Born to Be King", "The Archbishop", "The Queen of Spain's Beard"

Blackadder II (Second series, 1986)

The episodes in this series were originally shown on BBC One on Thursday evenings, 21:30 – 22:00. The episode titles are single word references to the theme of the episode: a wedding, executions, voyages of exploration, debt, drinking alcohol, and imprisonment, respectively.

It is likely that "Head" was originally intended to be the first episode: Lord Percy has a beard in "Head" which he shaves off in "Bells". Also, early scenes in "Head" introduce the audience to the characters, such as the opening scene that shows that Baldrick is now stupid.

Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, CBE (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter best known for his work on the sitcoms Blackadder and Mr. Bean. Atkinson first came to prominence in the sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–82), and via his participation in The Secret Policeman's Balls from 1979. His other work includes the sitcom The Thin Blue Line (1995–1996).

He was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. He has also had cinematic success with his performances in the Mr. Bean movie adaptations Bean and Mr. Bean's Holiday, and also in Johnny English (2003) and its sequel Johnny English Reborn (2011).

Early life and education

Atkinson, the youngest of four brothers, was born in Consett, County Durham, England on 6 January 1955. His parents were Eric Atkinson, a farmer and company director, and Ella May (née Bainbridge), who married on 29 June 1945. His three older brothers are Paul, who died as an infant; Rodney, a Eurosceptic economist who narrowly lost the United Kingdom Independence Party leadership election in 2000; and Rupert. Atkinson was brought up Anglican, and was educated at Durham Choristers School a preparatory school, St. Bees School, and Newcastle University, where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Tony Robinson

Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, comedian, amateur historian, TV presenter and political activist. He is known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party and has served on its National Executive Committee. He has also written sixteen children's books.

Early life

Born in Homerton in the London Borough of Hackney, London, Robinson attended the independent Woodford Green Preparatory School followed by Wanstead County High School (now Wanstead High School), a grammar school in what is now the London Borough of Redbridge. At school, Robinson passed four O-Levels (English Language, English Literature, History and Geography) and went on to study for A-Levels. However, he did not complete his A-Levels and decided to study at a drama school instead. He performed in his first professional acting role at the age of 12, as a member of Fagin's gang in the original production of the musical Oliver!, including a stint as the Artful Dodger when the boy playing the role failed to turn up. Over the next five years, he appeared in a number of West End shows, in film and on television.

Tim McInnerny

Tim McInnerny (/ˌmækᵻˈnɜːrni/ MAK-ə-NUR-nee; born 18 September 1956) is an English actor. He is known for his many roles on television and stage. Early in his career he featured as Lord Percy Percy and Captain Darling in the Blackadder series.

Early life

McInnerny was born in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire to William Ronald McInnerny and Mary Joan (née Gibbings). He was brought up in Cheadle Hulme, and Stroud, Gloucestershire, and educated at Marling School, Stroud, and Wadham College, Oxford.

Career

One of McInnerny's first roles was the bumbling aristocrat Lord Percy Percy in the The Black Adder during the early 1980s. He reprised his role in the second series Blackadder II but declined to do so for the third series for fear of being typecast, though he did make a guest appearance in one episode. The following year, he returned to the cast for the fourth series Blackadder Goes Forth as Captain Kevin Darling, the cowardly aide of Stephen Fry's General Melchett, alongside Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson.

Blackadder

Blackadder is the title that collectively refers to four series of a BBC 1 period British sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the anti-hero Edmund Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, for example Melchett (Stephen Fry) and Lord Flashheart (Rik Mayall).

The first series, The Black Adder, was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, while subsequent episodes were written by Curtis and Ben Elton. The shows were produced by John Lloyd. In 2000, the fourth series, Blackadder Goes Forth, ranked at 16 in the "100 Greatest British Television Programmes", a list created by the British Film Institute. Also in the 2004 TV poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom", Blackadder was voted the second-best British sitcom of all time, topped by Only Fools and Horses. It was also ranked as the 20th-best TV show of all time by Empire magazine.