Each week, we will be taking an in depth look at some of the best sitcoms and comedy shows from both the UK and the USA.
Today we will be looking at a comedy that was the final theme in the sitcom strand and also won awards as well as having a sad finale based on true events – Blackadder Goes Forth
Opening title Sequence / Theme Tune
About the Show
Summary of Plot
Number of Seasons / Episodes
1 Seasons
Characters:
Rowan Atkinson – Captain Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson – Private S Baldrick
Stephen Fry – General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett
Hugh Laurie – Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St Barliegh
Tim McInnery – Captain Kevin Darling
Trivia
+ Tim McInnerny affected a nervous tick in his eye for the character of Captain Darling, but after the six-week rehearsal and shooting schedule was over, the tick had become second nature and it took him a further two months to get rid of it.
+ The opening band plays the first line of the 18th-century March of the British Grenadiers before segueing into the Blackadder theme.
+ Rowan Atkinson was personally not fond of filming the final shot in the finale Blackadder Goes Forth: Goodbyeee (1989), stating that running towards the camera and falling to the ground with the rest of the actors felt unconvincing. This led to the slow motion shot and fade to the poppy fields during editing.
+ The series was originally to end with Blackadder, Baldrick, Darling, George and all the troops being gunned down instantly by machine gunfire in the big push, when they jump out from the trench and Captain Blackadder was revealed to had feigned his death and was the only survivor.
Classic Clips
General Melchett visit the troops
We’re Your Firing Squad
A Bout of Insanity
Good Luck Everyone
