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