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One
of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces
the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle
Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Bean triumph,
British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund,
beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose
scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become
the next Archbishop of Canterbury--a deadly occupation if ever there was
one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black
Death, witch smellers (who root out spell makers with their noses), and
ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in
multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the
saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favor from mad Queen Bess
(Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can
either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for
her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir
Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund--as with his ancestor--can never
quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in
late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler
to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish
performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson,
Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger.
With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series
concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is
a career Army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties
whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved
reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates
survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. No small mention can be made
of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of
their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson
(Baldrick), and Tim McInnerny
(Darling, etc.).
(Written by Tom Keogh as an editorial review for Amazon.com)
 
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NTSC VHS
BBC Video released the
Black Adder series on NTSC VHS in 1993: two seperate
tapes for each series, seperate tapes for "Black
Adder's Christmas Carol" and "Black Adder V - Back and Forth",
and a complete VHS set which includes 8 cassettes.
(www.Amazon.com)
R1 DVD
BBC Video released the Black Adder series on five Region
1 DVDs, one set for each season, and a Complete DVD set containing everything
on 5 discs.
(www.Amazon.com)
R2 DVD
BBC Worldwide Publishing released series 1-4 on region 2
DVD in 1999-2001, one set per season, “Black Adder’s Christmas Carol” and
“Black Adder V – Back and Forth” on separate DVDs, and A Complete DVD set
containing only the four original series.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/
The Blackadder Homepage - the official website for the
comedy show Blackadder from BBCi Comedy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A272567
Blackadder is the general name for any one of the four
BBC TV sitcoms and a number of one-off specials based around the life of Edmund
Blackadder.
http://www.blackadderhall.co.uk/
Unofficial residence of the Blackadder family and Baldrick.
http://blackadder.powertie.org/
A repository of Blackadder fanfiction. Includes complete
episode scripts, etc.
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