Blackadder Goes Forth

Tim McInnerny's character was originally named Captain Cartwright. Sir Stephen Fry came up with the idea of changing it to Darling (named after a boy at his school), which created a running joke used frequently throughout the series.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Tim McInnerny developed a nervous twitch in his eye for the role of Captain Darling, but after the six-week rehearsal and filming schedule ended, the twitch became second nature and took him another two months to get rid of.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Rowan Atkinson personally disliked filming the final shot of the Goodbyeee (1989) finale and, along with the other actors, felt that running toward the camera and falling to the ground was not convincing. This led to the shot being filmed in slow motion and the poppy field fading during editing.

BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

According to John Lloyd, the series' popularity within the armed forces meant that half the regimental goats had at some point been named 'Baldrick'. Further evidence of the show's popularity can be seen in records from the First Gulf War, where British lines in Iraq were named after characters from the series.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

According to Rowan Atkinson, the tragic series finale Goodbyeee (1989) was written in response to criticism that the First World War was not suitable material for a comedy.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

According to Rowan Atkinson, he had begun to experience his character's anxiety by the final episode, Goodbyeee (1989): "In the weeks leading up to the recording of that last episode, when for the first time in my acting career we were at our peak… even though the rest of the episode was the usual standard comic sitcom, during that week there was a deep churning in my stomach as you thought that, along with your character, you were doomed. It was very strange."

CAREER & AWARDS · SOURCED

Tim McInnerny had refused to continue in the role of Lord Percy, or to take the role of the stupid Prince George in Blackadder the Third (1987), for fear of being seen as an idiot; as a result, his role in the fourth season is far more cunning and nasty than his previous characters.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

There were rumours of a fifth Blackadder series set in another turbulent historical period: 1960s America. One idea for this series was that Baldrick would be revealed to have been the "Second Gunman" during the assassination of President Kennedy (entirely by accident, of course).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The series was originally going to end with Blackadder, Baldrick, Darling, George and all the troops being instantly shot down by machine-gun fire in one big push; they would leap out of the trench and it would be revealed that Captain Blackadder had been faking his death and was the only survivor.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Ben Elton's uncle, the historian Geoffrey Elton, initially expressed concern to his nephew that the series might be seen as disrespectful. Following the bittersweet finale Goodbyeee (1989), Geoffrey called Ben to say he had been wrong.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The decision to put Blackadder in the trenches of the First World War did not come from Ben Elton, Richard Curtis, the actors or the producers. The BBC received an unsolicited script from a young first-time writer for a new Blackadder series set in France during the First World War. The scripts themselves were rejected, but Elton and Curtis liked the idea of a First World War setting and then used it to write Blackadder Goes Forth.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

General Melchett's mannerisms include a laugh or exclamation resembling a bleating sheep. This is an in-joke for fans of Blackadder II (1986), in which Lord Melchett's unnatural attraction to farm animals was revealed.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Although significantly modified, the same set used for the prison infirmary scenes in the popular Ronnie Barker comedy series 'Porridge' was used for the 'General Hospital' episode.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The opening titles play the first verse of the 18th-century march of the British Grenadiers before moving into the Blackadder theme.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Alongside the "later incarnations" of the regular characters Blackadder, Baldrick, George and Melchett, this series is known for featuring "descendant" versions of two fan-favourite one-off characters from Blackadder II (1986): Bob/Kate (Gabrielle Glaister) and Flashheart (Rik Mayall). The series also features previous regulars Tim McInnerny and Miranda Richardson in roles completely different from their earlier characters.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Despite the apparent ages of their characters, there is actually only a two-year age difference between Sir Stephen Fry and Rowan Atkinson, and Atkinson is in fact the older of the two.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The characters of Blackadder Goes Forth actually share the same dynamic as the main characters of Blackadder II (1986). Blackadder has to deal with a mad, unpredictable superior who could either kill him or give him what he wants (Queen Elizabeth I versus General Melchett), while being constantly thwarted by his superior's slimy assistant who hates Blackadder (Lord Melchett versus Captain Darling). Meanwhile, Blackadder gets "help" from his stupid servant Baldrick and an upper-class idiot (Lord Percy versus Lieutenant George).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

This version of the Blackadder character was much older than the actor who played him, Rowan Atkinson. Atkinson was 33/34 when the series was filmed, whereas Blackadder was a full-fledged soldier when he rescued Marshal Hague in 1892; exactly twenty-five years before the series' 1917 setting.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED