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The Best...Blackadder series

Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder the Third
  • Posted at 5:10pm
  • 08 June 2009
  • by LauraPledger-RT
  • 4 comments

Show me an episode of Blackadder and, as the man himself might say, I'm as happy as Happy Jack McHappy, the winner of this year's Mr Happy competition. Funnier than most comedy shows around, if about as factually accurate as The Tudors, it's simply great entertainment.

All of Edmund's incarnations have something to recommend them - yes, even the much-derided first one. But my all-time favourite series is Blackadder the Third.

As the put-upon butler to the crass and loudmouthed Prince Regent (a gem of a performance by Hugh Laurie), Blackadder is, verbally, at his most vicious. Rowan Atkinson wrings every last drop of vitriol from each gloriously malicious line. He shoots Laurie's Prince George such scornful looks it's hard to believe he didn't use up the world's supply of disdain.

Whereas his forebears and descendants could appear aloof, even cruel, this Edmund Blackadder is more accessible. We share his indignance that a clever man should be subject to the whims of a dim-witted master. When his blockbuster novel is accidentally consigned to the fire and his chance to better himself goes up in smoke, we feel his pain.

It's not just the performances that are strong. The writing sparkles, whether it's crafting lightning-fast witty ripostes, those famous mind-bending similes or longer, beautifully paced put-downs - you know, the ones where you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

My own personal favourite is directed at Mrs Miggins after she adopts a particularly patronising tone with Blackadder: "They do say, Mrs M, that verbal insults hurt more than physical pain. They are of course wrong, as you will soon discover…when I stick this toasting fork in your head." Delivered by a deadpan Atkinson, it doesn't matter how often I hear it. It cracks me up every time. And wouldn't the English language be so much richer if words like "contrafibularities", "pericabobulations" and "pendegestatory interludity" really existed?

Over the centuries, Blackadder's other guises have included a royal, a noble, a soldier - even a philanthropic businessman - with hilarious consequences. But for my money, out of all of them, we're most privileged to have shared what the butler saw.

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Comments

  • Posted on 14 October 2009
  • at 4:32pm
  • by Dominic

My personal favourite line is "this is the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck to a sticky bun" I use it whenever I can.

  • Posted on 13 September 2009
  • at 2:23pm
  • by Cameron

The best series is Balackadder II and I think most fans of the show would agree.

  • Posted on 27 August 2009
  • at 5:24pm
  • by SteveyG

Whilst I agree with all the above by far the best is the last series with the final scene of the final episode one of the greatest comedy moments of all time. The total waste of WW1 is caught to perfection with the statement "Thank God we survived the 1914- 1917 war!"Just as the boys go over the top.It is that acerbic element to Black Adder which will make it an enduring watch for generations.

  • Posted on 28 July 2009
  • at 6:01pm
  • by CunningPlan

Give me ANY series, ANY episode of Blackadder and I will watch it, but I think your blogger has chosen the best of all the series to write about and I can't say more than that. It was a winner. Any chance of a new series ever being made?

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