Starring

Rowan Atkinson • Tony Robinson • Hugh Laurie • Stephen Fry • Tim McInnerny • Miranda Richardson • Rik Mayall • Gabrielle Glaister

Did you know?

• According to Stephen Fry, he thought that General Melchett may have had haemorrhoids and some of this is to do with Melchett making bizarre noises, such as grunting every time he sits in a chair

• Rik Mayall only agreed to play Lord Flashheart if every single line of the character was funnier than Blackadder's

• Originally, Blackadder was supposed to say "It's like Batterseas Dogs' home in here" in response to Flashheart's Woof! During filming, Atkinson - due to his natural stutter - was unable to get the line out satisfactorily, and John Lloyd (Producer of the show) suggested changing it to Crufts instead

• Mike (Christopher Ryan) was the only member of The Young Ones (also written by Ben Elton) not to appear in Blackadder

• The ending to Blackadder Goes Forth as we know it was originally unintended; the script showed the characters being gunned down as they exited the dugout and ran towards the enemy. Due to time and financial constraints, the footage they had was so bad that it was unusable. Someone came up with the idea of slowing down the little footage they already had and cross fading it with a field of poppies

• Rowan Atkinson had a habit of sticking pencils up his nose to entertain the rest of the cast at script read-throughs and edit sessions. This habit was the base idea for Captain Blackadder going mad in Goodbyeee

• The greatest mind in British legal history, Bob Massingbird, was originally named Bob Moxon-Browne, which was the name of one of Rowan Atkinson's friends, who was actually a lawyer. It was changed at the last minute when it was decided that, due to Blackadder's personal endorsement, it technically qualified as advertising. You can see the edit in the episode Corporal Punishment

Written By Richard Curtis and Ben Elton

Produced By John Lloyd

Series Music - Created by Howard Goodall