Back when the Beeb were churning out very good and humorous comedy series Rowan Atkinson teamed up with comedy writer Richard Curtis (who had worked with Atkinson on 'Not The Nine O'clock News') to produce the first series of Blackadder, a comedy show that chartered the different descendants of Sir Edmund Blackadder through different points in history (the first series being set in Medieval England) and although there were impressive sets and impressive guest stars (Brian Blessed and more), the series failed to engage the viewers and out of all four series is the least popular and the less remembered.
Despite the fact that it is not as good as the follow-up series, someone must have seen that there were some decent laughs there (which there are) and that there might be a lot of potential, thus they commissioned a second, third and fourth series, this time written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Confined to a studio set these sequel series are not as visually stunning as the first series, yet being on a studio set allowed for some very funny gags indeed, especially the ridiculously bad backdrops and more laughs are placed within the shows, while the viewer watches Edmund Blackadder's intelligence increase as his social standing decreases as he descends through the Elizabethan era and the Regency era before ending his days in the trenches of World War One, where we get a fantastically funny and very moving finale indeed.
Blackadder also has a fantastic cast including Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Stephen Fry (Merchant), Tim McCinnery (Percy/Darling), Hugh Laurie (George) and Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth the first amongst others which further enhances the comedies delivery. Series four is easily my favourite for the sheer fact that it gets a very dark message across about war and the leaders at the time in such a funny way. Included is the Christmas special which has a very amusing and different talk on 'A Christmas Carol' and of course the millennium special where Baldrick creates a time machine! With some very funny laughs indeed and some clever references to people from certain eras of history including the era the show was made in, Blackadder is a cult classic British comedy that will be remembered for years to come for its greatness and it certainly proved, even to historians, that the past can be a laugh because this is without any doubt the funniest history lesson you could ever have! Now if only the BBC would come up with cunning plan to create simular great comedy for today's generation...