Blackadder Goes Forth of the characters of Lord Flashheart and Bob from the second series episode "Bells" and also an appearance of the famous flying ace Baron von Richthofen. A plot thread in the third episode "Major Star" involves Blackadder's dislike of the silent film star Charlie Chaplin, whom he finds "as funny as getting an arrow through the neck, and then finding there's a gas bill tied to it". In the fifth episode, the anti-German sentiment in Britain during the war is repeatedly referenced. General Melchett orders Blackadder to find out what is behind the leak in top-secret battle plans and immediately,
Blackadder Goes Forth noted that the television series has become a pervasive view of the war in the public's perception of World War I, with Max Hastings calling the common British view of the war "the "Blackadder" take on history." Military historian Richard Holmes commented in his book "The Western Front": "Blackadder's aphorisms have become fact...A well turned line of script can sometimes carry more weight than all the scholarly footnotes in the world." Stephen Badsey, analysing trends in television programmes about the war, remarked that "Blackadder Goes Forth" as a popular comedy series was subject to particular criticism from historians, remarking that