Blackadder Goes Forth from the front, and Melchett's bureaucratic assistant, Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny). Despite the two being of equal rank, Blackadder treats Darling with contempt—while the former is on the front line, the latter is "folding the general's pyjamas". Their animosity is mutual, largely as a result of Blackadder exploiting the comic potential of Darling's surname at every opportunity. "Blackadder Goes Forth" is more satirical in tone than the previous three "Blackadder" series and most sitcoms, taking the opportunity to present an anti-war message. The dialogue is marked throughout by satirical musings about the nature of the war, its origins and
Blackadder Goes Forth the series "consciously traded on every cliche and misremembered piece of history about the Western Front, and was influential enough to draw a surprising degree of angry criticism from professional historians as a result." The series has prompted debate among politicians in the UK. In 2014, it was the subject of a public dispute between Conservative politician Michael Gove, then serving as Secretary of State for Education, and Labour activist Tony Robinson, after Gove had written that it presented the war as "a misbegotten shambles - a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite. Even to this day