Rowan Atkinson the two more sequels "Blackadder the Third" (1987) (set in the Regency era), and "Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989) (set in World War I). The "Blackadder" series became one of the most successful of all BBC situation comedies, spawning television specials including "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" (1988), "" (1988), and later "" (1999), which was set at the turn of the Millennium. The final scene of "Blackadder Goes Forth" (when Blackadder and his men go "over the top" and charge into No-Man's-Land) has been described as "bold and highly poignant". During the 2014 centennial of the start of World War I, Michael
Blackadder meeting between Richard Curtis and comedian Ben Elton led to the decision to collaborate on a new series of Blackadder. Recognising the main faults of the first series, Curtis and Elton agreed that "Blackadder II" would be a studio-only production (along with the inclusion of a live audience during recording, instead of showing the episodes to an audience after taping). Besides adding a greater comedy focus, Elton suggested a major change in character emphasis: Baldrick would become the stupid sidekick, while Edmund Blackadder evolved into a cunning sycophant. This led to the familiar set-up that was maintained in the following