Blackadder in which it is set. It is performed mostly with trumpets and timpani in "The Black Adder", the fanfares used suggesting typical medieval court fanfares; with a combination of recorder, string quartet and electric guitar in "Blackadder II"; on oboe, cello and harpsichord (in the style of a minuet) for "Blackadder the Third"; by The Band of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment in "Blackadder Goes Forth"; sung by carol singers in "Blackadder's Christmas Carol"; and by an orchestra in "Blackadder: The Cavalier Years" and "Blackadder: Back & Forth". In 2000, the fourth series, "Blackadder Goes Forth", ranked at 16
Blackadder II the previous series, as the puritanical Lady Whiteadder in "Beer"; and Stephen Fry's comedy partner Hugh Laurie, who appears twice, first as the drunken Simon Partridge in "Beer" and in the final episode as the evil Prince Ludwig. Laurie was later given a larger role as George in the next two series. Also Bob, played by Gabrielle Glaister, a former classmate of Ben Elton's, made her first appearance. Several of the characters were seen in similar guises in later series. The opening titles are accompanied by a mock-Elizabethan arrangement of Howard Goodall's "Blackadder" theme played on a recorder and an