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
General Hospital (Blackadder) who's been leaking the British battle plans back to the Kaiser, although Blackadder expresses surprise that the army "has" battle plans. Melchett gives Blackadder three weeks to root out the spy, and states that if he succeeds he will be made head of a new intelligence network, Operation Winkle (to winkle out the spies). After Blackadder leaves, Darling expresses his mistrust and asks to go along to keep an eye on Blackadder. Melchett agrees and shoots Darling in the foot to give him a cover story. Blackadder and Baldrick return to the hospital, where Blackadder orders Baldrick to keep an