Blackadder fortunes, regardless of his surroundings. The life of each Blackadder is also entwined with his servant, each from the Baldrick family line (played by Tony Robinson). Each generation acts as the dogsbody to his respective Blackadder. They decrease in intelligence (and in personal-hygiene standards) as their masters' intellect increases. Each Blackadder and Baldrick is also saddled with tolerating the presence of a dim-witted aristocrat. This role was taken in the first two series by Lord Percy Percy, played by Tim McInnerny; with Hugh Laurie playing the role in the third and fourth series, as Prince George, Prince Regent; and Lieutenant
Blackadder Goes Forth battlefield. On viewing the original studio rushes for the 20th anniversary documentary "Blackadder Rides Again", John Lloyd recalls that originally the final scene was "all very embarrassing", as the actors only had to run before they reached the barbed wire in front of the camera, where they had to pretend to die, an effect described by Atkinson as "somewhat unconvincing". It was only in post-production that the final effect was achieved by running the video and audio in slow motion and fading another video of the empty set over the top to make it appear as if the characters had