Blackadder: The Cavalier Years Blackadder: The Cavalier Years Blackadder: The Cavalier Years is a 15-minute one-off edition of "Blackadder" set during the English Civil War, shown as part of the first Comic Relief Red Nose Day on BBC1, broadcast on Friday 5 February 1988. The show featured all series regulars except Tim McInnerny and Hugh Laurie with Warren Clarke as a guest star. The episode begins in November 1648. King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland has already lost the Civil War. Only two men remain loyal to him: Sir Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), the sole descendant of the Blackadder dynasty at the
Edmund Blackadder who shot Harold II at The Battle of Hastings. Blackadder is a genuine surname, its usage in the UK currently documented back to the 15th century, which may explain the choice of the name, with the first series being set in this time period. The name is thought to be mostly Scottish in origin, which is not contradicted in the series, as the first Blackadder begins as the Duke of Edinburgh. In the third series it is revealed that a branch of the Blackadder family is a significant clan in Scotland, although they have become known by the name MacAdder.