George (Blackadder) kind and hopeful individual, and shortly before the big push at the end of the final episode George finally expresses some genuine fear and sadness that he may indeed die. In the 1989 sketch Shakespeare Sketch Laurie portrays a very George-like William Shakespeare. Lord Blackadder is his agent and manages to persuade him to condense his new play Hamlet. In the series, Lieutenant George is seen wearing the following ribbons: Tim McInnerny, who had starred in "The Black Adder" and "Blackadder II" as Lord Percy Percy, was afraid to be typecast in comedic roles and decided not to appear in
Blackadder Goes Forth the cast, with Richard Curtis having the final say on the content. Fry, Laurie and Atkinson were comic writers and performers themselves, and having worked together on previous series were not afraid to question the script and make suggestions. For example, Captain Darling was originally called "Captain Cartwright" and was renamed when Stephen Fry recalled a boy at his school with the surname "Darling", who had found the name a constant embarrassment. Curtis recalls that he was initially reluctant to change the name, as he considered it a one-off joke. Speaking to "The Times" about the ending of the show