The Black Adder ambitious, with a large cast and much location shooting. Shakespearean dialogue is sometimes adapted for comic effect. Despite winning an International Emmy, "The Black Adder" is generally regarded as the weakest series of "Blackadder", even by its creators. Set in the Middle Ages, the series is written as an alternative history. It opens on 21 August 1485, the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, which in the series is won not by Henry Tudor (as in reality) but by Richard III. Richard III, played by Peter Cook, is presented as a good king who doted on his nephews, contrary
Blackadder Blackadder Blackadder is a series of four BBC1 pseudohistorical British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired in the 1980s. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the anti-hero Edmund Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, for example Melchett (Stephen Fry) and Lord Flashheart (Rik Mayall). The first series, "The Black Adder", was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, while subsequent episodes were written by Curtis and Ben Elton. The shows