Blackadder appeared in more than one of the Blackadder series and/or specials. These are: Ben Elton's arrival after the first series heralded the more frequent recruitment of comic actors from the alternative comedy era for guest appearances, including Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall (who had appeared in the final episode of the first series as "Mad Gerald"), Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Mark Arden, Stephen Frost, Chris Barrie and Jeremy Hardy. Elton himself played an anarchist in "Blackadder the Third". Gabrielle Glaister played Bob, an attractive girl who poses as a man, in both series 2 and 4. Rik Mayall plays Lord Flashheart,
Blackadder were produced by John Lloyd. In 2000, the fourth series, "Blackadder Goes Forth", ranked at 16 in the "100 Greatest British Television Programmes", a list created by the British Film Institute. In the 2004 TV poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom", "Blackadder" was voted the second-best British sitcom of all time, topped by "Only Fools and Horses". It was also ranked as the 9th-best TV show of all time by "Empire" magazine. Although each series is set in a different era, all follow the misfortunes of Edmund Blackadder (played by Atkinson), who in each is a member of a British