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: Back & Forth them he will soon return. He informs Baldrick he has a "very, very, very cunning plan", and they set off again in the time machine. The guests watch the broadcast of the royals and the prime minister arriving at the Millennium Dome. Blackadder is shown to now be "King Edmund III", who is married to "Marian of Sherwood" (Kate Moss) and is joined by Prime Minister Baldrick. The cast reunited most of the regulars of series two to four of the television series, who each played a variety of different incarnations of themselves, in a similar fashion to "Blackadder's Christmas