Blackadder: Back & Forth Archdeacon Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny), Major George (Hugh Laurie) and Lady Elizabeth (Miranda Richardson) agree to this and request he bring back a Roman centurion's helmet, wellingtons worn by the Duke of Wellington on the day of the Battle of Waterloo, and a pair of smelly underpants. The whole thing is actually a scam, Blackadder has, in fact, had Baldrick (Tony Robinson) retrieve the items from his stores, and the time machine is just a prop. Blackadder stages the time machine travelling through time for his guests, with himself and Baldrick hiding inside, but when he opens the door he
Blackadder Goes Forth noted that the television series has become a pervasive view of the war in the public's perception of World War I, with Max Hastings calling the common British view of the war "the "Blackadder" take on history." Military historian Richard Holmes commented in his book "The Western Front": "Blackadder's aphorisms have become fact...A well turned line of script can sometimes carry more weight than all the scholarly footnotes in the world." Stephen Badsey, analysing trends in television programmes about the war, remarked that "Blackadder Goes Forth" as a popular comedy series was subject to particular criticism from historians, remarking that