Blackadder meeting between Richard Curtis and comedian Ben Elton led to the decision to collaborate on a new series of Blackadder. Recognising the main faults of the first series, Curtis and Elton agreed that "Blackadder II" would be a studio-only production (along with the inclusion of a live audience during recording, instead of showing the episodes to an audience after taping). Besides adding a greater comedy focus, Elton suggested a major change in character emphasis: Baldrick would become the stupid sidekick, while Edmund Blackadder evolved into a cunning sycophant. This led to the familiar set-up that was maintained in the following
Blackadder (clipper) Blackadder (clipper) Blackadder was a clipper ship, a sister ship to "Hallowe'en", built in 1870 by Maudslay, Sons & Field at Greenwich for Jock Willis & Sons. "Blackadder" was dismasted on her maiden voyage due to failures in the mast fittings and rigging. She "was able to reach the Cape under jury rig 63 days out." John Willis took legal action against the builders which dragged on to such an extent that her sister ship, "Hallowe'en", was not handed over to Willis until nearly 18 months after her launch. After John Willis died in 1900, "Blackadder" was bought by J.