Blackadder Goes Forth from the front, and Melchett's bureaucratic assistant, Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny). Despite the two being of equal rank, Blackadder treats Darling with contempt—while the former is on the front line, the latter is "folding the general's pyjamas". Their animosity is mutual, largely as a result of Blackadder exploiting the comic potential of Darling's surname at every opportunity. "Blackadder Goes Forth" is more satirical in tone than the previous three "Blackadder" series and most sitcoms, taking the opportunity to present an anti-war message. The dialogue is marked throughout by satirical musings about the nature of the war, its origins and
Lions led by donkeys Donkeys" The musical "Oh, What a Lovely War!" (1963) and the comedy television series "Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989) are two well-known works of popular culture, depicting the war as a matter of incompetent donkeys sending noble (or sometimes ignoble, in the case of "Blackadder") lions to their doom. Such works are in the literary tradition of the war poets like Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Erich Maria Remarque's novel (and subsequent film) "All Quiet on the Western Front", which have been criticised by revisionists such as Brian Bond for having given rise to what he considered the myth and conventional