British Comedy Guide
British Comedy Guide
Blackadder. Mr. Edmund Blackadder, Esquire (Rowan Atkinson)
Blackadder

Blackadder

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 1983 - 2000
  • 26 episodes (4 series)

The Blackadder dynasty has run through English history since time immemorial, seemingly always hampered by a Baldrick, and often a Percy and Melchett. Stars Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and more.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 103

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Blackadder II, Episode 4 - Money

Blackadder. Image shows left to right: Lord Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), Arthur the Sailor (John Pierce Jones), Baldrick (Tony Robinson). Credit: BBC
Blackadder is facing money troubles - or, as he puts it, 'cashflow problems' - that are far from helped when the notorious baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells arrives to call in a thousand-pound debt.

Further details

The Bishop of Bath & Wells arrives to collect on a debt that Edmund owes. The clergy of Elizabethan England could be ruthless in their methods of chastising their flock, which explains the red hot poker the Bishop is brandishing.

Broadcast details

Date
Thursday 6th February 1986
Time
9:30pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Rowan Atkinson Lord Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson Baldrick
Tim McInnerny Percy
Miranda Richardson Queen Elizabeth I
Stephen Fry Lord Melchett
Patsy Byrne Nursie
Guest cast
Ronald Lacey Bishop of Bath & Wells
Cassie Stuart Mollie
Lesley Nicol Mrs. Pants
John Pierce Jones Arthur the Sailor
Tony Aitken Mad Beggar
Philip Pope Leonardo Acropolis
Piers Ibbotson Messenger
Barry Craine Mr. Pants
Writing team
Richard Curtis Writer
Ben Elton Writer
Production team
Mandie Fletcher Director
John Lloyd Producer
Chris Wadsworth Editor
Antony Thorpe Production Designer
Howard Goodall Composer

Press

So Dominic Watt's research team at York University claim to have discovered 30 lost English words, amongs which is "slug-a-bed" (Opinion, 15 September)? Would this be the same "lost" word used in Blackadder II, wherein the titular character played by Rowan Atkinson rouses the Bishop of Bath and Wells from his drugged slumber with "Wakey, wakey, Bish. You clerics really are slug-a-beds"?

Mark Boyle, The Guardian, 9th September 2017

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