That final , poignant scene and the fade to a field of poppies still tug at your heart no matter how many times you see it. A truly great moment in TV.
Indeed. It is inspired. Gets me every single time. Do you remember the first time you saw it? I was half expecting some comedy twist whereby they all escaped with their lives, but instead you find yourself dealing with unexpected emotions overwhelming you from nowhere. Quite out of left field of poppies, you could say. 🙂 Also, it's strange that arguably the greatest scene of any comedy ever, could be so fundamentally unfunny.
I burst into tears when it faded to the poppies. I actually saw Rowan tell an interviewer that the idea came from one of the junior staff members who had seen the video of the poppies. It still brings tears to my eyes. Sometimes, even though, I love the episode, I don't watch it until then end because it makes me so sad.
As someone with plenty of military, and some combat, experience, I'm "hardened", for lack of better expression. However, I didn't expect that cut and I didn't cry, but I was hit inside with sadness, like being punched. Trench warfare... 🙁
Me dad introduced me to blackadder and rowan atkinson. I was a youngkid. We had enjoyed john cleeses fawlty towers and obviously the pythons amongst other great comedies of their time. I was but a child but I understood slightly more cus me dad sorta reeled me deep into that world. It was eye opening and liberating and I'm grateful for it still. Don't ever lose your humor, good people of Britain. Love from Denmark.
Blackadder goes forth at the end where they went over the top, is actually quite sad and touching, but blackadder was the funniest program on British TV. Even funnier than red dwarf 😂😂😂❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊
I still remember watching that final , poignant scene and the fade to a field of poppies. I was taken by surprise by the shock of the moment. What a way to end a terific TV-series with a quick kick in the gut and a tug at your heart. It doesn't matter how often you see this scene, you keep hoping beyond hope they all survived somehow.
I remember hearing that they thought it was dreadful when the filmed it in the studio. It was only when they saw the finished edit, with the slow motion and different angles, that they realised it had worked.
The show was before my time, but my parents and older sister loved those classic British sitcoms. I grew up watching reruns of Fawlty Towers, Fry and Laurie, Allo Allo, Are You Being Served?, and Blackadder. This show was always my favorite, and one of the most underappreciated abroad. The 4th series and the final scene have always stuck with me. The use of wit, cynicism, and increasingly dark humor to criticize the madness of war stuck with me through my time in the military, and I shared my love of Blackadder with my brothers during our time abroad. We have so many good memories of the many nights of a bunch of 20 somethings howling with laughter to have a few moments of sanity and relief to forget where we were. It's been so many years after the show came to a conclusion, and it still makes new generations laugh hysterically. Masterful work.
Blackadder was a revelation for an American who loves our shared language. The writing was brilliant beyond anything I'd ever known. It is my all time favorite series. The casting matched the writing perfectly, I had my first view of some of my favorite actors. We have nothing comparable by several orders of magnitude. It solidified my love affair with British Television that began with Monty Python in the 70s.
Where tv gets its money from is the key difference. The BBC's UK transmissions cannot by law contain ads. We pay for it via a modest -though compulsory -annual tax levied on all households with a tv set. It's as welcome and as British as lousy cuisine, rain and losing to the Huns on penalties. BBC2 is the Beeb's second channel, launched in the 60s and flopped until a zoologist was given the reins. David Attenborough turned it into the last word in programming excellence, it was he who gave Python their big break in 1969. Neither stood a chance in a commercial framework and to that extent the BBC Act turned out to be the only cunning plan that's ever worked for us, Darling.
@leefi1 - preceded by The Goons - if you appreciate semantics, word-play; musicianship, vocal talent; (and ad-lib that's on par with Billy Connolly and Robin Williams - in Peter Sellers. Ref: Sellers' interview by Parkinson). N-Joy.
The ground crew of 8 squadron RAF in 1986 - 88 had the second series playing constantly to the extent that every member of the ground crew from 3 shifts know the script back to front. Often in a bar someone would quote a line and someone would follow up with the next line with hilarious results to anyone who was in ear shot and not being a blackadder fan. We often visited the RAF base in Akrotiri which had a tea room sort of building called Lady Lamptons . It very quickly was renamed Mrs Miggins by the squadron.
I can't believe they didn't include this gem: "I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry." Still my favourite line in the whole series.
The way I see it, these days there's a war on, and, ages ago, there wasn't a war on. So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away and there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?
We, the Dutch just love British humour and sitcoms! We know and appreciate them all, Dad's Army, Are You Being Served, 'Allo, allo, and of course Blackadder. But, our own national comic treasure, André van Duin, wrote and performed his Baldrick Boom Boom poem joke, already back in 1975, when he played a naughty schoolboy defying his strict school teacher and recited his two-pages-long essay about the neighbours' cat: "Puuuus, puss, puss, puss, puss..." 😂😂😂😂😂
The Last Episode of the 4th series left me shattered...I sat there, in front of the television, just weeping and wailing for the characters, for family members and all the young men uselessly killed and heinously sacrificed in the machinations of the monied class....oh my heart! This last scene so perfectly captures what WWI was all about....a complete waste of humanity....it still hurts to watch....
The very best line is the one Bladder utters in series 2 when in frustrations after failing to teach Baldrick the skill of adding says, “ Baldrick, to you the .Renaissance was something that happened to other people.” Simply brilliant.
I am not ashamed to say I once told a student that. As well as the ‘Who is using the family brain cell today?’ Don’t care that they didn’t get the reference, because I got my satisfaction.
Kirstenirish: I taught high school English for 35 years. I used the line, “Who’s Queen?”. The name stuck and when I retired they gave me a crown and sceptre at the last assembly of the year I retired.
My grandmothers oldest brother was one of those soldiers who had to “go over the top” in WW1. He went from Boston back up to Prince Edward Island, Canada to enlist. He managed to survive the war (he was shot at least once that we know of) but died two months after being discharged of the TB he got in the trenches. He was only 20 years old. She spoke of him often so the end of series 4 was always emotional for me.
...in autumn of 1979 i stood before a monument to the fallen of the last war. No inscription or plaque, just a solomn expression on the 3metre statue. I cried, and since then i can't even think of the dead without breaking down and wailing like someone bereaved but to my knowledge no one in the family was involved in the Belgian campaign. It's wierd that i should feel that only after moving to Germany, Bad Oeynhausen. No other conflict does it to me. The Belgian debacle. Criminal.
@@kirstenirish Same here. When said in public, you would be able to see both I and my husband looking at each other, trying desperately NOT to say this in response and/or giggle.
I loved Stephen Fry as the general. He was so good. And more Brian Blessed please. His character was the most outrageously entertaining ever. My favorite scene of all was where General Melchett was explaining to Darling what he was going to say to Georgina. I don't see how you could write anything more clever than that.
The one where Darling shows him the amount of territory captured in the last battle, it is laid out on the table in front of them. The General asks what scale it is in and Darling says the scale of 1 to 1 (about 1 square yard).
It's funny that less than 4 months ago I was introduced to WILTY, TaskMaster, Mock the Week and 8 out of 10 Cats, and I still immediately recognized David Mitchell's voice
I just happend to stumble upon this while watching you tube, what a gem have I unearthed! I am thoroughly impressed by watching just these clips. The writing is on another level. Decided to watch the whole series!!
"Pitt the toddler? Pitt the embryo? Pitt the glint in the milkman's eye?" "Again, please!" "Here are my genitals, please take them." "Anti-distinctly-minty..." "So he was a stunt codpiece." "Cleaner!" "All right, so you've had a wash, that's no excuse!" "So what you're telling me, Percy, is that something you have never seen is slightly less blue than something else you have never seen."
The final gathering of the protagonists is a unique piece of television history. The cynical career soldier Captain Edmund Blackadder, who deep down knew all the time what was coming to him and that he would one day run out of his luck, the coward Captain Darling who'd thought that he could ride it out on a cushy staff desk job, but was sent to the front line by his General. (One has probably never seen a finer piece of acting than Tim McInnerny's here, when his Captain Darling finally understands the truth - and, above all, comes to terms with it in the end.) The others are the naive and not very bright hooray-henry-ish young aristocrat Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh and Private Baldrick, the touching eternal underdog from Cockney London. They are scared and, for the first time, say so, but then, maybe it hadn't occured to them before that they had a reason to be scared. And in the end, "Good luck everyone", Captain Blackadder's final words and the last words in the series, are the first, not just in the episode, not just in this series, but in the entire show, he utters without cynicism. I believe that Rowan Atkinson is much underrated as an actor. The only superficially funny figure of Lieutenant George is actually shockingly close to a tragic historic reality. Charles Spencer writes 2010 in Vanity Fair: "When the First World War arrived, in 1914, the aristocracy welcomed it. They saw this as a chance to justify their position, by assuming the mantle of military leadership that had been the original role of many of their ancestors. But the war was disastrous for them: frequently, the young lords were given junior commissions on the battlefront, leading their men with bravery in their hearts but only a pistol or a baton in their hands. They were first in the German machine-gunners’ sights. While one in eight British soldiers perished during the four-year conflict, the ratio was one in five for the nobility... After peace, it seemed that the aristocracy was spent. As a political observer wrote at the time, “The Feudal System vanished in blood and fire, and the landed classes were consumed.”"
I can only imagine the war as it was only beginning must have had something of lustre about it to many people, not just the nobility. "Pip pip! Let's leave the country and give those pesky Germans a good seeing to for a bit of sport! This should be a jolly good show!". I wonder how long that lasted for these? A couple of weeks, maybe?
Nothing is perfect but this show comes ever so close. The writers, the cast, the performances, the timing. Being shot in the neck with an arrow only to find there's a gas bill attached, and Great booze up. Nothing short of genius. Good luck coming close in the future. However one scene was glaringly absent from the list. Blackadder says to Baldrick, "Well go out into the street and hire me a horse. Baldrick's reply is amazing. "Hire you a horse? For nine-pence?On Jewish new year in the rain, a mere fortnight after the dreaded horse plague of old London town, with the blacksmith's strike in its' sixteenth week and the Dorset horse fetishist's Fair tomorrow?" Baldrick's great moment.
#1 is richly deserved for the final scenes of Blackadder Goes Forth. My great-uncle James fell at the age of 18 in Northern France. His final resting place is in Bertenacre Military Cemetery. I had the good fortune to visit this hallowed ground, in the middle of a large ploughed area, adjacent to a busy carriageway. But the sounds of any vehicles was lost across the furrowed soil and the hushed tranquility of that place belies the cacophony of rifle-, machine gun- and artillery fire which comprised all of their final moments. To all who have fought for the genuine freedom from oppression, thank you.
My favorite line out of all of them was when Baldrick was with the Infanta having to “take one for the team” and you hear the interpreter say “Again please” 🤣
I think Tim's choice to forget about percy was the best decision the show made to be honest. Although Percy was amusing the rivalry between Darling and Blackadder had far better chemistry and I found far more amusing.
Blackadder : I seek information about a Wisewoman. Young Crone : Ah, the Wisewoman... the Wisewoman. Blackadder : Yes, the Wisewoman. Young Crone : Two things, my lord, must thee know of the Wisewoman. First, she is... a woman. And second, she is... Blackadder : Wise? Young Crone : You do know her then? Blackadder : No, just a wild stab in the dark which is, incidentally, what you'll be getting if you don't start being a bit more helpful. Do you know where she lives? Young Crone : Of course. Blackadder : Where? Young Crone : Here. Do you have an appointment? Blackadder : No. Young Crone : Well, you can go in anyway. Blackadder : Thank you young crone. Here is a purse of moneys... which I'm not going to give to you.
Funniest moment for me was when Wellington kicked the Prince Regent through the coffee table, but the best moment was the going over the top at the end. Also when Blackadder says, “Well I’m afraid it’ll have to wait.” look at Darling’s reaction, you can see his heart sink, knowing what’s going to happen, brilliantly acted by Tim McInnerny.
I will never forget the night the episode with Rick Mayal and Rowan Attickson together aired for the first time. The next day at school (Royal Russell) everyone was re-enacting scenes and lines worked there way into class. Blackadder and The Young Ones had a huge impact. But you appreciate it more and more with age and wisdom.
I adore all the Blackadder series! absolute genius and marvelous acting all!Rowan Atkinson, Stephan Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Flashheart, and of course, Dr. Who M'laddy!
I'm missing some of my favorites. But, alas, taste is different ... # 1 absolutely nails it, no doubt about it. I would have loved the scene when a bunch of soldiers shows up in Edmund's jail cell, introducing themselves as his firing squad. Or the children-eating Arch Bishop of Balls and Wells ("get the door, Baldrick") ("Have your ever considered a career in the church?") ("Do you have children?" - "No, I'm not married" - "In this case, I skip breakfast and get right to business"). Or the actors reacting to Macbeth ("Hot potato in the stove, pluck will make amends"). But, once again, the series was THAT brilliant that one could easily do a "Best Of" with 50 or 100 scenes, and each and every one would be hilarious! BTW: I'm from Germany, and in the early Nineties, the series had been broadcasted with German subtitles (hey, don't get lost in translation, y'know) provided by the broadcasting German TV station - and these German subtitles were way better than any of the "official" DVDs/BluRays etc. so far. Alas, I had it all on video tape, but there's no tape machine left to enjoy these ... "Fate vomits into my face again"
"Wee Jock Poo Pong McPlop" is one of my very favourite lines, delivered perfectly by the man who enunciates his 'B's and 'P's like his life depends on them. Crack up every time.
When asked by the Hugh Lawrie character in the last series of Blackadder as to what is the procedure when one steps on a mine Blackadder's answer is "...to jump about 200 feet in to the air and scatter ones body parts over the surrounding area."
It's so poignant...I totally agree. Show's the idiocy of war. Wastige of lives, and gluttony of hatred instead of patience and love for our fellow man. WHEN will we learn?
@@jo-hd1kx problem is that every new generation thinks is smarter and better then previous one....and history is forgotten or not look at as we arent stupid as they were....look at this new generation of political correctness and new age spirituality...they think no one has thought of that...they did but it didnt work....
What has happened to sitcoms? Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools, Vicar of Dibey - all fantastic and still make me laugh even after many viewings. These days sitcoms are mildly amusing, but never make me laugh out loud. For the most laughs per minute, Fawlty Towers was the best.
I am still, to this day, genuinely disappointed that Brian Blessed did not return in "Blackadder the Third" to play Jane Austen - the "huge Yorkshireman with a beard like a rhododendron bush."
I found this just last night, saved it for today, and WOW, i need to watch this series again. so good. I originaly saw the 4th series on VHS back in the 90s, (It was recomended by the corse i was studying, subject WW1) and thought it was grim-brilliant, and didnt know till some years later that there was FOUR seasons... i saw them all as fast as i could get my hands on them and now i feel a need to watch them again. so much fun.
Its hard to believe the series was made in the 80s. The humor is timeless. Just as funny today as it ever was. One of my favorite lines : “the Flanders pigeon MURDERAH!!”
The 80's was a great time for everything, drama, comedy, music, fashion, it was a classic era, one which we will never see the like of again. What do we have now that compares?
What it made it timeless (literally) was because it was a costume sitcom. We are not bothered by fashion of the time which will get it locked in that timeframe. Porridge is like that aswell, because it was set in a prison.
I was waiting for one of these two: "We're in the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun." "A war hasn't been fought this badly since Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings, accidentally ordered 80,000 battle helmets with the horns on the inside."
I'm 54, and I was 25 when I first became acquainted with Blackadder. I was given the box set of all four series as an anniversary gift. That gift sparked a love affair with Blackadder that endures to this day. If I'd loved being married even half as much as I do Blackadder, I'd still be married! :D
I was lucky enough to have this accompany my childhood. Its wit and innuendo, the comedy that would only be understood by an older ear, gave me something to look up to and learn with my naiive, inquisitive mind. Questions of Mum, what does this mean? And my older family members chuckling and giggling, it must have been quite funny for them to dance around those questions as I scratched my head and wondered what adults do with their time. As I did, indeed mature, I was lucky, yet again, to have something like Blackadder on TV. The intelligence and quick-paced humour always keeping my mind amused and satisfied. I also had the privilege of enjoying 'The Young Ones' series and all the other spin-off comedy, like 'Bottom' and 'Mr. Bean'. Yet again, my luck was on a roll, as my Uncle, a real-life version of the dastardly cunning Blackadder, himself, had taped everything that was on TV throughout the 80s and 90s, and so we had an awesome collection of TV gold, faithfully made by my Uncle, for whom I will forever be grateful. I remember watching that end scene in Blackadder goes forth, where they are going over the top, and I think of my late Grandad, who fought in the Desert against Rommel. I picture the series Allo, Allo, and also 'Dad's Army', where at the end of each episode, you'd hear the air-raid siren blaring... I always got a lump in my throat and a sense of fear that I never had to have, growing up as a kid, thanks to the bravery and self-sacrifice that people like my Grandparents gave... And I am forever grateful to all my elders, for everything they did to contribute towards a better world, a better life for me. Thank you.
I was always amused by the reversed trajectories of the Blackadders and the Baldricks. Initially, Blackadder was the fool and Baldrick was actually rather cunning, and by the end, they had switched entirely. I personally liked the second series best.
Prince George's line, "..and it wasn't until later that I thought how clever it would've been to have said, "OH BUGGER OFF, YOU OLD FART!" always gets me!
All those young men screwed over by an uncaring totally disconnected hirearchy .How many men of science,medicine,engineering etc etc were wasted in the bloody fields of this war ? NOT a cunning plan my lords !
Along with knowing and being able to sing all the words of Bohemian Rhapsody, being able to quote famous Blackadder lines is now a quintessential part of being British. I have met people online and instantly established a rapport with Blackadder quotes.
- favourite moments are in the last series when the corporal says - on the way to Blackadder's execution - 'I have to admire your ball sir' - and Blackadder says, 'perhaps, later.' and the repartee between the firing squad visiting Blackadder the day before the execution. Also Blackadder's reply as to where he would like to stand to be shot at the wall and he says 'behind it.'
While there are too many great moments to comment on, I have to say the "Macbeth" scene from season's 3 "Sense and Sensibility" will always be by favorite one.
Being an American I had to search this out to find it. It is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. As far as I'm aware it's never been on American t.v. I want to buy a box set. If you've not seen this yet then you really have no idea what you are missing.
It was a bit of a mistake to think… “maybe I’ll just watch four or five minutes of this” at half one in the morning. You fool Darling.
schoolboy error :-)
@Val O'Connell l
Me right now
Ha, indeed 👏
Just gone 2am and cannot stop watching
That final , poignant scene and the fade to a field of poppies still tug at your heart no matter how many times you see it. A truly great moment in TV.
Indeed. It is inspired. Gets me every single time. Do you remember the first time you saw it? I was half expecting some comedy twist whereby they all escaped with their lives, but instead you find yourself dealing with unexpected emotions overwhelming you from nowhere. Quite out of left field of poppies, you could say. 🙂
Also, it's strange that arguably the greatest scene of any comedy ever, could be so fundamentally unfunny.
I burst into tears when it faded to the poppies. I actually saw Rowan tell an interviewer that the idea came from one of the junior staff members who had seen the video of the poppies. It still brings tears to my eyes. Sometimes, even though, I love the episode, I don't watch it until then end because it makes me so sad.
I cry every time I see that scene 😭
I watched the whole series in order and did not know about it until I saw it. Unexpectedly. I wept and wept.
As someone with plenty of military, and some combat, experience, I'm "hardened", for lack of better expression. However, I didn't expect that cut and I didn't cry, but I was hit inside with sadness, like being punched. Trench warfare... 🙁
Me dad introduced me to blackadder and rowan atkinson. I was a youngkid. We had enjoyed john cleeses fawlty towers and obviously the pythons amongst other great comedies of their time. I was but a child but I understood slightly more cus me dad sorta reeled me deep into that world. It was eye opening and liberating and I'm grateful for it still.
Don't ever lose your humor, good people of Britain.
Love from Denmark.
You mean Londonistan?
"Thank God! We lived through it, the Great War, 1914 to 1917." That was such a gut punch.
Yes! I always thought, why are they laughing????
I thought the same thing
Blackadder goes forth at the end where they went over the top, is actually quite sad and touching, but blackadder was the funniest program on British TV.
Even funnier than red dwarf 😂😂😂❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😊
the last piece in WW1 always makes me shiver, so well done and then ... the poppies
they grow well on corpses: Those fields of poppies are what made me shiver... Reminds me of karma and the cycle of life at the same time.
I still remember watching that final , poignant scene and the fade to a field of poppies. I was taken by surprise by the shock of the moment. What a way to end a terific TV-series with a quick kick in the gut and a tug at your heart. It doesn't matter how often you see this scene, you keep hoping beyond hope they all survived somehow.
I remember hearing that they thought it was dreadful when the filmed it in the studio.
It was only when they saw the finished edit, with the slow motion and different angles, that they realised it had worked.
Still not as good as the final scene of Mitchell and Webb. Anyone can make fun of war. It takes some intellect to make fun of dementia.
This was actually the best ending of a series I have ever seen....Thanks for remembering our Grandpas....It was not that long ago.
The show was before my time, but my parents and older sister loved those classic British sitcoms. I grew up watching reruns of Fawlty Towers, Fry and Laurie, Allo Allo, Are You Being Served?, and Blackadder. This show was always my favorite, and one of the most underappreciated abroad. The 4th series and the final scene have always stuck with me. The use of wit, cynicism, and increasingly dark humor to criticize the madness of war stuck with me through my time in the military, and I shared my love of Blackadder with my brothers during our time abroad. We have so many good memories of the many nights of a bunch of 20 somethings howling with laughter to have a few moments of sanity and relief to forget where we were. It's been so many years after the show came to a conclusion, and it still makes new generations laugh hysterically. Masterful work.
You might try "As Time Goes By" with Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Not slapstick, but very funny.
Blackadder was a revelation for an American who loves our shared language. The writing was brilliant beyond anything I'd ever known. It is my all time favorite series. The casting matched the writing perfectly, I had my first view of some of my favorite actors. We have nothing comparable by several orders of magnitude. It solidified my love affair with British Television that began with Monty Python in the 70s.
Where tv gets its money from is the key difference. The BBC's UK transmissions cannot by law contain ads. We pay for it via a modest -though compulsory -annual tax levied on all households with a tv set. It's as welcome and as British as lousy cuisine, rain and losing to the Huns on penalties. BBC2 is the Beeb's second channel, launched in the 60s and flopped until a zoologist was given the reins. David Attenborough turned it into the last word in programming excellence, it was he who gave Python their big break in 1969. Neither stood a chance in a commercial framework and to that extent the BBC Act turned out to be the only cunning plan that's ever worked for us, Darling.
@leefi1 - preceded by The Goons -
if you appreciate semantics, word-play; musicianship, vocal talent; (and ad-lib that's on par with Billy Connolly and Robin Williams - in Peter Sellers. Ref: Sellers' interview by Parkinson).
N-Joy.
You are American, but you're a Brit at heart because you get it.
If only we could be where we belong.
Yes prime minister is another treat.
mirrandas portrayal of Elizabeth 1 is the best, better than all those in the movies she is perfect for this part.
the entire saga was epic, but the final scenes were profound. Truly thought provoking and heart rending.
@@vandalayindustries3057 you don't have a job.
@@vandalayindustries3057 you can always dream of the yankees though ^^
Extremely
Other comments think it's Seinfeld
Not one voice will disagree with you.
The ground crew of 8 squadron RAF in 1986 - 88 had the second series playing constantly to the extent that every member of the ground crew from 3 shifts know the script back to front. Often in a bar someone would quote a line and someone would follow up with the next line with hilarious results to anyone who was in ear shot and not being a blackadder fan. We often visited the RAF base in Akrotiri which had a tea room sort of building called Lady Lamptons . It very quickly was renamed Mrs Miggins by the squadron.
HURRAH!!!! WOOF!!!!!
Genius . When I first saw it all those years ago , I loved it Still love it all these years later
Stephen fry screaming 'TEA!' in hugh's ear is my message alert.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
My favorite is the two actors having to go through that superstitious and hilarious ritual every time Edmund says, "MacBeth!".
Where do I start on how funny this was, perhaps I'll mention the end after the laughter there was tear-jerking sadness. What a masterpiece
Simply some of my favorite performers at their absolute best with amazing scripts and storylines. An everlasting joy
"Mornin' sir. We're your firing squad. " Best guest scene of all, where even Atkinson was upstaged.
We aim to please. :))))
I can't believe they didn't include this gem: "I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry." Still my favourite line in the whole series.
Lol 😆 brilliant line
The way I see it, these days there's a war on, and, ages ago, there wasn't a war on. So, there must have been a moment when there not being a war on went away and there being a war on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?
@@grahamlive Do you mean, how did the war start?
@@grahamlive Funny but also profound
I think even better is: "It was too much effort NOT to have a war."
We, the Dutch just love British humour and sitcoms! We know and appreciate them all, Dad's Army, Are You Being Served, 'Allo, allo, and of course Blackadder. But, our own national comic treasure, André van Duin, wrote and performed his Baldrick Boom Boom poem joke, already back in 1975, when he played a naughty schoolboy defying his strict school teacher and recited his two-pages-long essay about the neighbours' cat: "Puuuus, puss, puss, puss, puss..." 😂😂😂😂😂
The Last Episode of the 4th series left me shattered...I sat there, in front of the television, just weeping and wailing for the characters, for family members and all the young men uselessly killed and heinously sacrificed in the machinations of the monied class....oh my heart! This last scene so perfectly captures what WWI was all about....a complete waste of humanity....it still hurts to watch....
You nailed it sister.
stolen
Oh dont worry. They will continue to have wars for money. 😢
Always, a;ways when I watch the last episode, it brings tears to my eyes. What an incredibly superbly written and acted series.
Tom Baker's cameo especially the interaction with Nursie was fantastic, a true highlight of the entire show
Amazing script amazing acting and an ending that did what all good humour should make you feel...human !
The very best line is the one Bladder utters in series 2 when in frustrations after failing to teach Baldrick the skill of adding says, “ Baldrick, to you the .Renaissance was something that happened to other people.” Simply brilliant.
I am not ashamed to say I once told a student that. As well as the ‘Who is using the family brain cell today?’ Don’t care that they didn’t get the reference, because I got my satisfaction.
Kirstenirish: I taught high school English for 35 years. I used the line, “Who’s Queen?”. The name stuck and when I retired they gave me a crown and sceptre at the last assembly of the year I retired.
I like "You twist and turn like a... twisty turny thing!"😄Fry is perfect in these roles.
@@kirstenirish ... your statement qualifies you for the title of 'douchebag'.
@@pseudonayme7717 , "... and you can call me 'Susan' if it isn't so.".
My grandmothers oldest brother was one of those soldiers who had to “go over the top” in WW1. He went from
Boston back up to Prince Edward Island, Canada to enlist. He managed to survive the war (he was shot at least once that we know of) but died two months after being discharged of the TB he got in the trenches. He was only 20 years old. She spoke of him often so the end of series 4 was always emotional for me.
Thanks, you story had me in stitches. The TB especially. Hilarious.
@@archibaldbagge1235 What a sicko you are.
@CA Babyboomerq How old are you? I ask because you say that your great uncle was a soldier in WWI.
@@shirleypena4133 in my 70s. He was the 3rd oldest of 11 children. The youngest was in WW2!
...in autumn of 1979 i stood before a monument to the fallen of the last war. No inscription or plaque, just a solomn expression on the 3metre statue. I cried, and since then i can't even think of the dead without breaking down and wailing like someone bereaved but to my knowledge no one in the family was involved in the Belgian campaign. It's wierd that i should feel that only after moving to Germany, Bad Oeynhausen. No other conflict does it to me. The Belgian debacle. Criminal.
The end of the show brought tears to my eyes, the utter madness and callousness of ordering young men into machine gun fire
A truly wonderful series. The cast, the writers. Marvellous
"Baldrick do you know what irony is?"
"Yeah, its like goldy and bronzy but it's made of iron"
Thanks to Blackadder I can never hear or read that word and not think about it.
@@kirstenirish Same here. When said in public, you would be able to see both I and my husband looking at each other, trying desperately NOT to say this in response and/or giggle.
One of my absolute favourite episodes is the Archbishop of Canterbury one. The scene "My son, Father, Father, My Son" is brilliant.
I miss the mention of "The Actors". Connor and Paddick were both out of this world fantastic in that episode.
I watched every single episode of the show and particularly liked the countertenor singing the theme music
As a Darling I hadn't heard an original joke on my name since the second grade. Then these guys come along... dammit darling.
"What is the matter with you, Darling?!" It truely must have been hell on earth ;-)
I loved Stephen Fry as the general. He was so good. And more Brian Blessed please. His character was the most outrageously entertaining ever. My favorite scene of all was where General Melchett was explaining to Darling what he was going to say to Georgina. I don't see how you could write anything more clever than that.
Baaaah!
The one where Darling shows him the amount of territory captured in the last battle, it is laid out on the table in front of them. The General asks what scale it is in and Darling says the scale of 1 to 1 (about 1 square yard).
@@kiwitrainguy Yes. These were hilarious.
@@kiwitrainguy look there's a little worm!
To play a character that is nothing short of a comedy monster, takes true skill and must’ve been a blast
This is what we do best, humour, history and taking the piss out of it all.
It is amazing that even the narrator of the Most cunning moments of Blackadder is a legend himself :D
Who
@@irfankhan2378 David Mitchell from "That Mitchell and Webb Look"
It's funny that less than 4 months ago I was introduced to WILTY, TaskMaster, Mock the Week and 8 out of 10 Cats, and I still immediately recognized David Mitchell's voice
Possibly chosen due to the fact Blackadder & his sitcom Upstart Crow are both written by Ben Elton!!?
I just happend to stumble upon this while watching you tube, what a gem have I unearthed! I am thoroughly impressed by watching just these clips. The writing is on another level. Decided to watch the whole series!!
Which series?
@@kathp6689 Blackadder obviously 🤨
@@vasanthanand1319 I meant which number series 1 , 2, 3 or 4??
@@kathp6689 I watched all of them
"Pitt the toddler? Pitt the embryo? Pitt the glint in the milkman's eye?"
"Again, please!"
"Here are my genitals, please take them."
"Anti-distinctly-minty..."
"So he was a stunt codpiece."
"Cleaner!" "All right, so you've had a wash, that's no excuse!"
"So what you're telling me, Percy, is that something you have never seen is slightly less blue than something else you have never seen."
i find one scene in particular. B goes forth....'Deny everything, Ba'ldrick........Are you private Baldrick. '.'NOOOOOO'....
David bloody Mitchell narrating just makes this perfect.
as soon as I clicked this video, I was utterly delighted to hear David's voice, 2 of my favourite things combined
My sister and her husband had a pet rabbit called Baldrick - because he always looked through the bars of his cage as if he had a cunning plan.
Was it a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel?😁
Mirranda Richardson I think the best role she has ever played including her blockbuster movies. Keep on with your skills Mirranda.
The final gathering of the protagonists is a unique piece of television history. The cynical career soldier Captain Edmund Blackadder, who deep down knew all the time what was coming to him and that he would one day run out of his luck, the coward Captain Darling who'd thought that he could ride it out on a cushy staff desk job, but was sent to the front line by his General. (One has probably never seen a finer piece of acting than Tim McInnerny's here, when his Captain Darling finally understands the truth - and, above all, comes to terms with it in the end.)
The others are the naive and not very bright hooray-henry-ish young aristocrat Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh and Private Baldrick, the touching eternal underdog from Cockney London. They are scared and, for the first time, say so, but then, maybe it hadn't occured to them before that they had a reason to be scared.
And in the end, "Good luck everyone", Captain Blackadder's final words and the last words in the series, are the first, not just in the episode, not just in this series, but in the entire show, he utters without cynicism. I believe that Rowan Atkinson is much underrated as an actor.
The only superficially funny figure of Lieutenant George is actually shockingly close to a tragic historic reality. Charles Spencer writes 2010 in Vanity Fair:
"When the First World War arrived, in 1914, the aristocracy welcomed it. They saw this as a chance to justify their position, by assuming the mantle of military leadership that had been the original role of many of their ancestors. But the war was disastrous for them: frequently, the young lords were given junior commissions on the battlefront, leading their men with bravery in their hearts but only a pistol or a baton in their hands. They were first in the German machine-gunners’ sights. While one in eight British soldiers perished during the four-year conflict, the ratio was one in five for the nobility... After peace, it seemed that the aristocracy was spent. As a political observer wrote at the time, “The Feudal System vanished in blood and fire, and the landed classes were consumed.”"
Lol
@@lesliehayter2129 what a surname eh...... ooops i just bit... me bad...
Xxx
That was amazing. Thank you.
I can only imagine the war as it was only beginning must have had something of lustre about it to many people, not just the nobility. "Pip pip! Let's leave the country and give those pesky Germans a good seeing to for a bit of sport! This should be a jolly good show!". I wonder how long that lasted for these? A couple of weeks, maybe?
Perfectly put
Nothing is perfect but this show comes ever so close. The writers, the cast, the performances, the timing. Being shot in the neck with an arrow only to find there's a gas bill attached, and Great booze up. Nothing short of genius. Good luck coming close in the future. However one scene was glaringly absent from the list.
Blackadder says to Baldrick, "Well go out into the street and hire me a horse.
Baldrick's reply is amazing.
"Hire you a horse? For nine-pence?On Jewish new year in the rain, a mere fortnight after the dreaded horse plague of old London town, with the blacksmith's strike in its' sixteenth week and the Dorset horse fetishist's Fair tomorrow?"
Baldrick's great moment.
Awesome thanks.
Great Booze up is my favourite also!! His timing ..immaculate
#1 is richly deserved for the final scenes of Blackadder Goes Forth.
My great-uncle James fell at the age of 18 in Northern France.
His final resting place is in Bertenacre Military Cemetery.
I had the good fortune to visit this hallowed ground, in the middle of a large ploughed area, adjacent to a busy carriageway.
But the sounds of any vehicles was lost across the furrowed soil and the hushed tranquility of that place belies the cacophony of rifle-, machine gun- and artillery fire which comprised all of their final moments.
To all who have fought for the genuine freedom from oppression, thank you.
My favorite line out of all of them was when Baldrick was with the Infanta having to “take one for the team” and you hear the interpreter say “Again please” 🤣
I think Tim's choice to forget about percy was the best decision the show made to be honest. Although Percy was amusing the rivalry between Darling and Blackadder had far better chemistry and I found far more amusing.
Blackadder : I seek information about a Wisewoman.
Young Crone : Ah, the Wisewoman... the Wisewoman.
Blackadder : Yes, the Wisewoman.
Young Crone : Two things, my lord, must thee know of the Wisewoman. First, she is... a woman. And second, she is...
Blackadder : Wise?
Young Crone : You do know her then?
Blackadder : No, just a wild stab in the dark which is, incidentally, what you'll be getting if you don't start being a bit more helpful. Do you know where she lives?
Young Crone : Of course.
Blackadder : Where?
Young Crone : Here. Do you have an appointment?
Blackadder : No.
Young Crone : Well, you can go in anyway.
Blackadder : Thank you young crone. Here is a purse of moneys... which I'm not going to give to you.
brilliant! quite a few brilliant moments that were missed. the bishop of bath and wells. and "oh, it's a scythe" scene
You missed the 'That it be' line lol- I always considered it part of this great scene :)
I thought Miriam was really lovely as the Infanta lmao 😭
This show, in all it's series, was just perfect
Funniest moment for me was when Wellington kicked the Prince Regent through the coffee table, but the best moment was the going over the top at the end. Also when Blackadder says, “Well I’m afraid it’ll have to wait.” look at Darling’s reaction, you can see his heart sink, knowing what’s going to happen, brilliantly acted by Tim McInnerny.
2:36-3:05 Love the gorgeous rendition of the Blackadder theme song. 😊😊
One of the greatest scenes in cinematography. I've watched it a million times and it still leaves a lump in my throat. AND it's comedy 😂😂😂
I will never forget the night the episode with Rick Mayal and Rowan Attickson together aired for the first time. The next day at school (Royal Russell) everyone was re-enacting scenes and lines worked there way into class. Blackadder and The Young Ones had a huge impact. But you appreciate it more and more with age and wisdom.
Tom Baker's "You have a woman's hand m'lord !" riff,(from the Potato episode), is up there with "Who's on first?"
I adore all the Blackadder series! absolute genius and marvelous acting all!Rowan Atkinson, Stephan Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Flashheart, and of course, Dr. Who M'laddy!
I'm missing some of my favorites. But, alas, taste is different ... # 1 absolutely nails it, no doubt about it. I would have loved the scene when a bunch of soldiers shows up in Edmund's jail cell, introducing themselves as his firing squad. Or the children-eating Arch Bishop of Balls and Wells ("get the door, Baldrick") ("Have your ever considered a career in the church?") ("Do you have children?" - "No, I'm not married" - "In this case, I skip breakfast and get right to business"). Or the actors reacting to Macbeth ("Hot potato in the stove, pluck will make amends"). But, once again, the series was THAT brilliant that one could easily do a "Best Of" with 50 or 100 scenes, and each and every one would be hilarious!
BTW: I'm from Germany, and in the early Nineties, the series had been broadcasted with German subtitles (hey, don't get lost in translation, y'know) provided by the broadcasting German TV station - and these German subtitles were way better than any of the "official" DVDs/BluRays etc. so far. Alas, I had it all on video tape, but there's no tape machine left to enjoy these ...
"Fate vomits into my face again"
"Wee Jock Poo Pong McPlop" is one of my very favourite lines, delivered perfectly by the man who enunciates his 'B's and 'P's like his life depends on them. Crack up every time.
Blackadder was so simply funny. But that last episode… That was truly touching..
_"Luck? Don't you get it! Sounds a bit like........."_ Ending theme song with impeccable timing. 😂
When asked by the Hugh Lawrie character in the last series of Blackadder as to what is the procedure when one steps on a mine Blackadder's answer is "...to jump about 200 feet in to the air and scatter ones body parts over the surrounding area."
That final scene has me crying like a baby every time.
It's so poignant...I totally agree.
Show's the idiocy of war. Wastige of lives, and gluttony of hatred instead of patience and love for our fellow man. WHEN will we learn?
@@monkmell I nearly said, that we never learn, & sadly I don't think we ever will & It breaks my heart.
@@jo-hd1kx problem is that every new generation thinks is smarter and better then previous one....and history is forgotten or not look at as we arent stupid as they were....look at this new generation of political correctness and new age spirituality...they think no one has thought of that...they did but it didnt work....
me too [el'sda2]
Me too.
I'm so happy that dictionary scene made it to the top ten
lol@“Baldrick was the stupidest creature ever, but he’s also a hero. He represents the lower classes.” What a compliment to the common man.
My favorite line of all time is Tony Robinson's "Oh dear, Richard the Third"
I loved Black Adder and Monty Python when I was in junior high school and high school. I was the weirdo and I loved it. This was a great video!
I watched the first Blackadder at school and by the time the second one was made I was obsessed.
What has happened to sitcoms? Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools, Vicar of Dibey - all fantastic and still make me laugh even after many viewings. These days sitcoms are mildly amusing, but never make me laugh out loud. For the most laughs per minute, Fawlty Towers was the best.
And Father Ted!
I loved that show.
Ghosts is brilliant. There's others but that's the best one right now.
"We're your firing squad Sir" might have made it
Yet, they left out anything about the "Scottish play" episode.
_You mean Macbeth?_
...
Hot potato
Orchestra stalls
Puck will make amends!
Yes, that was really a disappointment!
ROOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Unaccustomed as I am....
They're all actors. Every time they said Macbeth they'd have to do that thing.
I've actually played Macbeth so I get a pass.
Late 1980's. Watching it it 35 years later makes it seem ahead if this time, let alone that time.
I am still, to this day, genuinely disappointed that Brian Blessed did not return in "Blackadder the Third" to play Jane Austen - the "huge Yorkshireman with a beard like a rhododendron bush."
Oh, yes. That would have been comedy PLATINUM
I found this just last night, saved it for today, and WOW, i need to watch this series again. so good. I originaly saw the 4th series on VHS back in the 90s, (It was recomended by the corse i was studying, subject WW1) and thought it was grim-brilliant, and didnt know till some years later that there was FOUR seasons... i saw them all as fast as i could get my hands on them and now i feel a need to watch them again. so much fun.
Justin, from one great Black Adder fan to another, thank you for this from here in the Pacific Northwest.
Its hard to believe the series was made in the 80s. The humor is timeless. Just as funny today as it ever was.
One of my favorite lines : “the Flanders pigeon MURDERAH!!”
The 80's was a great time for everything, drama, comedy, music, fashion, it was a classic era, one which we will never see the like of again. What do we have now that compares?
What it made it timeless (literally) was because it was a costume sitcom.
We are not bothered by fashion of the time which will get it locked in that timeframe.
Porridge is like that aswell, because it was set in a prison.
I was waiting for one of these two:
"We're in the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun."
"A war hasn't been fought this badly since Olaf the Hairy, High Chief of all the Vikings, accidentally ordered 80,000 battle helmets with the horns on the inside."
I'm 54, and I was 25 when I first became acquainted with Blackadder. I was given the box set of all four series as an anniversary gift. That gift sparked a love affair with Blackadder that endures to this day.
If I'd loved being married even half as much as I do Blackadder, I'd still be married! :D
I was lucky enough to have this accompany my childhood. Its wit and innuendo, the comedy that would only be understood by an older ear, gave me something to look up to and learn with my naiive, inquisitive mind. Questions of Mum, what does this mean? And my older family members chuckling and giggling, it must have been quite funny for them to dance around those questions as I scratched my head and wondered what adults do with their time.
As I did, indeed mature, I was lucky, yet again, to have something like Blackadder on TV. The intelligence and quick-paced humour always keeping my mind amused and satisfied. I also had the privilege of enjoying 'The Young Ones' series and all the other spin-off comedy, like 'Bottom' and 'Mr. Bean'.
Yet again, my luck was on a roll, as my Uncle, a real-life version of the dastardly cunning Blackadder, himself, had taped everything that was on TV throughout the 80s and 90s, and so we had an awesome collection of TV gold, faithfully made by my Uncle, for whom I will forever be grateful. I remember watching that end scene in Blackadder goes forth, where they are going over the top, and I think of my late Grandad, who fought in the Desert against Rommel. I picture the series Allo, Allo, and also 'Dad's Army', where at the end of each episode, you'd hear the air-raid siren blaring... I always got a lump in my throat and a sense of fear that I never had to have, growing up as a kid, thanks to the bravery and self-sacrifice that people like my Grandparents gave...
And I am forever grateful to all my elders, for everything they did to contribute towards a better world, a better life for me. Thank you.
And now my face and neck hurts, from the hour and a half stupid grin I've had.
I was always amused by the reversed trajectories of the Blackadders and the Baldricks. Initially, Blackadder was the fool and Baldrick was actually rather cunning, and by the end, they had switched entirely.
I personally liked the second series best.
Glad I found this. I've always wanted to know what Grant Mitchell and Jerry from Phoenix Nights think of my favourite sitcom.
series of my youth and it's still as good as i remember it.. pure gold.. i mean green! :D
How could Tim say we all forgot Percy!!! How could we forget the one who invented Green!!!
Prince George's line, "..and it wasn't until later that I thought how clever it would've been to have said, "OH BUGGER OFF, YOU OLD FART!" always gets me!
01:55 Tim McInnerny's "Lord Percy Percy" from the series 2 is one of my favorite characters of the whole show. 🤣
As great as Stephen Fry was at playing various Malchetts, to me, he WAS the Duke of Wellington. :)
I've got the complete series on DVD. I really need to watch it again.
Humor at its best! All those comedians are wonderful, ridiculous and fun!
All those young men screwed over by an uncaring totally disconnected hirearchy .How many men of science,medicine,engineering etc etc were wasted in the bloody fields of this war ? NOT a cunning plan my lords !
"I AM the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells!" - what an awesome line from a bit player!
LoL! "No sense in destroying the picture: We have the preliminary sketches" Brilliant!!
Thanks for that, I could never understand what he was saying. There's a bishop of Boston Welsh?
That bit player played the Nazi whose face melts in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Blew my mind when I found that out.
@@CDMVIDZ Ronald Lacey; in both roles he seemed to have had a bit of a "thing" for red-hot pokers.
@@willmfrank Hahaha! Indeed!
Along with knowing and being able to sing all the words of Bohemian Rhapsody, being able to quote famous Blackadder lines is now a quintessential part of being British. I have met people online and instantly established a rapport with Blackadder quotes.
I guess this Yank is British then because I know all of that plus the Lumberjack and Philosopher's songs
@@stephenwatkins7592 Well at least one Python was American, & a couple of others live or lived there! 😊
@@stephenwatkins7592 you need only get our sense of humour to be an honorary Brit.
@@tufty7026 should be on our immigration requirements 😆
Lord Percy's new ruff is Blackadder's answer to the flat caps of the Goodies' Ecky Thump.
- favourite moments are in the last series when the corporal says - on the way to Blackadder's execution - 'I have to admire your ball sir' - and Blackadder says, 'perhaps, later.' and the repartee between the firing squad visiting Blackadder the day before the execution. Also Blackadder's reply as to where he would like to stand to be shot at the wall and he says 'behind it.'
haha - literally laughing at loud remember that scene you describe. very funny and should have been included
'A nugget of purest green!' Expensive these days
One of my all time favourite shows I've seen every episode many times and still laugh...pure comedic genious
B comes forths setting scene - Baldrick carving his name on a bullet.. That's just brilliant.
While there are too many great moments to comment on, I have to say the "Macbeth" scene from season's 3 "Sense and Sensibility" will always be by favorite one.
The look Blackadder gives Prince George after the Prince has finished making the chicken noises is priceless.
Being an American I had to search this out to find it. It is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. As far as I'm aware it's never been on American t.v. I want to buy a box set. If you've not seen this yet then you really have no idea what you are missing.
The greatest comedic series ever written and it may never ever be surpassed. It's certainly hasn't been ever since. I can't imagine how it can be now.