Blackadder has always been regarded as one of the best British sitcoms of all time. But in this final series it took on a satirical edge which led to a truly shocking finale.
The premise is that Captain Edmund Blackadder is a soldier on the Somme during the First World War. He is accompanied by the dimwitted Private S Baldrick and the posh twit Lieutenant George and hindered by the insane General Melchett and the snidey office boy Captain Darling. Blackadder is the only one who realises that he and his companions will almost certainly be killed if they remain and so hatches a number of escape plans which range from joining the Royal Flying Corps to feigning insanity.
It is arguable that tragedy makes for the best situation comedy, and it certainly does not come any more tragic than the First World War. With the incompetence of the generals, the ridiculous ideas of warfare and the woefully distorted propaganda, it is a wonder that such a sitcom had never been done before. A lot of the jokes (spoiler alerts to end of paragraph) seem to reflect our attitude to the war with hindsight, such as General Melchett's claim that the last thing the Germans will be expecting is for the British to use the same tactics they did seventeen times before. And there's Blackadder's assertion that escape will mean, "No more bombs, guns, shrapnel, whizzbangs or those bloody awful songs that have the word "whoops" in the title". There is also a fair share of slapstick, much of it befalling Baldrick. Never enough to lower the tone, but enough to be funny. Even the war stereotypes are dealt with, such as Rik Mayall's performance as the gloriously sexist pilot, Lord Flashheart ("Always treat your kite like you treat your woman. Get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back!").
What really shocks, though, is the ending. I won't give it away, but suffice it to say that it always comes near the top of British polls for the greatest moment in television history.
In a word? Sublime.
The premise is that Captain Edmund Blackadder is a soldier on the Somme during the First World War. He is accompanied by the dimwitted Private S Baldrick and the posh twit Lieutenant George and hindered by the insane General Melchett and the snidey office boy Captain Darling. Blackadder is the only one who realises that he and his companions will almost certainly be killed if they remain and so hatches a number of escape plans which range from joining the Royal Flying Corps to feigning insanity.
It is arguable that tragedy makes for the best situation comedy, and it certainly does not come any more tragic than the First World War. With the incompetence of the generals, the ridiculous ideas of warfare and the woefully distorted propaganda, it is a wonder that such a sitcom had never been done before. A lot of the jokes (spoiler alerts to end of paragraph) seem to reflect our attitude to the war with hindsight, such as General Melchett's claim that the last thing the Germans will be expecting is for the British to use the same tactics they did seventeen times before. And there's Blackadder's assertion that escape will mean, "No more bombs, guns, shrapnel, whizzbangs or those bloody awful songs that have the word "whoops" in the title". There is also a fair share of slapstick, much of it befalling Baldrick. Never enough to lower the tone, but enough to be funny. Even the war stereotypes are dealt with, such as Rik Mayall's performance as the gloriously sexist pilot, Lord Flashheart ("Always treat your kite like you treat your woman. Get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back!").
What really shocks, though, is the ending. I won't give it away, but suffice it to say that it always comes near the top of British polls for the greatest moment in television history.
In a word? Sublime.