User Reviews

This short had me doubled-up with laughter, even more so than some of the episodes in the Blackadder series. If they are to be given ranks, Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is the King of Comedy, and Baldrick (Tony Robinson) is the equally funny Dung-Shoveller of Comedy.

Stephen Fry does a very good impersonation of Prince Charles in his role as King Charles.

There are some very good lines ("[Cromwell]'s got so many warts on his face it's only when he sneezes that you find out which one is his nose." - Blackadder). As always, of course.

Great fun!

I first saw a small clip of this on a countdown looking back at the best past moments of Comic Relief in 2007, and then I finally saw it in the DVD of Blackadder: Back & Forth. This 15 minute Comic Relief special, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis (creator of the charity) first has a short narration from Harry Enfield, then it sees Sir Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) in 1648, the time where King Charles I (Stephen Fry) is to be beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell (Warren Clarke) is making sure it goes ahead. Baldrick (Tony Robinson), being a simple minded pig farmer and bearded lady's son is the man who has got a job as the King's executioner. Blackadder decides to take his place to try and save the King, and get some cash when doing it. It ends quite well for Blackadder when he takes off his trait beard and gets Baldrick in the line of danger. Rowan Atkinson was number 18 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, he was number 24 on The Comedians' Comedian, and he was number 8 on Britain's Favourite Comedian, Edmund Blackadder was number 3 on The 100 Greatest TV Characters, and he was number 3 on The World's Greatest Comedy Characters. Very good!

SPOILERS Every few years, "Comic Relief" takes place in the United Kingdom to raise money for people in Africa. Raising millions each event, the night long fund-raiser is responsible for some of the funniest moments on British television for the last twenty years. It gathers together the greatest singers, actors, comedians and even newsreaders from across the country to spend one night entertaining the country in the hope they will pledge money to a worthy cause.

In 1988, this night gave us a chance to see a short fifteen minute sketch by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. Taking the characters of Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) and Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and placing them at the end of the English Civil War, the short sketch was exactly what you'd expect from it's creators. It was funny, entertaining, and most importantly it lasted just long enough to get all the jokes from the specific time period into it.

King Charles I (Stephen Fry) and his Cavaliers have lost the Civil War. Locked in the Tower of London by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (Warren Clarke), the King's fate lies in the hands of his two remaining supporters, the noble Sir Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) and a smell being who's name is not important (Tony Robinson).

Shown a year after "Blackadder the Third", this short sketch has all the humour expected from Elton and Curtis. With one liners of humour and wit, the story is led by two funny performances by Atkinson and Robinson. Both have played their characters in different settings for a few years now and as a result their performances have evolved too.

The best thing about this short clip however is that it remains at only fifteen minutes long. Whilst we all always like to see new "Blackadder" episodes, parts of this story just would not last any longer.

Stephen Fry as the King for example is brilliant in his spoof of the modern day Prince Charles, but only because he has limited screen time. The character does grate slightly and whilst this is no doubt intentional, the idea of anything featuring him lasting longer than this would probably agitate a lot of people.

Warren Clarke is another example of this being the right amount of screen time. As Detective Inspector Andy Dalziel in television series "Dalziel and Pascoe" (1996 - present) Clarke is superb and never ceases to entertain. As Oliver Cromwell though, you know he is doing it for a laugh, and he is actually quite good for the time he's on screen, but the idea of him playing the role for longer than fifteen minutes is less than bearable.

It is always a delight to watch some new "Blackadder" and to do a special for Comic Relief was a great idea. The key about "The Cavalier Years" though is that the sketch remains quite short. With irritating characters and lack of real potential, the sketch is worth watching for it's actual length of time, and no longer.

This is another Blackadder short film and this one here was made almost 30 years ago and features the usual cast members. No Colin Firth yet, but Atkinson, Fry, Robinson and Laurie are on board. Unfortunately, this is not the best Blackadder short film. The humor basically include stuff like "100%?" "Not even 1%" and even if the unbearable laughing tracks want us to think otherwise, this simply is not funny. I may be a bit biased as I do not consider Atkinson very talented in terms of comedy, especially when he is talking, but his scenes were not memorable at all. Stephen Fry, on the other hand, I am a great fan of, so it was nice to see him in his younger and less obese years. He is always such a delight with great screen presence. Yet not even he can make me forget that this is a showcase of pompous costumes and sets, but little entertainment value. It runs for considerably shorter than the other Blackadder short movie, i.e. only 15 minutes. The director is fairly unknown, but the writer team includes Richard Curtis, the man behind "Love Actually". He also worked on other Blackadder projects. "The Cavalier Years" was a mediocre watch. Not recommended.

To put Edmund and Baldrick into the civil war was a stroke of genius. All I can say is that it's a shame that we only got fifteen minutes of it.

Richard Curtis set up comic relief and so for the first one he decided to put one of his own creations into it and we got this. Though the set from the wonderful Blackadder the Third fools nobody it was all for charity so we'll let them off.

After Charles I (Stephen Fry, basing it on the current Prince of Wales) loses the civil war to Cromwell (Warren Clarke, Mr Hardwood from Amy & Amiability), it falls to Edmund (Rowan Atkinson) and Baldrick (Sir Tony Robinson) to hide him. Baldrick manages this - until telling the future Lord Protector not to use the purple cup because it's the king's.

This short is very very funny and full of excellent one-liners and cunning plans. All the usual wit to be expected from Blackadder is on show and ends up all the better for it. This beats much of the main series episodes in quality and is worthy of the full three hour treatment rather than just one twelfth of that period.

You're not a true fan until you've witnessed this masterpiece. 9/10 is only because it's too short.

This fifteen minute short is set at the end of the Civil War; Cromwell is victorious and he and his men are searching the country for the fugitive King Charles. The king is hiding in the house of Sir Edmund Blackadder who has instructed his servant Baldrick to deny all knowledge of the King's presence should Oliver Cromwell come looking for him… inevitably Cromwell does turn up and Baldrick lets slip that the king is there and he is captured. Blackadder assures his friend that nobody in the land would accept the job of beheading the king. Baldrick takes the job and Blackadder is disgusted; until he learns how much money he is being offered!

While this episode is only fifteen minutes long it manages to pack in plenty of laughs and a good story; of course it helps if viewer is familiar with this part of English history I don't think it is essential. In many ways this feels like the conclusion of a series one has somehow missed; no time is wasted introduced introducing characters and the situation is very quickly explained. As one might expect Rowan Atkinson is great as Blackadder; as greedy and conniving as ever and Tony Robinson is a lot of fun as Baldrick. Stephen Fry, who plays the doomed king, is rather amusing him; playing him as a caricature of the latest royal Charles… the current Prince of Wales! I'm not sure why he referred to himself as 'King Charles the First' though… monarchs only get regnal numbers when a second of the same name takes the throne. Warren Clarke is decent enough as Cromwell although he isn't given lines to make the character particularly interesting. Overall this was a really good little episode which left me wishing this era had been given an entire series.