A fun collection of Blackadder trivia and general randomness. If you are a Blackadder fan, see how many of these you know!
Blackadder Fun Facts
Blackadder might have ended in the 80s, but even the most ardent superfan learns something new once in a while!
We’ve pulled together some Blackadder trivia to share with you here. There might be a thing or two you never realised before now!
Blackadder Trivia
Turnips: Turnips are mentioned frequently throughout Blackadder, and by series 3, Baldrick is obsessed by them.
The trivia here, is that Ben Elton actually confused them with parsnips (remember a turnip the exact same shape as a thingy?).
Since then it was a recurring joke throughout the saga.
General Melchett has Haemorrhoids : General Melchett from the fourth series often makes bizarrely weird noises.
According to Stephen Fry who played the character, some of this is to do with his idea of Melchett having hemorrhoids – hence the grunting every time he sits in a chair!
See what we mean in the video of Melchett’s strange noises below.
A fan of Melchett? Check out here why he is such a military genius!
Aardvark: The word aardvark was in fact left out of the first dictionary.
Perhaps this is because its citation was only first made the year after Dr. Johnson died.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
In the third series of Blackadder, Tim McInnerny plays the Scarlet Pimpernel.
The fun Blackadder trivia here, is that in the original 1905 novel of the same name, the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel is Lord Percy.
This, of course, is the character played by Tim McInnerny in the previous two series of Blackadder.
Related: Guest Appearances In Blackadder Third
Lord Flashheart
Apparently, Rik Mayall only agreed to play the part of Lord Flashheart if every single one of his lines was funnier than main star Rowan Atkinson’s.
What do you think?
Flashheart certainly steals the show, but it’s more through force of sheer personality than anything else!
It’s Like Crufts in Here
When Flashheart is about to carry Bob off, there is rousing rendition of ‘Woof!’.
In the original script, Blackadder was supposed to respond “It’s like Batterseas Dog’s Home in here”.
The issue was, that due to Rowan’s stutter, he was unable to say the line.
After several failed takes, producer John Lloyd suggested substituting the word Crufts.
The rest, as they say, is history. Woof!
The Young Ones
The only main cast member of the Young Ones not to appear in Blackadder was Mike the cool guy played by Christopher Ryan.
Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Ade Edmondson all made appearances.
The Young Ones, as you may know, was also written by Ben Elton.
Back and Forth
In the Blackadder special Back and Forth, a portrait of Blackadder from World War 1 can be seen on the wall in the first scene. #
The question is, how is this possible?
Blackadder had previously said he had no children, and died during that emotional final scene from Blackadder Goes Forth – or did he?
A Fifth Series of Blackadder?
There’s always been talk of a fifth series of Blackadder, but it never materialised.
Although it’s very unlikely it would happen with the original cast now, there might always be the possibility of a reboot.
What do you think? Would Blackadder be the same with a brand new cast?
If the original cast did get back together, or Blackadder was rebooted, they might use some of the ideas they had previously kicked around for a fifth series of Blackadder. These include:
- The Red Adder – Set in Russia during the Russian Revolution with Blackadder as a secret policeman.
- Blackadder in the 60s. This idea sounded pretty awesome actually. Apparently, Blackadder would have been the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth who played in a rock band known as the Black Adder 5. On the drums would have been Bald Rick. Get it? Baldrick? Never mind, we liked the sound of it.
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