Blackadder: When The Laughter Stopped

“I mean, who’d notice another mad man around here?”

So says Edmund Blackadder to his perennial sidekick Baldrick, as they stand by the stepladders of their trench, awaiting the order to attack in the final scene of the BBC comedy Blackadder Goes Forth.

It’s a scene long remembered, a standout moment in the history of British comedy — as iconic as Basil Fawlty attacking his car with a tree or Del Boy’s fall at the bar.

There is, of course, one subtle difference.

This is a scene remembered not for its hilarity but for the gut-wrenching, eye-moistening sucker-punch finale that delivers one of the most poignant, perfect moments of remembrance to those who lived (and in so many cases died) through the horrors of World War 1.

It was the 4 th and final series of the Blackadder adventures through history. A saga that stretched from Medieval England, the court of Queen Elizabeth 1 st, the home of the Prince Regent and, finally the trenches of the Great War. For all those who grew up through the 80s it was one of the defining TV shows of the era.

We watched with unbridled glee at the caustic, sarcastic wit and schemes of Edmund Blackadder through the ages — providing moments of absurdity and wordplay that was the rival of Python at its best.

This was a very good and very, very funny comedy show. And, unlike other comedies which grew tired over time, this was a show that hit the hilarious heights in season 2 and remained so thereafter. Blackadder Goes Forth was never less than bitingly satiric in sending up the officialdom and lunacy at play, producing excruciatingly funny set-pieces and characters we all grew to love, however much of a buffoon they purported to be.

Of course, given the subject matter, the fact that this was a comedy set in the horrific environment of the trenches of Europe’s battlefields, this was something of a brave, nay perhaps controversial decision. But Blackadder, in a vein similar to the wonderful US comedy M.A.S.H. navigates the path between stunning comedy and never mocking or making light of the reality of the war with a remarkably deft touch.

Throughout do we get the notion that there’s a message or sentiment underpinning all the laughs.

And it is in the final moments of the series when this message is delivered, the effect of which leaves you silent and numb — which is not your typical goal for a comedy show.

The whole series centres around Blackadder as the captain and his charges in a fictionalised version of a war trench. With him is the dim-witted Baldrick and the plum posh Lieutenant George.

Typically it seems that Blackadder is the only one who can see the utter folly of their predicament and spends his time trying his best to find a way out. For all his efforts however, in the final episode we learn that he and his men are going ‘Over the Top’ a full frontal attack across no man’s land at the enemy and their waiting guns.

It should be noted that the episode is very funny.

Blackadder resorts to pretending to be insane to try to win a reprieve and escape the madness. It produces moments of comic genius from Rowan Atkinson in the lead role, ably assisted by his usual counterparts.

The episode is punctuated with the sound of the audience’s laughter; and it is to this that we sense the uneasy shift in mood.

Captain Darling, Blackadder’s rival and nemesis in the series, has been ordered to join the troops in their attack — a decision that pleases him not one bit.

“How are you feeling, Darling?” Blackadder asks, the running gag at his name producing the familiar audience guffaws.

The laughter continues through Darling’s brief monologue, but something has changed. It’s not a hearty laugh anymore; this is a man talking, quite painfully about the fact he’s almost certain to die. We’re in new territory now, but the comedy remains.

“Made a note in my diary on the way over here,” Darling says, “Simply says: Bugger!”

The satire and the absurdity persists, George saying how he wouldn’t want to face the German guns without his stick. The laughter continues. On first viewing the scene puts its audience on edge. This, after all is a very funny comedy show — a show that’s parodied historical moments, that’s allowed us to grow hugely fond of these characters and their eccentricities. Surely they’ll provide a show-stopping finale, one last cunning plan?

And then the laughter stops.

Originally published at https://www.garethjhill.com on November 8, 2020.