Hmmm… eight days since my last post. Looks like I’ve fallen off the wagon. For a while there I actually had a backlog of half-a-dozen posts ready to be published, and it was great. Writing is like exercising; it’s hard to start, but it feels fantastic once you’ve built up a rhythm. Take this, then, as an attempt to re-start.
D. and I have been watching BlackAdder. I received the “ultimate collection” box set for Father’s Day, and we’re working our way through the episodes, watching everything twice (to hear the commentary), and thoroughly enjoying it.
Ben Elton did a fantastic job of re-imagining BlackAdder when Richard Curtis invited him to join the writing team for the second season, suggesting that the characters of Edmund and Baldrick should be swapped. Each episode was filmed in under two hours in front of a studio audience (apart from, of course, location footage).
Channel 7 co-financed the first season, which was the most expensive to make, but pulled out from later seasons. Nine years later, after all four seasons of BlackAdder had been released, Channel 7 created an embarrassing BlackAdder rip-off called Bligh, which starred Michael Veitch from Fast Forward. I can’t find any footage of it online; I can only remember it being very, very bad.
I find it inspiring that it’s possible to create a long-lasting piece of television in such a short amount of time. It seems that the advice to follow is do what you love, don’t compromise on quality and just damn well get it done. Speaking of which…
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What’s your favourite episode? It’s a tough call, but I think mine would have to be “Duel and Duality” from “Black Adder the Third” for pure jam packed non-stop hilarity. I must have watched it twenty times or more over the years, and still I laugh like a madman each time. Stephen Fry is superb in the role of The Duke of Wellington –
“You don’t think then, that inspired leadership and tactical ability have anything to do with it?
Nope! It’s all down to shouting! Bah!!!”
I’m surprised to learn that the first season was the most expensive to make. The production quality seemed much higher on subsequent seasons. Was there an improvement in video tech at the time? Less location scenes? Did they just learn to do more with less? Perhaps I should give the commentary a spin.
Expense was to do with location shooting, I believe. The BBC picked up subsequent series on the condition that it move to a studio shoot to cut costs.
I quite like “Beer”. And the one about Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary. But very hard to choose a stand-out favourite.
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