28 years ago today, The Black Adder sprung onto our UK TV screens in the first episode “The Foretelling”. This perfectly set the tone for the loveable but awful anti-hero known as Edmund Blackadder through the different incarnations of the series.
This first story describes how the useless son of Richard of York, Edmund, late for the Battle of Bosworth, having slept in, kills his own King Richard III then proceeds to cover up the whole sorry episode whilst hiding the enemy Henry Tudor! Of course in all of this he ably supported by the more hapless Lord Percy and also by his turnip obsessed servant Baldrick.
Anti-establishment; ironic but witty; the humour of Blackadder probably appealed most to those who we would now characterise as “Generation X”. I find it particularly interesting that typically Generation X are seen as challenging, rule-breaking, and sceptical – not dissimilar to the Blackadder stories.
So on this anniversary of “The Foretelling” I have two questions for you :
- What are your best moments or memories from Blackadder?
- What are your views or even foretellings on generational differences and the comedy that is informing the teenagers and twenty-somethings of today?
For those of you who missed it or would like to reminisce then you can see this first episode and how Edmund took the name "The Black Adder here" on YouTube. Although I think the humour is as described above others may find it offensive at times - you've been warned!
