Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson

Summary: All four series - complete.

This BLACKADDER collection brings together all four eras of the classic comedy starring Rowan Atkinson. Each series traces the sniveling title character and his equally irksome descendants. Episodes feature a wide range of British stars, including Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Rik Mayall, Jim Broadbent, Brian Blessed, and many others.

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One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Addertraces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Mr Beantriumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury -- a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch-smellers (who root out spell-makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favour from mad Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund -- like his ancestor -- can never quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson, Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger. With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is a career army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. No small mention can be made of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny. --Tom Keogh

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Scene Selection, Interactive Menus
Year:	1983
Release Date:	November 12, 2001
Runtime:	719 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B B C D V D 1093
Keywords:	Black, Comedy, Blackadder, Box, General, Four, Series, Set, All, Tv, Complete, Adder
Genre:	Comedy