Rowan Atkinson to revisit Blackadder

Thanks to long-standing, much respected Blackadder Hall visitor, nay part-of-the-furniture, John D. for spotting this gem.

Rowan Atkinson has granted his first in-depth interview about his iconic Blackadder role in Tiger Aspect’s second documentary on the classic BBC sitcom.

Atkinson will describe his personal experience of his involvement in the sitcom and its phenomenal success in the 60-minute documentary Blackadder Rides Again, which forms part of BBC1’s Christmas line-up. He will also visit Alnwick Castle, the location of the show’s first series that was titled The Black Adder.

Atkinson did not appear in Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga, Tiger Aspect’s two-hour retrospective for UKTV channel GOLD, which attracted 341,000 viewers to the digital channel last month. A spokesman for the indie said the BBC1 documentary was an entirely separate production to the UKTV programme, featuring all-new interviews.

Both shows were commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of the sitcom, which began on BBC2 and ran for three series before switching to BBC1 for Blackadder Goes Forth in 1989.

For the BBC1 show, cast members including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson and writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton will revisit key iconic moments, costumes and locations.

Tiger Aspect’s director of factual entertainment Ricky Kelehar, who executive produced both shows, said: “We are extremely excited to have persuaded the entire creative team behind this iconic sitcom to appear in the same show for the very first time since they all worked together.

“Many of them have since gone on to become towering talents around the world, including Rowan – who has never before spoken in detail about playing the anti-hero Edmund Blackadder.”

Blackadder Rides Again was commissioned by BBC executive editor, comedy entertainment Katie Taylor and produced and directed by Matt O’Casey. Blackadder producer John Lloyd is programme consultant on the documentary.