Source: Coastal Scene 24

A signed 22-page draft for an unfilmed Blackadder Christmas special was a star attraction at a recent fundraising auction held at Bruisyard Hall, near Framlingham.

It was bought by the venue’s Paul Rous, who was delighted to have secured the manuscript.

“I have always thoroughly enjoyed the Blackadder series and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to own a piece of something I grew up with and have such fond memories of,” he said. “I feel the connection between Blackadder and Bruisyard Hall is a very relevant one given that one highlights the significant periods of British history since the 1400s and the other has lived through them.”

The script comes with a note from Mr Curtis, who has a home in Walberswick and is a great supporter of The Suffolk Foundation.

In it he says the draft was started in 1988 by himself and fellow writer Ben Elton but was abandoned because they feared it might cause too much offence and they had another idea about Blackadder’s Christmas Carol that they wanted to pursue instead. Mr Curtis describes the Christmas special that never was as a “strange mix between Fawlty Towers and the Life of Brian” and finishes by saying: “I hope you enjoy it a bit – but don’t get too excited – for one thing it just stops – it has no end at all.”

The auction – held at Bruisyard Hall as part of a masquerade ball and helmed by Steven Stockton of Bonhams – raised more than £4,000 for The Suffolk Foundation, which distributes grants to charities and community groups across the county.