Article prined in the Sunday Telegraph on 8th November 1998
\nBy Jacqui Thornton<\/p>\n
MILLENNIUM Dome chiefs have a cunning plan to attract visitors: a welcome by the caddish and conniving Edmund Blackadder. The television comedy character created by Rowan Atkinson is being wooed to welcome visitors in a 20-minute film to be shown at the Baby Dome, the entertainment centre next to the exhibition. It is thought that the historical nature of Blackadder, who appeared on television screens in four different centuries, would be an ideal and entertaining introduction to the exhibition.<\/p>\n
Although nothing has been signed, negotiations have started and it is understood that the comedian is the first choice of Millennium Dome executives. A senior director said last week: \u201cIt will be hilarious.\u201d Blackadder and his sidekick Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson, have appeared in four series, set in medieval, Elizabethan and Georgian times and the First World War.<\/p>\n
It is undecided which of these would be used in the film, but the historical nature of the characters is understood to be fitting for the theme of time chosen for the Millennium celebrations. It has already been mooted that Blackadder could be resurrected for the Millennium. The comedian is understood to be in talks with Richard Curtis, who wrote the show with Ben Elton, for a biblical setting. The Dome film would be an ideal way of promoting it. It is not known whether the BBC would make the film or whether it would go to BSkyB, the satellite television channel which is sponsoring the Baby Dome.<\/p>\n
Last month the company transferred its \u00a312 million funding from the Serious Play zone. Twelve million people are expected to visit the Baby Dome in the year 2000. Its two 2,500-seat cinemas will be used to explain to visitors what they are about to see in the main exhibition. A spokesman for the New Millennium Experience Company said nothing had been decided about the film, but one source involved in the production said: \u201cThere is a cunning plan, and using Rowan is a distinct possibility.\u201d A BBC spokesman said: \u201cIf the writers and performers of Blackadder wanted to do something special the BBC would be delighted and look forward to seeing them reach some sort of agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Article prined in the Sunday Telegraph on 8th November 1998 By Jacqui Thornton MILLENNIUM Dome chiefs have a cunning plan to attract visitors: a welcome by the caddish and conniving Edmund Blackadder. The television comedy character created by Rowan Atkinson is being wooed to welcome visitors in a 20-minute film to be shown at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-specials"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p54TBn-aa","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=628","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":0},"title":"Blackadder has cunning plans for the dome","author":"admin","date":"17 January 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"Article printed in the Sunday Times 17th January 1999 by Nicholas Hellen and Tim Tezisler THE comedian Rowan Atkinson, who played the dastardly television character Edmund Blackadder, has hatched his most cunning plan: to rewrite British history for an official film marking the year 2000 that will be shown at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Specials"","block_context":{"text":"Specials","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":622,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=622","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":1},"title":"Blackadder’s Millennium Duel","author":"admin","date":"13 August 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"BBC - 13th August 1999 Sky TV claims to have \u201cpoached\u201d the Blackadder special. The BBC and Sky TV are at loggerheads over which of the broadcasters owns the rights to screen a special millennium edition of the hit comedy show Blackadder. Time for Blackadder, starring show regulars Rowan Atkinson,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Specials"","block_context":{"text":"Specials","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":626,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=626","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":2},"title":"Dome\u2019s Dastardly future","author":"admin","date":"17 January 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"Article printed in the Sunday Mirror 17th January 1999 BLACKADDER is to go forth into the 21st century - at the Millennium Dome. Rowan Atkinson, who travelled down the ages as the dastardly TV hero, is to star in a specially-made film charting British history since Roman times. The film,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Specials"","block_context":{"text":"Specials","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":620,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=620","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":3},"title":"Scheming Blackadder\u2019s cunning Millennium special","author":"admin","date":"14 September 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Lancashire - 13th September After a gap of 10 years, the scheming Edmund Blackadder is set to return to the screen. Accompanied by his loyal manservant Baldrick, the hit comedy series will be churning out the laughs for a New Millennium special episode, screened for visitors to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Specials"","block_context":{"text":"Specials","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":618,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=618","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":4},"title":"Baldrick builds Blackadder time machine","author":"admin","date":"13 September 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday 13 September 1999 - EXCITE Blackadder\u2019s sidekick Baldrick, best known for his creativity with turnips, proves he can be even more imaginative by building a time machine. The bumbling man-servant - played by Tony Robinson - builds a copy from Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s designs in the new film Blackadder\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Specials"","block_context":{"text":"Specials","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":809,"url":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?p=809","url_meta":{"origin":630,"position":5},"title":"Baldrick’s Cunning Plan For A Movie","author":"admin","date":"27 November 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: PA Tony Robinson hopes all the Blackadder team can reunite on the big screen. The Time Team presenter starred alongside Rowan Atkinson in Richard Curtis and Ben Elton's comedy Blackadder for four series and two special episodes as \"I have a cunning plan\" sidekick Baldrick. And he is keen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cast & Crew"","block_context":{"text":"Cast & Crew","link":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackadderhall.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}