Blackadder: Back and Forth

• First shown Sunday October 1st, Sky One
• Rptd Tuesday October 17th
• Out on video from November 20th, priced £14.99
• Or see it at the Millennium Dome

I’m a longtime fan of Blackadder,surely a true modern classic of TV comedy. It’s been a decade since the lastincarnation of Edmund Blackadder disappeared from our screens, and finally hereturned this year in a special commemorative episode for the new millennium.

I set my expectations low. It’s been tens years, after all, and the prospectof resurrecting such a beloved series for a mere 45 minute “gimmick” episodemust have been a nightmare for Richard Curtis and Ben Elton.The best I was hoping for was a diverting piece of television, which isn’t atotal disaster and dirties the series’ reputation.

Thankfully, I was right. Back & Forth wasn’t 24-carrat television, neitherwas it as funny as 90% of the actual series, but it was good enough. Worthy,but ultimately unsatisfying. But I expected that. Thankfully, there weresome good moments in this episode; the fantastic opening credits, punchingShakespeare, Baldrick’s near-death experience in a toilet bowl, thetime-altering climax, and a smattering of “Blackadderish” catch-phrases, andstock gags.

I think I read somewhere that each Blackadder episode was rewritten dozensof times, with occassional episodes taking months to carefully construct.Watching Back & Forth I think the writers did this one in under half thattime.

It could have been a really great episode (the more I think about it). Theyshould have visited more eras, and perhaps revisted past Blackdderincarnations we’ve already seen. As it was, the only real link to the pastseries was a reappearance by Queen Elizabeth I (Miranda Richardson, showingno sign of age!). Where was World War II? The ’60s? Stonehenge? The GreatFire Of London? A lot of rich possibilities were sadly left untapped. Whatwe did get was good enough (Robin Hood, Elizabeth I, Dinosaurs, Napoleon,Romans, etc) but each “vignette” just wasn’t as funny as it could have been.

That said, the pace of the episode was great and the occassional “grandness”of the extra budget (when in evidence) was good. The cast were on good form(mind you, I still think Rowan Atkinson was playing his Inspector Fowlercharacter from “Thin Blue Line” most of the time and Stephen Fry wasparticularly neglected), but overall there were no glaring irregularities intheir performances.

Overall? A nice enough time-filler, which will bring back some memories andstill hold a special place of fondness in most Blackadder fans’ hearts.Treat it as you would a Comic Relif special, and it’s hard not to enjoy.You’ll just finish watching the episode and instantly feel depressed thewriters didn’t milk the time-travelling idea a lot more.

But it wasn’t a disaster. It was still amongst the funniest things on TV inquite a few weeks, and the opening credits and closing karoake makes itmust-see (just watch for that Bayeux Tapestry – genius).

I do hope we get a fresh series. The magic’s still there, they just need toembrace it again and not pander to paraphrasing past jokes and reeling offstock catchphrases like they did here a lot of the time. Fingers crosssed…