Blackadder Goes Forth

Blackadder Goes Forth
Title screen of Blackadder Goes Forth featuring lead actor Rowan Atkinson as a First World War captain, marching in the foreground of his platoon on a military parade ground. The title of the series is presented in bold, capitalised yellow letters.
Title screen of Blackadder Goes Forth featuring Rowan Atkinson
Written by
Directed byRichard Boden
Starring
Theme music composerHoward Goodall
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerJohn Lloyd
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release28 September (1989-09-28) –
2 November 1989 (1989-11-02)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Baldrick, and George in a trench in Flanders during World War I, and followed their various doomed attempts to escape from the trenches to avoid death under the misguided command of General Melchett. The series references famous people of the time and criticises the British Army's leadership during the campaign, culminating in the ending of its final episode, in which the soldiers are ordered to carry out a lethal charge of enemy lines.[1]

Despite initial concerns that the comedy might trivialise the war, it was acclaimed and won the British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Series in 1989.[2] In 2000 it was placed 16th by industry professionals in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes compiled by the British Film Institute.[3] However, some historians and politicians have criticised it for presenting an inaccurate view of the war, reinforcing the myth of "lions led by donkeys".[4][5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lewisohn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference tvnom was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bfi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference badsey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson in Michael Gove WW1 row". BBC News. 5 January 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2018.

Developed by StudentB