Blackadder's Christmas Carol (TV 1988)

Pleasant Ebenezer Blackadder is turned into a cruel and witty miser after seeing visions of his ancestors and descendants.

Director:

Richard Boden

Writers:

Richard Curtis (by), Ben Elton (by),

Stars:

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Miranda Richardson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rowan Atkinson	...	Ebenezer Blackadder / Lord Edmund Blackadder / Edmund Blackadder, Esq. / Cmdr. Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson	...	Baldrick / Baldrick / Sod-Off Baldrick / Baldrick
Miranda Richardson	...	Queen Elizabeth I / Asphyxia XIX
Stephen Fry	...	Lords Melchett / Frondo
Hugh Laurie	...	Princes Regent / Pigmot
Robbie Coltrane	...	Spirit of Christmas
Miriam Margolyes	...	Queen Victoria
Jim Broadbent	...	Prince Albert
Patsy Byrne	...	Nursie / Bernard
Denis Lill	...	Beadle
Pauline Melville	...	Mrs Scratchit
Philip Pope	...	Lord Nelson
Nicola Bryant	...	Millicent
Ramsay Gilderdale	...	Ralph
David Barber	...	Enormous Orphan

Storyline

Edmund Blackadder and Baldrick his dogsbody are transplanted this time to Dickensian England in this one-off episode. He is kind, gentle and caring, but visits from an assortment of ghosts soon have him back to his old ways.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | ghost | alternative comedy | reverse footage | 19th century | 

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Genres:

Comedy | History

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1988 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Fekete Vipera karácsonyi éneke

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film and Blackadder Back & Forth are the only two to actively reprise characters from previous Blackadder incarnations (namely new segments for Black-Adder II and Black Adder the Third).

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Quotes

Ebenezer Blackadder: [counting the year's profits] Seventeen pounds and a penny.
Baldrick: It'd be a lot more if you didn't give away so much money to the poor.
Ebenezer Blackadder: Well, yes, but in the feeling-good ledger of life, we are rich indeed!
Baldrick: Yeah, I just wish we weren't doing so well in the bit-short-of-prezzies-and-feeling-a-gullible-prat ledger.

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Crazy Credits

After the list of the cast and crew at the end of the movie, we see the words "A Merry Messy Kweznuz" scribbled, "Kweznuz" replacing "Kwelfnuve" which is stricken out.

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Connections

Version of Bah, Humbug!: The Story of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' (1994)

User Reviews

hilarious!

A fantastic idea, this one. Take the old chestnut 'A Christmas Carol', give it a shake-up, and turn it on its head.

Ebenezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson in fine form as ever) is a good guy, who gives away anything to anyone, and is truly chock-full of the Christmas spirit. Time for the Spirit of Christmas (a rip-roaring turn from Robbie Coltrane) to work his magic, invoke the spirits of Ebenezer's ancestors and descendants, and inform him of the errors of his ways.

We're reminded of Blackadder's former incarnations, in Tudor and Regency times, and of the cunning plans and twists of the long-gone relatives. We meet again with the likes of Queenie (Miranda Richardson), Melchett (Stephen Fry), Nursie (Patsy Byrne), and Prince George (Hugh Laurie). And of course the Cratchit character - Baldrick, who else! - suffers more and more as the story unfolds.

A scary turn from Miriam Margoyles and Jim Broadbent (Victoria and Albert), and a mind-boggling look into the distant future completes the transformation.

Not shown often enough, this is a real plum-pudding of a piece.