Blackadder II 

In the Tudor court of Elizabeth I, Lord Edmund Blackadder strives to win Her Majesty's favour while attempting to avoid a grisly fate should he offend her.

Stars:

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny

Top Rated TV #112 | 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Rowan Atkinson	...	Edmund Blackadder 6 episodes, 1986
Tim McInnerny	...	Lord Percy 6 episodes, 1986
Tony Robinson	...	Baldrick 6 episodes, 1986
Miranda Richardson	...	Queen Elizabeth I 6 episodes, 1986
Stephen Fry	...	Lord Melchett 6 episodes, 1986
Patsy Byrne	...	Nursie 6 episodes, 1986
Tony Aitken	...	Minstrel / ... 6 episodes, 1986

Storyline

Sixty years after the demise of Prince Edmund Plantagenet, Queen Elizabeth I, who's as insane as her ancestors, is England's current leader. Seductive, easy-to-impress, spoiled, and always seeking a husband, "Queenie" has a leading courtier: Lord Edmund Blackaddder, great-grandson of the original. Now, however, he is dryly cynical and intelligent, but still trying to become king; this time by marrying the queen. However, her right-hand-man, Lord Melchett, will always serve as fair competition for her hand. Blackadder is again assisted by the clueless but fashionable Lord Percy Percy and dung-eating, "cunning" peasant Baldrick.

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Plot Keywords:

aristocracy | british humour | elizabethan era | tudor england | kingdom of england | 

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Taglines:

The original may be dead... but now his bastard great-great grandson swaggers around Renaissance London with a big head and a small beard.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 1986 (UK)

Also Known As:

Crna Guja II

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

176 min 30 min (6 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The borderline claustrophobic feeling set design in Blackadder II is a result, in part, of bringing the Production Design budget back to within the standard BBC limits after the extravagant first series. Its possibly there was over-compensating on series 2, as series 1 Blackadder (1982) was so expensive. Considering each time period series was planned for a six episode run, new set builds were kept to a minimum. Compare that to a long-running series like 'Allo 'Allo (1982) where the same few period sets would have been re-used for the entire long run, resulting in long-term set-build cost reductions.

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Quotes

[Percy and Queen Elizabeth are playing frisbee]
Lord Percy: [Catches the frisbee] Howzat.
Queen Elizabeth: Percy, who's Queen?
Lord Percy: [Throws it away] Butterfingers.

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Crazy Credits

The series title has a snake in the "B" of "Black-Adder".

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Connections

Featured in Lost in Adaptation: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2016)

User Reviews

Blackadder – as good as it ever was

Lord Edmund Blackadder is a Lord in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. With his long suffering servant Baldrick and `close-friend' Percy he must wiggle his way through several sticky situations to come through with his political state and his skin intact!

This second of four series of Blackadder ranks as one of the consistently best. It may not be as fresh as the thrid and fourth series – mainly because the later series were sharper, crueler and benefited from very familiar (and by then – quite famous) characters and actors. The stories were always a little absurd but built around the deadpan, downbeat Blackadder. Plots include the Blackadder falling in love with his female man-servant Bob, beheading a man who was meant to be pardoned or just being kidnapped by a French master of disguise.

They all are filled with sarcasm and wit and make up for the daffy plots. Atkinson is comfortable in his role – but is better in series 3. Robinson is funny in a poor role of Baldrick. McInnerny is OK as percy but is not as good an idiot as Laurie's Prince in 3. The royal court is funny with Fry, Richardson and Byrne all good.

Overall this is as good as all the series are. Witty, cruel, sarcastic and with off the wall plots and extreme characters – it's typical of how good British comedy can be.