I Love British TV

A few months ago, I posted about Blackadder and mentioned that after the fourth series, three specials were produced. One of those was Blackadder: Back and Forth. I found it on Netflix and wanted to take a look.

Back and Forth was produced 10 years after series four. It takes place on New Year’s Eve 1999. Blackadder is hosting a party. He claims he’s built a time machine and he will go back in time and retrieve any items his friends wish. Of course, he bets them each 10,000 pounds that he can bring back this proof of his travels through time. It is intended as a scam. But unbeknownst to Blackadder, the time machine that Baldrick built does indeed work.

Baldrick, naturally, can’t remember how the machine works, so he and Blackadder go back and forth through time from the Jurassic period to their old stomping grounds, the palace of Elizabeth I, to Roman times and to the Battle of Waterloo. All the while quite possibly changing history.

All the cast members reunite playing their original characters: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Tim McInnerny and Tony Robinson. Colin Firth makes a cameo as William Shakespeare and Kate Moss shows up as Maid Marian to Rik Mayall’s Robin Hood.

Even though this came out 10 years after Blackadder Goes Forth, it still has the same Ben Elton dialogue that made Series II through IV great. Blackadder is still his old scoundrel self and Baldrick is just as smelly.

And thank you http://britishaisles.wordpress.com/ for encouraging me to watch Blackadder: Back and Forth. Cheers!

MAIN CAST:
Rowan Atkinson – Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson – Baldrick
Stephen Fry – Melchett, Wellington and various others
Tim McInnerny – Darling and various others
Hugh Laurie – George and various others
Miranda Richardson – Queen Elizabeth I

Total Seasons: 1 episode
Seasons Available on US Formatted DVD: 1
In Production: 1999
Viewer Discretion: Some adult situations, nudity