The True History of the Blackadder (69 page)
John Lloyd: ‘These photographs graphically illustrate how painfully slow the first series was to make.
It was shot without an audience: all young comedy writers go through this stage where they think it would be “better” without one. In my experience, this just means you don’t have to work so hard to get the laughs, so it’s not as funny.
Because there was no audience seating in the studio, we could have huge sets and put the cameras almost anywhere – this meant it took longer to shoot and (to be honest) none of us really knew what we were doing.
We changed all this for
Blackadder II
– small sets, all the cameras in a line across the “fourth wall”, a live audience. Rowan’s timing improved at once, the script was much tighter and, as we had to shoot each episode in two hours max, there was no hanging around getting bored – everyone was much too busy!’
To prepare for his time in the saddle of the far-from-trusty Black Satin, Atkinson was sent for extensive training, under the guidance of a Swedish Olympian equestrian – though he subsequently insisted that he learned more from the horse-wrangler on set. Despite all this effort, Ben Elton observed, ‘Rowan falling off a horse at 200 metres is not really funnier than anyone else falling off a horse at 200 metres…’
King Brian: ‘I had very strong ideas about the King – like he must be a man who never opens the door. So he knocks one down, you build another – if I could, I would like to walk through doors like Tom & Jerry!’
Natasha King, the first Mrs Adder, remembers: ‘aged only eight and with my front teeth missing I was over the moon to receive a bouquet of flowers from Rowan Atkinson when filming finished – it did wonders for me in the playground!’
Frank Finlay, one of only two thespians to merit a ‘Special Guest’ credit in the opening titles, prepares to take the despicable Grumbledook to task.
Peter Cook, the King of Comedy, as Richard III:
‘Now is the summer of our sweet content made o’ercast winter by these Tudor clouds…’
