Captain Blackadder

Blackadder character


name = Captain Edmund Blackadder
nationality = British
occupation = British Army Captain
first appearance = "Captain Cook"
last appearance = "Goodbyeee..."
episode count = 6
portrayer = Rowan Atkinson

Captain Edmund Blackadder was the main fictional character in the fourth and final series of the popular BBC sitcom "Blackadder", "Blackadder Goes Forth". He was played by Rowan Atkinson.

Having spent the last three years in the trenches of the First World War, Captain Blackadder is an accomplished career soldier who holds the overly-enthusiastic and idealistic volunteers he commands in withering contempt. He also harbours little respect for his superiors, whose failure to grasp the concept of modern industrial warfare has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths for very little territorial gain; he once described the war as "a gargantuan effort by Field Marshall Haig to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin". Naturally, Blackadder spends most of his time trying to get out of the trenches before the insane General Melchett gives him the order to "climb out of the trenches and walk very slowly towards the enemy". Blackadder's attempts to escape are opposed by Melchett, who does not realise the futility of the war, and Melchett's assistant Captain Darling, who does. Darling and Blackadder have a natural animosity towards one another, since Darling is aware that Blackadder is attempting to avoid his duty, while Blackadder hates Darling for his comfortable position several miles behind the front. Darling would gladly see Blackadder killed by German machine guns, although the two bury the hatchet without saying a word when Darling is posted to the front line in the final episode.

Regarding Blackadder's rank, in the episode "Goodbyeee...", he says that by 1914 he'd had fifteen years of military experience, so by 1917 he should have been Major Blackadder (although it would not be unreasonable to think that he may have been demoted or passed over for promotion).

Captain Blackadder claims to have joined the army in 1888, when "if you saw someone in a skirt, you shot him and nicked his country". He joined the 19th/45th East African Rifles, when Britain was fighting colonial wars during the Scramble for Africa, a time when "the prerequisite for any battle was that the enemy should under no circumstances carry guns". He described the military as having been "little more than a travel agency for men with unusually high sex drives". He was hailed as the 'Hero of Mboto Gorge' in 1892, where he had faced "ten thousand Watutsi warriors armed to the teeth with kiwi fruit and dry guava halves". He even saved the life of Douglas Haig (later Field Marshal Douglas Haig) when he was nearly killed by a pygmy woman with a sharpened mango. At some point before the First World War, Captain Blackadder transferred to the local regiment of Cambridge (either the Cambridgeshire Regiment or the Suffolk Regiment). Upon the outbreak of war, Blackadder was quite shocked when 4,500,000 heavily-armed Germans "hove into view".

Blackadder shares his trench with Private S. Baldrick, and Lieutenant George. Although well-intentioned, both fail to understand their predicament and demonstrate a high level of incompetence, hindering Blackadder's escape attempts and augmenting his sense of frustration.

Continuing the trend of the previous series, he is more intelligent and passive than previous Blackadders. He appears to have a good knowledge of history as he often refers to past events and people (although usually to insult others). His social status is unknown (his family lineage has slowly declined in social status, but given his rank as a career officer he may be middle class).

He is the only Blackadder seen to have enjoyed romantic success (although all apparently managed to father children): Prince Edmund was found repulsive by women and forced into an arranged marriage with a child; Lord Blackadder was jilted by his fiancée, Kate (Bob) and ended up consorting with prostitutes, and Mr. E. Blackadder was tricked by Amy Hardwood but found genuinely attractive only by Mrs. Miggins, whom he despised and who eventually eloped with his cousin MacAdder. Captain Blackadder conducted an affair with Nurse Mary Fletcher-Brown (although he later justified this as counterespionage). Though his interest in her was not genuine, she later admitted attraction to him.

Attempts to avoid battle

Captain Blackadder's various attempts to avoid going over the top include:
*Posing as Italian chefs, with Baldrick as cook (thereby nearly poisoning Melchett and Darling)
*Joining the Royal Flying Corps under Lord Flashheart (not knowing that green pilots had an even worse survival rate)
*Accepting capture by Baron von Richthofen so as to escape through the 'humiliating' punishment of spending the rest of the war teaching home economics in a German convent
*Working on a counterespionage assignment in a British field hospital under "Operation Winkle"
*Organising a music-hall performance with Lieutenant George as the drag act "Gorgeous Georgina" (this plan was aborted when General Melchett fell madly in love with Georgina and Blackadder was forced to fake "her" death)
*Shooting a carrier pigeon carrying orders for his company to advance on enemy lines (an act which almost results in his death by firing squad)
*Disregarding an order on the grounds that the telegram was addressed to 'Catpain Blackudder'
*Pretending that his telephone line to Melchett's office was damaged by imitating various radio broadcasts from weather forecasts to singing.
*And perhaps most famously, sticking two pencils up his nose, putting underpants on his head and saying 'Wibble' (feigning insanity).

In the final scene of the series, Blackadder shows the first (and, so far, only) sign of bravery from any Blackadder in the series. Finally deciding that continuing to avoid battle would be just as futile as taking part, he accepts his fate and leads an equally frightened Captain Darling, Lieutenant George and Private Baldrick over the top of the trench and out into no man's land for the 'Big Push'. His final recorded words, uttered while standing in the trench with Darling, George and Baldrick (along with the infantry company he commanded), were "Good luck, everyone." These words from the scion of a dynasty characterized over several centuries as self-centered, Machiavellian, corrupt, and cynical, reinforced the sombre, emotive message of the final episode. Captain Edmund Blackadder is believed to have been killed in action after going over the top.

In a 2005 BBC Documentary series showcasing some of Britain's favourite sitcoms, The Blackadder edition of the series, presented by John Sergeant, revealed that the original ending of this series had Blackadder, Baldrick, George, Darling and the company under Blackadder's command unambiguously killed.

At the dinner party at the beginning of "Blackadder Back and Forth" (1999), a portrait of Captain Blackadder is positioned on the wall behind the present Blackadder. See Blackadder Hall.

Captain Blackadder is also has a cameo in "", fighting at the Battle of the Somme.