Series One was filmed at my grandparents’. I’d beg them not to tell any-one.
Your grandparents own Alnwick Castle? (I saw it on Antiques Roadshow the other day).
I wish I could lay claim to being the long lost Duchess of Northumberland but I can’t. My grandparents were caretakers for the Duke and lived at Alnwick Abbey where parts of the series were filmed (it was also Elizabeth 1’s country house in the first Cate Blanchett film).
It’s my small and pathetic claim to fame.
Pity me.
Hear, hear. I’m not convinced it’s the facial hair either, because I saw him on the Jon Stewart show a while back and he was pretty sexy there too, sans beard/mustache.
I think he’s just full of win, for being able to make me find him repulsive or attractive entirely on the basis of his body language. Kind of like Zachary Quinto, except replace ‘repulsive’ with ‘bloody terrifying’.
If you liked him with the beard, you’ll love him here.
A friend of mine won’t even give Atkinson’s best stuff a chance because she absolutely despised Mr. Bean. 
I remember seeing a comedy routine of his on Comedy Central many years ago, which was absolutely brilliant. Half of the skits he performed were completely pantomime, and it was easily the best pantomime I’d ever seen.
EDIT: Here’s one of the skits.
Ha! I was about to ask you if you knew where the invisible drums bit could be found and then I clicked the link and it WAS the invisible drums bit! I love that so much!!!
Heh, any here been to the Tower of London and had a look at Henry VIII’s armour stored there?
That “codpiece” thing wasn’t much of an exaggeration … :eek:
Funnily enough, just yesterday at work I mentioned this very same thing.
I have no idea how we got onto the topic.
Brian Blessed was the greatest! My fave bit…Richard IV on Christian compassion
Goodbyeee also has an excellent and succinct explanation of the causes of World War I, (one of my favourite pieces) :
That was wondeful.
I was never a Mr. Bean fan, but this one is great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwgMV5ES92E
And don’t forget the poor ostrich!
Some of the insults are just so unexpected (for the imagery, not because an insult isn’t expected)-- it just makes the humor. Great series, really. And if you do find you like the show, I’d recommend looking up some of his standup, too. There’s one where he’s the devil, directing the newly arrived souls, and calling them out in groups. One of the groups is “Christians. If you’ll just step over here please. Yes, I’m afraid the Jews were right.”
He’s mad! He’s mad. He’s madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year’s Mr. Madman competition.
ETA: Oh, and the one where he decides that being in no man’s land to have his lieutenant (a bumbling Hugh Laurie) draw the enemy ranks is bollocks, and he leaves. Then later, he has to explain to the general that there were probably “more land minds, and a few less elephants.”
“You ride a horse rather less well than another horse would.” It isn’t just the imagery, it’s also the sentence construction. I’ve only seen the first series, but we loved it. We’re former SCA people, though. That might have something to do with it. I was wowed by the costuming.
“The French, are you here? Yes, if you could just please step over here along with the Germans. Thank you.”
Does youtube still have copies of The Curse of Fatal Death, a Dr. Who send-up done for a comedy relief type show? I really enjoyed him in that, but I think it keeps being pulled, possibly for lack of permission.
The first series of Blackadder was written by Rowan Atkinson/Richard Curtis (with additional dialogue by William Shakespeare).
The subsequent series were written by Ben Elton/Richard Curtis.
As a theory on why World War I happened, that surely is bollocks. It’s just Ben Elton getting all satirical.
One of my favorite episodes, with some of the best lines ever!
Lady Whiteadder (to Percy):“Has anyone told you you’re a grinning imbecile?”
Percy: “Oh, yes!”
LW: “Sex is not an appropriate topic for the dinner table.”
Edmund: “Or, indeed, any table.”
Percy: “Except perhaps a table in a brothel.”
And let us not forget Hugh Laurie (again) as one of the guests at Blackadder’s drinking party in that episode.
I agree that the first season isn’t the best, but it does have its moments. But if you watch it first, you’ll discover that, at the end of season 3, the character comes full circle:
In Season 1, he’s the son of the king. In the final episode of Season 3, he becomes the king’s son once again.
Delicious irony!
Not sure if it was intended that way, but another favorite ironic moment of mine was the “Red Baron” episode in Season 4, when Rik Mayall as Flasheart kills Ade Edmondson’s Red Baron after Edmondson’s Vyv spent the whole run of “The Young Ones” beating the snot out of Mayall’s character!
Miranda Richardson was wonderful as Elizabeth I, and equally great as “The Shadow” in Season 3.
But the one episode I find myself quoting more than any other is the “Bishop of Bath and Wells”:
Edmund: “Did you tell him about the baby-eating bishop of Bath and Wells?”
Baldrick: “I did.”
Edmund: “And what did he say?”
Bishop (bursting in): “He said I AM THE BABY-EATING BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS!”
Bishop: “You haven’t any children, have ye, Blackadder?”
Edmund: “No, I’m not married.”
Bishop: “In that case, I’ll skip breakfast and get straight to business!”
Bottom line: if you love Brit-coms and history (as I do), I highly recommend the entire series!