A new series of Blackadder is “on the cards” says Tony Robinson
The man who played Baldrick in four series of the Rowan Atkinson comedy says he has spoken to the rest of the cast and appears hopeful that the comedy classic could be revived
Could Blackadder return from the dead in a new series?
When the BBC comedy finished in 1989 with the apparent death of the cast in the trenches of the First World War there has been the occasional reunion - but no series.
But now Tony Robinson, the Time Team presenter who played the loveable factotum Baldrick, has revealed that a new series of the comedy written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis is a distinct possibility.
“I do think a new series of Blackadder is on the cards,” the 69-year-old told The Sun. “I have spoken to virtually all the cast about this now.”
He joked that one sticking point could be the huge pay demands of Hugh Laurie, the star of US drama House.
“The only problem is Hugh’s fee. He’s a huge star now — or so he’d like to think.”
He added: “Expectations for a new series will be high because people not only remember the original, they remember who they were when it was on. It’s a big danger."
When asked by RadioTimes.com recently about the show's revival, Robinson appeared more equivocal.
"So do I miss comedy?," he said in an interview to publicise his new Channel 4 show Time Crashers. "I don’t know. Journalists often ask if there’s going to be another series of Blackadder, and how does anyone know that? That’s up to the people who run channels, and not performers. But when they say that, I guess I have a renewed affection for how we all were in those days. But it was in those days, rather than these days."
The cast returned in Blackadder Black & Forth in 2000 – but this skit which saw Rowan Atkinson’s Edmund Blackadder explore British history in a time machine was a one-off show made for the launch of the ill-fated Millennium Dome.
Atkinson also revived the character on stage at a charity event for the Prince’s Trust in 2012, imagining the dastardly creation as a greedy banker.
The BBC was unable to comment at the time of publication.
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