"Blackadder Goes Forth"
Goodbyeee (1989)

Director:

Richard Boden

Writers:

Richard Curtis (written by) &
Ben Elton (written by)

TV Series:

"Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989)

Original Air Date:

2 November 1989 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Plot:

Blackadder pretends that he's insane to avoid certain death carrying out the General's order for the "big push".

Plot Keywords:

Cult Favorite | War | Cunning Plan | 1910s | Historical

Cast

Rowan Atkinson	...	Captain Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson	...	Private S. Baldrick
Stephen Fry	...	General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett
Hugh Laurie	...	Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh
Tim McInnerny	...	Captain Kevin Darling
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Field Marshal Haig

Trivia:

Originally, the last episode was going to end with Blackadder, Baldrick, George and Darling jumping out from the trench and then getting shot dead instantly. They thought better of it and replaced it with the fade-out ending that won a poll in the UK in 2004 as the best ever farewell episode of a TV series.

Quotes:

Lieutenant George: Captain Darling said they'd be along directly, but, well, you'd better be damn doolally.
Captain Blackadder: Don't worry, George; I am. When they get here, I'll show them what 'totally and utterly bonkeroonie' means. Fwaf! Until then, we've got bugger-all to do except sit and wait.
Lieutenant George: Well, I don't know, sir - we could, er, we could have a jolly game of charades!
Private Baldrick: Ooh, yes!
Lieutenant George: And a singalong of musical hits like "Birmingham Bertie" and "Whoops, Mrs Miggins, You're Sitting On My Artichokes."
Captain Blackadder: Yes, I think bugger-all might rather be more fun.

The only time I have cried watching TV

Seriously, the first time I saw the end scene when the battle fades to grey and to the poppies was the only time I have cried watching TV. Because of the show (and Wilfred Owen's) I now have a tattoo on my upper arm with two rows of barbed wire and poppies and the text "Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori".

The greatest 30 mins of TV I have ever seen. Nothing comes close. Seriously. This is a programme that takes on the horror of war - it doesn't give in to punchlines and caricatures and doesn't focus on bloody horror. This is the one episode that should be shown to anyone who thinks that British comedy is shallow and pointless.