"Blackadder Goes Forth"
Private Plane (1989)

Director:

Richard Boden

Writers:

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

TV Series:

"Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989)

Original Air Date:

19 October 1989 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Plot:

Blackadder and his friends join the Air Corps, wrongly believing it will be less dangerous than being in the trenches.

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
Rik Mayall	...	Squadron Commander Lord Flasheart
Adrian Edmondson	...	Baron von Richthoven
Hugo Blick	...	Lieutenant von Gerhardt (as Hugo E. Blick)
Gabrielle Glaister	...	Driver Parkhurst

Directed by
Richard Boden

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

Produced by
John Lloyd	....	producer

Film Editing by
Chris Wadsworth		(video tape)

Production Design by
Chris Hull

Costume Design by
Annie Hardinge

Makeup Department
Caroline Noble	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Duncan Cooper	....	production manager

Art Department
Jayne Libotte	....	props buyer
Graham McCallum	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
Martin Deane	....	sound supervisor
Nick Way	....	deputy sound supervisor

Visual Effects by
Roger Turner	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Henry Barber	....	lighting director
John Hoare	....	camera supervisor

Editorial Department
Carol Abbott	....	vision mixer

Music Department
Howard Goodall	....	composer: title music
Howard Goodall	....	music arranger: title music

Other crew
Mike Chislett	....	technical coordinator
J. Kennedy	....	assistant floor manager
Tim Parkinson	....	band master
Vanessa Sharples	....	production assistant

Other crew
Mark Shelley	....	weapons armorer

Quotes:

Baron von Richthoven: Ah, and the Lord Flasheart. This is indeed an honour. Finally, the two greatest gentleman fliers in the world meet. Two men of honour, who have jousted together in the cloud-strewn glory of the skies, face to face at last. How often I have rehearsed this moment of destiny in my dreams. The panoply to encapsulate the unspoken nobility of a comradeship.
[Flasheart shoots von Richthoven]
Lord Flasheart: What a poof!

Private Plane - a complete riot of an episode!

Private Plane is easily the funniest episode of the entire Blackadder legacy. Yes, the plot is weak and the script has been written better in other episodes, but what makes this episode so great is that it throws the concepts of plot and complex writing out of the window and instead replaces it with a simple plot and a riotous new character, Squadron Commander Flashheart, played by Rik Mayall. And be honest, it's easy to watch Mayall make his riotous comments and actions for hours. The episode is once again predictable, and there is no extremely intelligent humour in it, but it is made great by hilarious one-liners, (Blackadder insults Baron von Richthoven's rank of "the greatest living German" - "Which, considering his competition consists of very fat men in leather shorts burping to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain", is no great achievement.") and rough, gritty Flashheart, and those two things alone make Private Plane a great episode to watch.

One other good thing about this episode is that we actually do get to see Baldrick and Blackadder in the air - the flight scene was obviously filmed in the sky, using authentic-looking WWI planes. I found this great because it shows that Blackadder has not been confined to the studio only, after the slight flop of Series 1. Not even Blackadder's plane getting shot down was done badly - it actually looked relatively well-done. Though this scene won't be winning any Oscars any time soon, it is good to see that Blackadder has once again made it beyond the studio boundaries, and while the flight scene is only one minute or-so long, it is relatively well-done and a credit to this episode - if this were like previous episodes, then there would have never been a flight scene, and Blackadder would have updated us by speech once again. A huge thumbs-up to the Blackadder crew for once again filming outdoors. Studios in the late 80s/early 90s would have not been able to do the flight scene like it was, especially for a low-budget comedy production, so I am fully sure it WAS done outdoors. Anyway, enough of this banter...

What is good about this episode is that Blackadder actually reveals a truth about himself in the prison cell - he wants to get out of the trenches and the war, and live a cushy life once more. Even if it means spending the rest of the war in Germany teaching convents how to cook. This, and the following 2 episodes, will start to reveal truths about Blackadder, truths that he himself would be ashamed to admit. But Flashheart's appearance keeps things wild again.

Adrian "Vyvyan" Edmondson (I say "Vyvyan" because that was his character in "The Young Ones", and possibly the biggest role of his life) stars as the Baron von Richthoven, German flying ace, who was made out to be a bit of a poof in this episode who couldn't stomach death. ("You are ze two English flying aces responsible for ze spilling of ze precious German blood of many of my finest, and my blondest, friends," was possibly his best line.) It would have been better to have seen more of him, but his performance was memorable, well played, and with a very funny German accent. Flashheart's best bit was when he bullied Darling towards the end of the episode: ("Captain Darling! Funny name for a guy, isn't it?! Last person I called Darling was pregnant 20 seconds later!"). A hugely hilarious and witty line. And this basically sums Private Plane up - rude, hilarious, and rough.

On the whole - Private Plane is easily the funniest of the Blackadder episodes, but it isn't the most meaningful - get a couple of your mates around and pop it on is my advice. A spiffing job, and another hilarious Blackadder addition. Bravo! 10/10