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Quotes

Blackadder: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side, and the Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war.

Baldrick: But - this is a sort of a war, isn't it sir?

Blackadder: Yes that's right, you see there was a tiny flaw in the plan.

George: What was that sir?

Blackadder: It was bollocks.

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Mistakes

When Blackadder, Queenie and Nursey are all comforting Melchett, there is a shot from the side view of Melchett, he is holding his head with his left hand. Then there is a shot from behind Melchett, he still has his hand on his head but when the shot returns to the side, Melchett no longer has his hand on his head. See more...

Trivia

There are in fact two versions of the bonfire scene. Although most countries use the intended censored version (where somebody coughs right as Edmund says the F word) there are a few US editions where you can hear him swearing uninterrupted. See more...

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Blackadder (1986) - 32 corrections

starring Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson (add more)

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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Season: Whole show  1  2  3  4  All

Across whole show

In the first series the lead character's name was written as two words, "The Black Adder" (well, technically three words), and in subsequent series it was written as one word, "Blackadder". This is not a mistake, however; this is the normal way that languages evolve. The name evolved from the two word pseudonym used by Prince Edmund into the one word name used by his descendants. [This is not valid trivia. It's obvious to anyone who watches the show, or even just reads the title.]
Edit
In 'Blackadder back and Forth', we hear George ask Blackadder for a pair of old underpants so that he'll pay him the £10,000. However, after Blackadder returns from the past the first (and second) times, he has not got the underpants, so why is George giving him the money? [I suspect it's because they asked Blackadder to prove his time machine worked, by gathering the things they asked for. Two out of 3 isn't bad, so George accepts that the machine works.]
Edit
In Back and Forth, Blackadder runs into Shakespeare, and he picks up a copy of Macbeth. But Macbeth was written during the time of James I. [The whole point of this show is that Blackadder and Baldrick are blundering about with a time machine, changing history as they go. The timeline of Shakespeare's literary output was just one of those changed.]
Edit
In the Christmas Carol, Queen Elizabeth claims she cannot reverse a death warrant. But in series 2, episode "Potatoe" Walter Raleigh is let off, and in episode 2-2, "Head", she also gives a pardon from death sentence. [And during the entire series she changes her mind on numerous different issues depending on what mood she is in that day, or even that moment. One of the aspects of her character is the fact that she is inconsistent and changes her mind with child like frequency, as and when the feeling takes her. So hardly a mistake, just a character trait.]
Edit Corrected by Mad Ade
In 'Black Adder's Christmas Carol': It is obvious that all the money we see is fake, it is the wrong shape to be real money and is blank on one side. [As money was in those days. See http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/X522.htm, amongst others.]
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The Black Seal (series 1)

At the end of the episode, all are drinking poisoned wine. When they have drunk the wine, everybody falls off. When they show BlackAdder, one of the man lifts his head up. He's supposed to be dead. [However, as was shown in a previous scene (with one of the members of the Black Seal), not all people are killed outright by one cup of poison and survive for a short while after.]
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How come 'Mr Key' could open the door? Are Mad Gerald's teeth exactly the right shape to fit or something? [In 1400's door locks were bigger, so "Mr Key" would fit in the lock and open the door.]
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The Witchsmeller Pursuivant (series 1)

When Edmund, Baldrick and Percy are put on the fire, Edmund says "Oh (cough) off, Baldrick", but his mouth moves as if he's saying a word at the point of the cough - the cough sound was dubbed in over the original word. [That's the gag. It was not meant to be Edmund coughing, but a member of the crowd. There are few swear words allowed in a sitcom and f*** isn't one of them (which is presumably what Edmund said). The cough was placed at the convenient place as to drown out the original word. There was a similar gag in series 2, whereby the episode is cut off just as Lady Whiteadder is about to say the 'f' word at the end of 'Beer'.]
Edit Corrected by Chimera

The Foretelling (series 1)

Several times in this episode reference is made to Bosworth Field as the battle site, but at the time of the actual battle in 1483 it was known as Redmore or Dadlington Field. [Historically-set programmes and films routinely update the language, terms and names used in order to be understandable by present-day audiences. This is simply an example of this standard convention and thus cannot be considered a mistake.]
Edit Corrected by Tailkinker

All of series 1 (series 1)

Edmund is the son of the King of England and his title is Duke of Edinburgh. However the Dukedom was first created on July 26 1726 so there was no Duke of Edinburgh during the period in which Series 1 is set. [The whole series is a ridiculous re-writing of English history. The character and his position are entirely fictional creations of the writers. Just as there was no King Richard IV of England or Archbishop of Canterbury called Edmund.]
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Chains (series 2)

Queen Elizabeth asks Percy "play awhile, to calm my spirits" and he starts singing clapping games and nursery rhymes. One of these is "Ring o' ring o' roses", a song which was not written until the late 1800's (and which, contrary to urban legend, has nothing to do with the bubonic plague - see http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm for more detail). [This is one of the most frequently submitted (& also frequently corrected) mistakes on the whole site. The programme is written and performed in contemporary English, using language that the general public will understand. Ben Elton & Richard Curtis are highly intelligent well educated men and it is very unlikely that they were unaware of this anachronism (they used 'Happy Birthday' at a different point in the series, for which royalties had to be paid). I think they should be given the benefit of the doubt on this one.]
Edit
How on earth did Edmund know that the party was going to be a fancy dress party? Queenie, Nursey, Baldrick and Percy didn't discuss it until after Queenie wrote to Edmund to tell him that they were going to spend the money on a party so Edmund couldn't have told Prince Ludwig what to go as. [When Edmund recounts his words to Prince Ludwig they're actually along the lines of 'IF they have a fancy dress party then Nursie always goes as a cow'. Edmund didn't know for certain that the party was fancy dress he was just preparing for that eventuality so they'd still be able to tell who Ludwig was.]
Edit
How does the Spanish guard know that Blackadder gets the charades clues wrong at first, and then starts getting them right? He doesn't speak any English and would have no idea whether he was making the right connections or not. [Many people can understand a language far better than they can speak it - the guard is presumably able to understand enough to know when Blackadder's along the right lines (although it isn't good enough to understand Blackadder's rather involved insults).]
Edit Corrected by Tailkinker

Beer (series 2)

In the episode "Beer", set in the 1560s, the "Happy Birthday" song is sung by several characters. This song was not written until 1893 by two American school teachers, copyrighted in 1935. Neither is the song in the public domain. It still earns significant fees to the copyright holders each time it is recorded for sale, i.e. in a movie or on television. In most of the episodes, the various historical inaccuracies are intentional. This one, though, appears to have been an accident, a genuine mistake on the part of the writers. It should be noted that unintentional historical errors are very rare in Blackadder, "unintentional" being the key word. [There is no way this mistake could have been overlooked in the production process. For starters the producers would have had to pay the royalties. This is entirely a deliberate gag by the writers.]
Edit
I know Percy's not that bright, but he adds "Cardinal Wolsey" to the list of party guests. Given that Wolsey died in 1530, and Queen Elizabeth ruled from 1558 onwards (she wasn't even born until 1533), he must have been dead for at least 28 years by this point (even in the Blackadder world of history). Obviously it's done for the joke, but it's still wrong. [A self-correcting mistake. Percy is an idiot. He said the first name that came into his head without stopping to realise Wolsey is dead.]
Edit

Money (series 2)

When Edmund realises he can't pay the bishop his debt and returns home after giving his £85 to the queen from losing his bet. Baldrick gives Edmund a drink which spills over his right leg, which no one seems to notice. [Er, so? How is spilling your drink a mistake? Edmund's got bigger things to worry about - his impending death for one - than a bit of damp on his leg.]
Edit Corrected by umathegreatstationarybear

Head (series 2)

The timing in the episode "Head" is completely muddled up. They decide to move Lord Farrow's execution to Monday from Wednesday to give them the middle of the week off. On the Monday, just after they have established that he is dead (although, of course, it turns out they killed Lord Ponsonby instead) Lady Farrow turns up and says, "He dies tomorrow" which ought to make it Tuesday. The writers have very definitely forgotten about one day of the week. [There is nothing in this or any other scene which places it on the Monday. It is left to the audience to make the simple deduction that Lady Farrow asks Queenie if she can see her husband on Tuesday.]
Edit
One of my favorite lines is when Blackadder refers to himself as "The new minister of religious genocide". However, the word "genocide" didn't appear until around the mid-1940's when Raphael Lemkin invented it specifically to describe the events witnessed in the Holocaust. ['Blackadder' is written and performed in contemporary English. This is a straightforward film convention, not an error. Only a handful of academics would understand a television show shot in genuine Elizabethan English.]
Edit
Nursey says that ointment is what's needed when your head's been cut off and that's what she used with Queenie's "sister Mary when they done her." Mary, Queen of Scots, was the only close relative of Elizabeth that was beheaded and called Mary but she was a cousin. Elizabeth's half-sister Mary was not beheaded, she was queen (as Mary I) before Elizabeth and died of influenza and cancer. Also, Mary was beheaded in 1587 when Elizabeth was 54, Miranda Richardson hardly seems 54 and in "Potato," Sir Walter Raleigh has just returned from America and mentions that he left Plymouth in spring of 1552 so Mary is over thirty years away from her beheading. [Nursey is a complete barmpot who is prone to talking absolute nonsense.]
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Bells (series 2)

When Edmund goes to see the wise woman, she advises that one option to get out of his predicament would be to "kill Bob". He hasn't told her Bob's name at this point, only that he is in love with his manservant. Although the "wise woman" is a crone and could be thought to have insight of this nature, she's portrayed as far too rubbish. [The first thing she says to him is "Hail Edmund, Lord of Adders Black", she couldn't know who he was since she's a recluse and Edmund tells Baldrick that he'd rather trust Dr Leech then some old crone - so she has some ability in the mystical to know his name.]
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