Roberts - The True History of the Blackadder

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Jem Roberts was born in Ludlow and studied English, Film & Television at Aberystwyth University. A lifetime in magazines led to the honour of writing his first book, the acclaimed Clue Bible, The Fully Authorised History of Im Sorry I Havent a Clue, whereupon a life-long adoration for Blackadder made this follow-up a must. He lives in Bath, where he runs the comedy gang The Unrelated Family, writes strange tales for young readers and works on his third work of comedy history when he can.

JEMROBERTS.COM

The True History of the Black Adder is the very first in-depth examination of the creation of a brilliant British institution like no other, arguably the greatest sitcom of all time, Blackadder.

Using existing archive footage and rare literature, plus new revelations from personal interviews with the makers including John Lloyd, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed and many more, J. F. Roberts relates the full scope of the tale of how the 1970s alumni of three great universities Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester discovered a unique chemistry that would see them build a timeless comic masterpiece.

At last Blackadder enthusiasts can now uncover THE cunning plan, in all its hideous hilarity.

The Fully Authorised History of Im Sorry I Havent a Clue

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781409051718

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Arrow Books 2013

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Copyright Author 2012, 2013

Jem Roberts has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by
Preface Publishing
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
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The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 0 09956 416 4

For My Own Dark Dynasty

This True History would remain villainously repressed if it werent for the kindness and support of many, many people who gave me their time. Most particularly Rowan Atkinson CBE, Brian Blessed, Richard Curtis CBE, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Sir Tony Robinson and especially John Lloyd CBE.

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While every effort has been made to contact copyright holders, the author and publisher would be grateful for information about any material where they have been unable to trace the source, and would be glad to make amendments in further editions.

John Lloyd: These photographs graphically illustrate how painfully slow the first series was to make.

It was shot without an audience: all young comedy writers go through this stage where they think it would be better without one. In my experience, this just means you dont have to work so hard to get the laughs, so its not as funny.

Because there was no audience seating in the studio, we could have huge sets and put the cameras almost anywhere this meant it took longer to shoot and (to be honest) none of us really knew what we were doing.

We changed all this for Blackadder II small sets, all the cameras in a line across the fourth wall, a live audience. Rowans timing improved at once, the script was much tighter and, as we had to shoot each episode in two hours max, there was no hanging around getting bored everyone was much too busy!

To prepare for his time in the saddle of the far-from-trusty Black Satin, Atkinson was sent for extensive training, under the guidance of a Swedish Olympian equestrian though he subsequently insisted that he learned more from the horse-wrangler on set. Despite all this effort, Ben Elton observed, Rowan falling off a horse at 200 metres is not really funnier than anyone else falling off a horse at 200 metres

King Brian: I had very strong ideas about the King like he must be a man who never opens the door. So he knocks one down, you build another if I could, I would like to walk through doors like Tom & Jerry!

Natasha King, the first Mrs Adder, remembers: aged only eight and with my front teeth missing I was over the moon to receive a bouquet of flowers from Rowan Atkinson when filming finished it did wonders for me in the playground!

Frank Finlay, one of only two thespians to merit a Special Guest credit in the opening titles, prepares to take the despicable Grumbledook to task.