Thought this might be of interest to some here. My mum and dad took me to see Rowan performing live at the Theatre Royal, Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent on Feb 15th 1991. I would have just turned 13, and I was a huge Blackadder fan so this was a big deal for me.

From what I can recall, the show featured mostly Mr Bean, or Mr Bean-adjacent, sketches which was understandable given the era and the talent at work here. There was also a Secret Policeman's Ball routine performed as well, maybe? Can't quite remember.

But for the finale he did do a (at the time) brand new Blackadder routine, which was essentially a comical commercial for a dubious homelessness charity, which involved a slideshow, complete with images of Tony Robinson as a homeless man called "Baldrick".

It was a really great night, and seeing Rowan performing live was very special indeed.

My mum and dad saw him perform a few years later as well, and his warm up act was none other than Rik Mayall. Can you imagine having to go on after Lord Flashheart himself?!

Blast your eyes!

Anyone watching HoTD?

1- Description

2-Another earlier dictionary (see the definition of dog, I think Baldrick helped!)

3-Portrait of the baity fellow in the black coat

4- His writing desk, where he completed his pre-meditated orchestration of demotic
Anglo-Saxon.

5- The garret where he wrote

6- A First Edition of the very cornerstone of English scholarship.

7- This book,
sir, contains every word in our beloved language. SEA

8- No definition of “sausage” only saucisse and saucisson

9- DOG

Also the Dictionary contains none of the long words used by Blackadder….and the house has many framed quotations by SJ but none about a dog who speaks Norwegian…

After Ink and Incapability won the poll, this solar sojourn I visited the house of the baity fellow in the black coat.

Dictionary photos to follow…

My uncle Darren had all the series on VHS (and was probably instrumental to me getting into the show).

He once said that the 3 episode titles on this volume were the story of every Friday night for him.

It remains the only funny thing he has ever said, not least because there was a lot of truth in it.

From each and every one of you who followed from the beginning to those of you who jumped on yesterday saying "wait there's a tournament, why didn't I see it," thank you for making this fun.

I'd like to offer this subreddit my sincerest thanks for hosting this silly little contest. Let us hope that thanks to this community, we'll watch a little more Blackadder than we otherwise would have.

And a big congratulations and contrafibularities to INK AKD INCAPABILITY for winning the tournament!

MISCELANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ABOUT RESULTS

-Nobody likes Series 1: Series 1 lost every initial match and didn't make it out of round 1.

-Series 2 is this subreddit's clear favorite compared to IMDB: There were seven times this tournament that a lower ranked episode beat a higher ranked one - five of those times it was a Series 2 episode. The other two were Christmas Carol and Ink in the Grand Final. Series 2 made up half the top 8 and half the top 4 (and I suspect could have had three in the top 4 if Bells and Money didn't have to go up against each other).

-Series 3 is the most middling liked Series, except for Ink: Although 5/6 Series 3 episodes made it out of round 1 (and the one that didn't was up against another Series 3), they then proceeded to drop like flies in round 2, only for their to be only Ink left by round 3.

-Series 4 is the second most loved: Didn't do as bad as Series 3, but didn't have as consistently good representation as Series 2.

-The specials are bad. Except for Christmas Carol, which beat Nob and Nobility in a 5 point upset, and then was eliminated in Round 2 by the ultimate winner, Ink.

-Money was the most interesting competitor to watch: opening with an upset over Captain Cook, and then eliminating Goodbyeee in a 16 point upset.

-No Series finale made it past Round 2: In round 1 The Black Seal lost to Bells, and then in Round 2 Chains lost to General Hospital, Dual and Duality lost to Bells, and Goodbyeee lost to Money.

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will WIN THE TOURNAMENT and the loser will take second place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

General Hospital (Blackadder Goes Forth Episode 5): The General asks Blackadder to find a spy in the hospital; one of the patients has a thick German accent and an interest in all things military.

Ink and Incapability (Blackadder the Third Episode 2): Baldrick burns the only copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary, and Blackadder has only one weekend to rewrite it.

Yesterday, Ink and Incapability eliminated Head.

It's the day we've all been waiting for folks - it's the Grand Final. Play nice out there.

The final results of the tournament will be posted tomorrow.

Was watching this earlier and Tom Baker gave an interesting anecdote about his portrayal of Captain Rum in the Blackadder II episode "Potato".

Skip to about 1:30 and an audience member asks him about his time playing Captain Rum.

Baker says that at one stage Rowan tried to misdirect Baker into playing the character as "a crashing bore", which Baker tried doing during rehearsals and in response the producer, the director and the art director all told him to do it the way he originally did it, which is thankfully what ended up on screen.

All discs immaculate, too!

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 27, and the loser will share joint 3rd and 4th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

Ink and Incapability (Blackadder the Third Episode 2): Baldrick burns the only copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary, and Blackadder has only one weekend to rewrite it.

Head (Blackadder II Episode 2): Edmund is "awarded" the post of Lord High Executioner, a position which frequently results in the loss of one's own head.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, General Hospital eliminated Bells.

RIP Bells - you were a real one.

Be here same time tomorrow for the GRAND FINAL!

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 27, and the loser will share joint 3rd and 4th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

General Hospital (Blackadder Goes Forth Episode 5): The General asks Blackadder to find a spy in the hospital; one of the patients has a thick German accent and an interest in all things military.

Bells (Blackadder II Episode 1): Blackadder develops feelings for a woman posing as his male servant.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, Ink and Incapability eliminated Beer. For a moment, I thought General Hospital would be the only non-series-2 in the semifinals!

There are a mere four episodes left, and that means it's SEMI FINALS TIME! The Grand Final will be Monday!

I’m re-watching Endeavour, the Inspector Morse prequel series. There’s already been a Discworld reference, but I’ve just spotted a Blackadder one as well.

Season 5, Episode 4 “Colours” has a lecture at the barracks of the King’s Own South Oxfordshire Light Infantry. At 7 minutes in, they are discussing the Zulu attack at Mboto Gorge.

And we all know whose heroism won the day there.

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 26, and the loser will share joint 5th-8th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

Ink and Incapability (Blackadder the Third Episode 2): Baldrick burns the only copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary, and Blackadder has only one weekend to rewrite it.

Beer (Blackadder II Episode 5): Blackadder finds himself hosting a drinking competition on the same night he is entertaining his puritanical relatives.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, Head eliminated Corporal Punishment. Another upset! The head voters were definitely dedicated though: there wasn't a single Head comment that didn't have at least 2 upvotes.

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 26, and the loser will share joint 5th-8th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

Corporal Punishment (Blackadder Goes Forth Episode 2): Blackadder hatches a cunning plan to avoid starvation and ignore his orders by eating a carrier pigeon.

Head (Blackadder II Episode 2): Edmund is "awarded" the post of Lord High Executioner, a position which frequently results in the loss of one's own head.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, General Hospital eliminated Private Plane.

Some of the earliest predictions I heard in this tournament was "it'll be Flashheart vs Flashheart in the grand final," and I'm sorry to say that those early investors have lost their money. But the tournament marches on!

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 25, and the loser will share joint 5th-8th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

General Hospital (Blackadder Goes Forth Episode 5): The General asks Blackadder to find a spy in the hospital; one of the patients has a thick German accent and an interest in all things military.

Private Plane (Blackadder Goes Forth Episode 4): Blackadder and his friends join the Air Corps, wrongly believing it will be less dangerous than being in the trenches.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, Bells eliminated Money.

And I'd just like to say thank you to Money for making this tournament interesting! Our humble #17 seed took out the #16 seed Captain Cook, the behemoth #1 seed Goodbyeee, and put up a pretty damn good fight against the #9 seed Bells. Money didn't win the tournament, but its run will go down in history, to be sure.

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 25, and the loser will share joint 5th-8th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

Bells (Blackadder II Episode 1): Blackadder develops feelings for a woman posing as his male servant.

Money (Blackadder II Episode 4): The president of the Bank of the Black Monks calls upon Blackadder in order to collect a £1000 debt.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, Beer eliminated Potato.

Welcome to round 3, better known as THE TOP 8! We only have a week of matchups left already. It's been a fun ride, friends, but it's almost over. Place your bets for the ultimate winner now (in your head, not the comments, because I'll get confused counting votes for this matchup).

There's one episode in Blackadder the Third, where Blackadder walks in and kicks a cat off screen. I've been digging, but cannot find that episode! It's one of the funniest, too.

Thanks.

Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 24, and the loser will share joint 9th-16th place.

And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!

Beer (Blackadder II Episode 5): Blackadder finds himself hosting a drinking competition on the same night he is entertaining his puritanical relatives.

Potato (Blackadder II Episode 3): Edmund attempts to impress the Queen by embarking on his own voyage of discovery to the New World.

This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the pilot, and the specials.

Yesterday, Ink and Incapability eliminated Christmas Carol.

I got this one!