Although each series is set in a different era, all follow the " misfortunes " of Edmund Blackadder ( played by Atkinson ), who in each is a member of a British family dynasty present at many significant periods and places in British history.

It is implied in each series that the Blackadder character is a descendant of the previous one, although it is never mentioned how any of the Blackadders manage to father children.

Each Blackadder and Baldrick is also saddled with the company of a dim-witted aristocrat whose presence Blackadder must somehow tolerate.

Blackadder II is set in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I ( 1558 – 1603 ), played by Miranda Richardson.

The principal character is Edmund, Lord Blackadder, the great-grandson of the original Black Adder.

Blackadder the Third is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency.

In the series, E. Blackadder Esquire is the butler to the Prince Regent, the Prince of Wales ( the prince is played by Hugh Laurie as a complete fop and idiot ).

Blackadder is joined by his batman Private S. Baldrick ( Tony Robinson ) and idealistic Edwardian twit Lieutenant George ( Hugh Laurie ).

The final episode of this series, " Goodbyeee ", is known for being extraordinarily poignant for a comedy – especially the final scene, which sees the main characters ( Blackadder, Baldrick, George, and Darling ) finally going " over the top " and charging off into the fog and smoke of no man's land to presumably die.

Another significant difference is that the character of Prince Edmund presented in the pilot is much closer to the intelligent, conniving Blackadder of the later series than the snivelling, weak buffoon of the original.

In a twist on Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Blackadder is the " kindest and loveliest " man in England.

It is set on the turn of the millennium, and features Lord Blackadder placing a bet with his friends – modern versions of Queenie ( Miranda Richardson ), Melchett ( Stephen Fry ), George ( Hugh Laurie ) and Darling ( Tim McInnerny ) – that he has built a working time machine.

While this is intended as a clever con trick, the machine, surprisingly, works, sending Blackadder and Baldrick back to the time of the dinosaurs, where they manage to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs, through the use of Baldrick's best, worst and only pair of underpants as a weapon against a hungry T. Rex.

* Baldrick is a character in the BBC comedy series Blackadder played by Tony Robinson.

* Freddie Frobisher, the flatulent hermit of Lindisfarne, is featured in Blackadder the second, episode Beer.

Richardson is known for her role as a comedic Queen Elizabeth I, aka Queenie, in the British television comedy Blackadder II.

In the television comedy series Blackadder, Richard III is portrayed by Peter Cook in an alternative version of history as a doting, kindly man who treats his nephews with affection.

He is unintentionally killed by Edmund, the titular " Blackadder " ( Rowan Atkinson ), when Edmund thinks he is trying to steal his horse.

After Blackadder, Robinson became the narrator and one of the lead actors for the British animated series Nellie the Elephant, based on a song of the same name.

Edmund Blackadder is the single name given to a collection of fictional characters who appear in the BBC mock-historical comedy series Blackadder, each played by Rowan Atkinson.

Prince Edmund is the first man in the dynasty to refer to himself as ' the Black Adder ' ( although in Blackadder: Back and Forth, a centurion in Roman Britain also possesses a similar name ).

* Lord Blackadder-Medieval-First name unknown, a contemporary of Robin Hood ( timeperiod visited in Blackadder Back And Forth )

Blackadder is a genuine surname, its usage in the UK currently documented back to the 15th century, which may explain the choice of the name, with the first series being set in this time period.

The name is thought to be mostly Scottish in origin, which is not contradicted in the series, as the first Blackadder begins as the Duke of Edinburgh.

In the third series it is revealed that a branch of the Blackadder family is a significant clan in Scotland, although they have become known by the name MacAdder.

Nursie ( real name " Bernard ") is a fictional character in the second series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder II.

Darling is the name of several fictional characters played by Tim McInnerny in the British mock-historical sitcom Blackadder.

The final Darling, however, is also a Blackadder and was portrayed by Atkinson in BBC promotional materials in 2002 ; the name Sir Osmond Darling-Blackadder suggests an unknown familial union between Blackadders and Darlings at some point in their histories.

As well as inheriting his name, Blackadder also appears to have inherited his ancestor's cohorts.

Lord Flashheart is the name of two fictional characters who appeared in two episodes of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder.

However, when Blackadder points out that " Kate " is a girl's name, she quickly claims it is short for " Bob ".

* The image is fair use in the article on the Blackadder family, to identify the first character of that name, and differentiate between other similarly named characters.

* Prince Edmund ( Blackadder ) ( 1461-1498 ), the name of the main character in the first series of the British sitcom Blackadder

A possible early interpretation of the Blackadder Queen Elizabeth character was portrayed four years before Miranda Richardson's role.

Worse, William Shakespeare had given up on writing after Blackadder accused him of causing four hundred years of misery by writing plays where everyone is " talking total crap ", and England has been conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte.

After receiving the Bard's autograph, Blackadder punches him in the face, remarking " That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next four hundred years!

In 2000 the fourth series, Blackadder Goes Forth, ranked at 16 in the " 100 Greatest British Television Programmes ", a list created by the British Film Institute.

This was followed by a second series, Blackadder II ( 1986 ) set during the reign of Elizabeth I, a third series Blackadder the Third ( 1987 ) set during the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the reign of George III, and finally Blackadder Goes Forth ( 1989 ) in 1917, set in the trenches of the Great War.

The Black Adder was the first series of Blackadder and was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, and produced by John Lloyd.

The second series was the first to establish the familiar Blackadder character: cunning, shrewd and witty, in sharp contrast to the bumbling Prince Edmund of the first series.

Caroline is mentioned in the third series of the BBC comedy Blackadder, in which Mr. E. Blackadder dismisses Caroline as a potential wife for George because she " has the worst personality in Germany " ( allegedly " up against some pretty stiff competition ").

He is known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History.

Later series ( Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third, Blackadder Goes Forth ) moved the duo through history and switched the relationship: the Edmund Blackadder of Blackadder II was a brilliant schemer, whereas Baldrick had devolved into a buffoon whose catchphrase was " I have a cunning plan " ( which he rarely had ).