Forty years ago tonight, television viewers settled down for their first sighting of a comedy character who would become a long-standing favourite. The Chronicle’s TV pick of the night on June 15, 1983, was episode one of a new historical sitcom called The Black Adder.
The preview declared: “Black Adder’s slimy reign of terror begins a series of six horrible situation tragedies, or sitcom at its bloodiest and most-gripping.” Featuring comedy legend Peter Cook and mega-mouthed Brian Blessed, the show starred, of course, Tyneside-born funnyman Rowan Atkinson.
The comic was already a familiar face on TV due to his role in the Pythonesque sketch show Not The Nine O’Clock News, and he would later achieve massive international success with Mr Bean, but it was his caddish Blackadder character which would earn him a place as a household name.
