Blackadder Rides Again Page #2

There's one thing you mustn't be, Fawlty Towers, or anything like it.

And of course the great inspiration on the other side of it,

the thing we DID want it to be quite like was Errol Flynn's Robin Hood.

The pilot turned into the first series,

featuring a Blackadder very different

from the brilliant bounder we came to know.

What a little turd!

It was a grand affair, set in the Middle Ages

at the stately Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

Well, so, 25 years ago,

we found ourselves coming to this town for the first time.

Oh, look, there's a bit of castle, there's the sort of gate.

I'm sure, when we came on the recce, we thought,

oh, no, this is really disappointing.

- Is that it? Just that gate.

- Yeah.

Oh, dear, that's a bit squat.

Oh, my God, there it is.

- Now this does ring bells.

- Yes.

Although I have to say the whole feel is an awful lot more spruce.

It's a lot... It's very trim, isn't it? It wasn't like this.

I mean, look at that grass.

You know, there are lots of castles in, you know, Kent or somewhere

which just don't have this sense of openness and bleakness

which Alnwick has, particularly in the snow in February.

All I can remember is thinking, "Look at all this stuff..."

This place would have been full of people,

as far as the eye could see. Horses and dogs...

This is where the first shot we shot begins, as you say goodbye to Baldrick.

And I remember the fantastic sound of hooves on these stones,

on this stone inside this tunnel.

And I remember, when you were on that horse that first day,

you leaned down from the horse and there was a little dewdrop

hanging off the end of your nose because it was so cold.

- Oh, yes, yes.

- The raindrop there,

and then you said,

"What voice shall I use?"

Help! Help! We haven't thought about this at all.

Get out of my way!

Are you going on a journey, my lord?

No, I thought I'd stand here all day and talk to you.

Well, you'll be needing someone to tend your horse then.

What is your profession?

One two three, one two three!

My God, a retired Morris dancer.

I found this the other day. I actually kept a diary of a few days.

"12th February 1983.

"Filming has been fantastically slow and tedious.

"The snow comes down on the words 'turn over'

"as if summoned by an incantation and a remarkable variety of textures.

"Often it's as big as gravel stones,

"and the flagstones look like a working model of Brownian motion."

Oh, that's rather...

Some lyrical writing!

- Very well written.

- Thank you so much!

Rather better than the series!

"On Monday, Tuesday, worried dreadfully that

"Rowan's character was a disaster, but it seems to be gelling well."

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