After playing an essentially similar character called "Percy" in each of
the first two "Black Adder" series, he declined to reprise the character
in
La vipère noire III (1987), as he felt that the possibilities of playing a bumbling fool had been exhausted. After playing a guest role in one episode of the third series, writers
Richard Curtis and
Ben Elton persuaded him back into the regular cast for
La vipère noire IV (1989) by offering him a role with a different name (and personality) in the shape of "Captain Darling". He is, thus, the only one of the cast to play differently named regular characters in different series.
