Blackadder's Christmas Carol

I don't know how many versions there are of the famous Christmas Carol. The oldest versions and the one from Disney are the best I think. Some more recent versions are all terrible, but this one from 88 is an excellent one. Of course, it seems that there is a group of fans devided into two. Fans of American humor, fans of Brittis humor. I tend to prefer the last one. This version of Blackadder is Brittish humor at its best, and I never can get enough of it.

I find that hard to believe! Anyone, allow me to rectify this. Blackadder's Christmas Carol has some of the funniest material of all the Blackadders. Set in Victorian times (Jim Broadbeat looks stunningly like Prince Albert), there's a neat turnabout this time - Ebenezer Blackadder is the nicest, most entirely selfless man in the whole of England! A visit from Robbie Coltrane, hilarious as the ghost of Christmas who decided to visit someone who's all ready nice for a change, shows Blackadder the naughty behaviour of some of his ancestors, not to mention the future. But Ebenezer draws the wrong conclusion. You can sense the relish in Rowan Atkinson's voice as he proclaims "Bad guys have all the fun!" - what he means is, playing bad guys is all the fun. Don't miss this one.

A grand reversal of "The Christmas Carol".

Very funny, but *perhaps* viewing the BlackAdder series is a prerequisite so you know the characters. (Well at least the first 3 series.)

Amanda Richardson does the switch from Elizabeth I to the future perfectly.

And BlackAdder's progression, vs. Baldrick's progression are shown well.

An annual event here!

A fantastic idea, this one. Take the old chestnut 'A Christmas Carol', give it a shake-up, and turn it on its head.

Ebenezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson in fine form as ever) is a good guy, who gives away anything to anyone, and is truly chock-full of the Christmas spirit. Time for the Spirit of Christmas (a rip-roaring turn from Robbie Coltrane) to work his magic, invoke the spirits of Ebenezer's ancestors and descendants, and inform him of the errors of his ways.

We're reminded of Blackadder's former incarnations, in Tudor and Regency times, and of the cunning plans and twists of the long-gone relatives. We meet again with the likes of Queenie (Miranda Richardson), Melchett (Stephen Fry), Nursie (Patsy Byrne), and Prince George (Hugh Laurie). And of course the Cratchit character - Baldrick, who else! - suffers more and more as the story unfolds.

A scary turn from Miriam Margoyles and Jim Broadbent (Victoria and Albert), and a mind-boggling look into the distant future completes the transformation.

Not shown often enough, this is a real plum-pudding of a piece.

A very funny inversion of both 'A Christmas Carol' and the other Blackadder shows. Here, "Ebenezer Blackadder" is as kind and generous as a man can be, the opposite of every Scrooge (and other Black Adder) we've seen. But then he gets a visit from the ghost of the Christmas spirit, who shows him how awful and selfish his various ancestors were.

On the other hand, they don't seem to be taken advantage of quite the way he is...

A spirited, funny, and black satire, with terrific work as usual from the whole group; Rowan Atkinson. Tony Robinson, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margolies and Jim Broadbent. Quite a cast! It doesn't all work, and the very ending is a bit predictable, but there lots of laughs and twisted humor along the way.