Blackadder's Christmas Carol

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.

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.

This is one of two individual "film episodes" of Blackadder, separate to the series, although each of the two films has references to the series.

Out of Blackadder Back and Forth and this, I prefer Back and Forth, but this is still a hilarious delight to watch. At the beginning, Ebenezer Blackadder is the opposite of Ebenezer Scrooge, being nice to everyone - even Baldrick, surprisingly enough. He is so kind he ends up giving away all their Christmas presents and food for the next day - and their mini Christmas tree (the people who do this include Queen Victoria and Albert, who dress up as peasants to meet Blackadder). That night, the ghost of Christmas past, present and future comes to meet Blackadder and congratulates him for being very nice - unlike his ancestors. The ghost shows Blackadder some things that have happened and will happen, transforming Blackadder in unusual ways...

The cast:

The lovely, kind Blackadder (:-O ???): Rowan Atkinson. The sweet, brainless Baldrick: Tony Robinson. Lord Melchett: Stphen Fry. The happy, bumbling Queen Vicky: Miriam Margoyles. The silly Albert: Jim Broadbent. The jolly, magical ghost of Christmas past, present and future: Robbie Coltrane. + people from the second and third parts of the series.

I recommend this to anyone who likes Blackadder, anyone who likes good humour and people who like Christmas! Enjoy! :-)

8 and a half out of ten.

Edmund Blackadder is one of the greatest characters British television has ever produced . He`s cruel , selfish and oh so cunning and it`s a bit of a shock to see him undergo a character change and be the kindest man in all of England . But don`t worry , in this reworking of Dickens A CHRISTMAS CAROL Blackadder soon turns into the anti hero we all know and hate

This is a side splitting Christmas feast for fans of the BLACKADDER series and we get flashbacks to series two and three of the historical sit-com and a glimpse of how the show might have looked if it continued into the space age . To be honest I don`t think a science fiction version of BLACKADDER would have worked well but I did find the concept interesting and highly amusing at the same time .

Don`t worry if you watch it in the height of summer , you`ll still find it funny

Blackadder is back and Dickens has him! Join us as we look in on kind-hearted Ebenezer Blackadder and his assistant Baldrick. He is the biggest patsy in London, until he is visited by a Chrismas spirit (who has been imbibing in a few spirits of his own!). A look at his past and future sets Blackadder on his true course.

The gang is all here for this one, with all of our favorite haracters and actors back for the fun. The only bad part is Baldricks costume in the future. Boy, that'll give you nightmares on Christmas!

If you're tired of false sentiment and prefer the Grinch before his heart grows, catch this one. Bah, humbug, indeed!