Blackadder's Christmas Carol

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

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.

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.

Very funny. British humour at its best once again. The reversal of the christmas carol is a brilliant idea with good imagination put into it. The other added bonus this one off episode offers is that it goes back to the past era's used in the series in small snip-its and shows us once again how the cunning Lord and the money obsessed butler spent there christmases (usually involving beating baldrick up) plus a view of the blackadder family in the distant future. definately check this out. 9 out of 10.

Blackadder's Christmas Carol makes for exceedingly good comedy. It is memorable because it turns Dicken's tale of the Victorian holiday season on its head. So, rather than a mean old miser repenting his evil ways, Ebeneezer Blackadder, the kindest man in England, repents his kind ways and turns into a nasty loner. The writing is sublime and it is good to see past Blackadders, but not the futuristic version. That just rings hollow with its over use of incomprehensible jargon and silly costumes.