@@MeganRuth Correct. There's no other way to react to this tv episode ending. The entire point of the ending was that we can make all these black comedy jokes rife with sarcasm, but now, at this point, this is ... actually what happened. War is objectively terrible.
I think it was a lady who came up with the idea. They only had a short stage set so for the guys only had about 5 or 6 meters to run before they ran into the film cameras. Which quite frankly looked really bad when they filmed it. Then a lady suggested slowing down the footage and fading it out into a field of poppies that she got as a stock image.
Greatest final scene of any comedy ever. I remember seeing it when it was aired on the BBC for the first time and just being stunned. Brilliant writing.
There was a similar scene in the childrens comedy claymation series Trapdoor. A lovable side character dies at the end, and you're left thinking..... WOT DA AKCHEWAL FOOK?!?!?
Yes! Stunningly poignant and beautiful finale. We were laughing all the way to the end scene I expect, just before they go over the top. Blackadder: "who would notice another madman around here" - Quite. And then we were woken up and reminded that this was no longer a bloody joke. I think Captain Darling summed up the whole situation perfectly - Bugger! In the end I was actually crying. RIP my Great Uncle Arthur who died Nov 9th 1918 - 26 yo, whose company finished the War precisely 4 miles from the location they started it in 1914.
What really makes you think is........ how many actually had that conversation and how many of those were under 21, can you imagine the older C/O's that had been like father figures to such influential minds having them say "Sir, i'm scared" and knowing you can't do a thing about it, just try and comfort them as they march to the gallows.
I watched this in a Uni Common room, with about 100 other students. Raucous laughter and then silence. Never experienced such a thing before or since. I think you stopped a little early, as I recall the field turns to red poppies just after you paused. Even more in the feels.
My grandad was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras, he has no known grave . My mum never got to see her dad she was born two months after he was killed . My nan was awarded a pittance of a war pension and had to take in washing in order to survive and feed my mum. My great uncle was killed at Gallipoli he also has no known grave . His name appears on the Helles memorial.
They won't be forgotten. I visited the Memorial to the Missing in Arras about twenty years ago and there was a poppy stuck by one of the names with the card 'To mum's first boyfriend'. And on a memorial at Gallipoli, Kemal Attarurk's message ends "You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." He was speaking of the ANZACs but I'm certain he would have felt it applied to all those who died
John Lloyd talked a while ago on 'Goon Pod' about the final scene - it was a real shambles when recorded in the studio and the cast refused to do a second take because of the explosions. The brilliance that ends up on screen is a real team effort from the production team with various people suggesting things to save it: the slow motion, the music, the mix to the poppies etc. No one person is responsible for how it came together, but John reckons the universe was on their side that day... :-)
like you said it looked terrible, the studio was to small ( cant remember which one in TVC they used for the final ep ) to get any run in and the explosions were to quick all in all it was rubbish, not helped by the fact they had run out of studio time so couldn’t shoot it again, during the viewing it was the editor Chris Wadsworth who not only had the idea to slow down the footage but also to mix to the field of poppies at the end, total genius idea
I was 10 years old when this episode aired. I remember fighting back the tears at the end so my mum couldn't see me. Even at that age that got me because I understood the significance of that ending. The contrast at the end of a battlefield to it being just a quiet calm field. I hate war.
First shown just before Armistice Day I believe they were a bit worried about showing it but it's pretty much universally accepted that they handled a difficult subject with real tact and sensitivity. The ending where the trenches fade from black and white to poppy fields in vibrant colour is just perfect. And that was the end of Blackadder, 4 series, and not allowed to run on and get old and tired like so many other series.
There was actually another episode after this, called Blackadder: Back & Forth. It was made by the BBC & Sky in 1999. It was originally premiered in the Millennium Dome on 31st Dec 1999. It was then shown later on Sky & then the BBC.
I heard a rumour years ago that another series was planned. Set in the 1960s around a band called The Blackadder Five. Never got made and I'm glad it didn't. This was the best way to end the main series..... One of the most moving few minutes of TV ever in the world!
I'm a British Army armed forces veteran who saw action and served my country and my Queen, that final scene always brings tears to my eyes and makes me reflect on the mates who didn't come home during my service. I come from a military family that served our country throughout the generations and my 4 x Great Uncle was in the Royal Horse Artillary as a Gunner/Driver firing the cannons at the French at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and survived and lived to 80 years old as a Chelsea Pensioner.
my great uncle died during the second battle of the Somme. the battalion on his left lost 252 men about 50% of them. the battalion on his right lost 254 men about 50% of them. his battalion lost 493 men. almost the entire battalion. KIA or MIA, disappeared into the mud filled shell holes never to be seen again.
"History repeats itself - Because nobody was listening the first time." Right now anybody who's studied history can see parallels with the rise of the far right in Europe in the 1930s and with it's current resurgence. The signs are so clear, but too many people seem oblivious - It's a dark time and very scary.
I am 76 and my dad was a sergeant in the Lancashire Fusiliars in WW1 he was at the Battle of the Somme and he was gassed but clearly survived as many did because so many troops were involved .
He might have known my Grandad - Accy Pals. He also fought on the Somme near Serre - he was 16 or 17 years old at the time. Somehow he survived, but was injured (carried shrapnel in his leg his whole life) and then taken prisoner. Forced labour repairing the German railways that the Brits were blowing up. He managed to escape and walked barefoot to Spain with a couple of other lads. Understandably, he didn't really speak much about it, but he was very clear that there is no glory in war.
and its kudos overshadows, and helps ensure nobody speaks out, how episode 2/6 of the same show, siding with and taking part in and victim blaming for school bullying, was the sickest mass hate crime of any comedy programme ever.
The moment Capt Darling is told he is going to the front took me back some 26 years, almost to the day. I'd been serving for just less than 2 years when word came through we were going to deploy. Myself and another young Officer (Matt) were just weeks from deploying. The exuberance of youth (as portrayed by Lieutenant George in 'Goes Forth'), we were all geared up, looking forward to what was to come with what is now in hindsight, a fair degree of blissful ignorance, even though this wasn't my first deployment, it was my first War. We'd travelled to the Regimental Headquarters a few hours from where we were based, for a study day, after which we'd had a meal and a few drinks with some of the other Company Commanders and 2 ic's (Majors and Captains). As it came time for us to head off, we were saying our farewells, when several of those other Officers, with plenty of time under their belts, shook our hands, with very serious looks on their faces, and one of them said 'Keep your heads down'. That caught both of us off guard. It was a long quiet drive back to our base. Looking back, when I'm asked about those times, the 9 years I served, and the almost 3 years in total I spent on operations, I say 'The things you do when you're young'. Over those years we lost a fair few colleagues in various events. I have a coin that commemorates one particular theatre we worked in, on which are stars for each of those we lost there. There are 12 stars on that coin. I know the names of each one, and for 10 of them I remember exactly where I was when I was told about the news they were no longer with us. Those of us that remain, we do our best to make sure they are never forgotten.
after the lives of every post-WW2 generation have been filled with that generation sneering and ego-tripping refusing to believe that war experiences still exist for anyone younger.
@SeanHendy the emotionally unfair way many of the WW2 generation have treated, and been led by media to treat, everyone after them, often includes assuming that later generations are immune from having any war experiences
@@conscienceaginBlackadder there are many complicated issues at play. I was born into a military family so everyone I knew and grew up with had connections to the military, often over many generations. It's difficult therefore for me to have seen nothing other than respect for all veterans, regardless of which era they are from, certainly from the circles I'm in. The same cannot be said of some 'civvies' particularly those that identify as pacifists or anarchists, who I have had several difficult conversations with, trying to educate them as to the error of their ways lol. Have met more than a few WWII veterans, my Grandfather included. One of the most humbling conversations I ever had, was with 2 x WWII veterans, 1 x Parachute Regiment, and the other SAS, when I was serving myself, who said "We don't know how you do it. Back in our day it was easy. We knew who the enemy was". I was taken aback that they would ever think we had it any harder than they had, and that they underestimated the awe and respect that I had for what they did. I do however have very disparaging views when it comes to many parts of the media having had a fair amount of contact with journalists of various types, and reading some of what they've written that I've had first hand knowledge of, the result being that I could see inaccuracies on every single line printed and all kinds of assumptions presented as misleading facts.
I love the writing that turns our perception of Capt. Darling around. For the whole series, he's been Blackadder's antagonist, trying again and again to get one over on his opponent, but failing. This results in the audience seeing him as a pompous idiot, skulking back at HQ. His response to Blackadder's enquiry about how he's feeling exposes Darling's humanity. Like so many others in every war, all he wants to do is get home safe, go back to work, marry the love of his life and enjoy his favourite sport/pastime/hobby. The poignant revelation foreshadows what we all know is coming at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, also like so many others in every war, he didn't make it.
in the end, Darling and Blackadder come together, realizing they're both the same: doing whatever they can, hook or crook, to get out of the war and avoid certain death: and that they've both failed.
Some 25 years ago I was a Platoon Commander training Phase 1 recruits during their initial training for the British Army. The course was about 14 weeks long and part way through included a battlefield tour trip of various sites relating to WWI. On the coach from Winchester I used to play the Goes Forth series, all 6 episodes, as a gentle introduction to get them started over the following 2 days, and it was a useful vehicle to get them interested and to understand some of what took place. The ending leaves no doubt of the sacrifices made by so many, not only in WWI but also countless other wars and conflicts of our predecessors, as did visiting some of the Commonwealth War Graves that are in Belgium. It was particularly telling to see the usual 'characters' amongst the recruits, change completely, as they took in the history and saw the ages of those whose gravestones are in the cemeteries, given they were similar in age to those that died.
REGARDING WW1 RECRUITMENT, MOST ,IF NOT ALL, WORKING CLASS YOUNG MEN, WERE POORLY EDUCATED, AND IGNORANT OF THE WIDER WORLD, AND IN MANY CASES, HAD NEVER EVEN LEFT THE VILLAGE OR TOWN THEY WERE BORN AND LIVED IN. THOSE WITH JOBS, WERE MOSTLY HEAVY LABOURING JOBS WITH NO PROSPECTS, THE IDEA OF GOING ABROARD BY TRAIN AND SEA, AND ENGAGING IN WAR AS SOLDIER'S IN UNIFORM, AND IN MOST CSES, IN ''PALS'' REGIMENTS, SOUNDED EXCITING.
I saw the same thing in Tyne Cot when a group of squaddies turned, Despite their Sergeants briefing they all looked cocky and streetwise. As they went round the cemetary and looked at all the dead who were about their own age you could see their attitude change. It was a very moving experience watching them grow up so quickly.
It was why the Red Poppy was used as a symbol of remembrance after the Great War. A carpet of millions of beautiful red flowers marking the spot in the battlefields where so much blood had been shed. The symbolism was just too perfect to miss.
This episode was first aired on Rememberance Sunday (not unlike veterans day to our US friends, but with a bit more gravity). There was outrage before it was screened until people saw how tastefully done it was.
still hits like a sucker punch all these years later. even though you know better, you're still holding on to a bit of hope/denial. After all, that's how TV shows usually work. And then Darling says "1917" and the door just slams shut. And you know.
My grandfather fought in the Somme. Of 800 people in his company, he was one of only 150 that survived the battle (and he was hit by shrapnel). He never talked about his time and never talked about the battle (aside from saying once "I was there" whilst "The World at War" was on TV.
My grandfather was a boiler man in the navy during WW2 and was present during the D-Day landings He never talked about it either and said he didn't understand why everyone chose to remember it
Thank You Megan for Sharing this Episode.... It is STILL so emotional to watch now as when it was first shown...... Your so right in saying that the world hasn't learnt anything
I so clearly remember the first time I saw it, completely unaware that it was the final episode, but as it went on just getting this strange feeling of dread. Just the way the men gradually turn wistful and nostalgic as the night goes on, as if one by one they're making their peace with their fate.
The audio only version of this (on cassettes in the 1990s) echoed some of the spoken lines during that lonely piano piece. George: We've had some good times, we've had some damnably good laughs, eh? Baldrick: I thought it was going to be such fun. Darling: But sir, I don't want to. Blackadder: Good luck, everyone.
One of the best endings to a series in tv history. It fades away to poppies and a beautiful birdsong after all the chaos. Absolute genius and a fitting tribute to all those brave souls who didn’t come home.
To me typical British comedy has always lived alongside tragedy. As wacky as some shows can be, they always tend to be grounded in some reality. More specifically to this though, i like the way it plays with your emotions to bring you from one polar opposite feeling to the other, conveying the seriousness and reality of what those people went through, it leaves a deep sinking feeling in my chest.
And how mad was it that in the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. They were cousins!
Queen Victoria died in 1901... in the arms of Kaiser Wilhelm. And in 1917 White (i.e. not Red Bolshevik) Russians wondered why British ships had a portrait of their Tsar. Who was King George's cousin, looked very like him down to the beard and wore similar style uniforms....
The Blackadder was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, with Atkinson playing the title role. When a second series was commissioned, Atkinson was happy to continue in the title role, but he didn't want to write, so Ben Elton came in to work with Curtis. The different writing partnership saw changes to the characters and style. The Blackadder was not actually repeated until just after Blackadder Goes Forth had aired. This long gap meant that everyone had become used to the Curtis / Elton writing partnership that they'd forgotten the different Curtis / Atkinson writing partnership, and so didn't enjoy it as much. I actually enjoy The Blackadder as much as the later series, but I am more of a medieval historian at heart.
I think what they did with the Blackadder theme at the end on top of what you are seeing makes it all work so well. A perfect ending for the show and totally respects those that faught and died fornour freedom. Looking at our country today, its such a shame so many no longer realise how much went into that freedom, and how many of the countries forefathers died on those fields to have what they faight for given away so easily and so freely every day now.
What a great programme this was with the ending ranking among the most moving scenes ever seen in any programme. As they said it was 1917 it wasn't the first day of the Somme when the British Army suffered about 60,000 casualties (mostly between 0730 and 0830) including around 20,000 killed. It was probably the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) on 31 July 1917 and which ended in November with men drowning in mud (literally). You said you're from Canada. Have you visited the memorial at Vimy Ridge, Newfoundland Park on the Somme where the Newfoundland Regiment (not part of Canada then) suffered 90% casualties on 1July1916 or Vancouver Corner near Ypres where Canadians held the line against the first gas attack. You'll learn a lot and the young guides to the first two sites come each year from Canada are superb.
A poignant and thought-provoking end to a masterful series. Over a hundred years later, soldiers can still be found stagnating in trenches, waiting to die. From an early age, we are taught that we should '...learn from history.' Alas, the ones who start the wars and have the power to stop them, seem to pay no heed. : (
You got through it Megan,darlings quote 1914_17 war,as we really knew it was18.the more I watch that last episode the more emotional I become,just thinking how baldrick & george are both scared breaks your ❤️.
There is a picture on my wall of my great great uncle with his fellow soldiers of the lewis gunner section of the 2nd London Scottish regiment. It was taken at Gammecourt, France a week before the Somme. A week later, he was the only one of the fifteen men in the photo still alive. He spoke about his experience only once. They went over the top, all the men around him fell down dead, he started shooting intermittently to save ammo. He was nearly shot by members of the Royal Irish regiment who thought he was a jerry until they noticed his kilt. He fell in with them. He sustained severe bayonet wounds to the torso and machine gun wounds on his forearms. After the war he was doing his morning ablutions at the sink, his mother walked in and saw his horrifically scarred body and promptly fainted. He was a quiet man, children would ask what he did in the war and he would gently smile, continue to smoke his pipe and say nothing.
😢😢😢😢😢 Brilliant,the ending was genius ,my favourite line is "It Started When Archie Duke Shots an Ostrich thanks for posting it ,glad to see you' re a little better ❤❤.
I remember watching this with my parents when it was first broadcast. We just sat in silence unable to believe what we had just watched. That's how brilliantly written and acted it is. In situation comedy, the one thing you know for sure is that the "situation" will be resolved in some way by the end of the episode and this one wasn't. Amazing. Also I am glad that they never made a fifth series of Blackadder as that would have diminished the impact of how series 4 ended, in my opinion. Still incredibly moving every time I see it.
Still gets me, and I saw it the first time! The whole series was brilliant, they were right not to continue. It was scarily historically correct, with the decision makers well away from the front and the ordinary man being sent to their deaths. We're supposed to learn from history, but I'm not sure that we are.... Nice reaction
I was laughing as hard as I always did watching Blackadder and on the turn of a coin I was crying just as hard. Absolute genius and only fitting. My grandad was 4 years old when that war ended but WW2 caught up with him. It will never stop.
I can never stop singing the praises of this incredible moment of drama and pathos in the end moments of a comedy show. After the first time I watched the Blackadder Goes Forth series all subsequent views were filled with a sense of forboding because I knew what was coming. It is heart-wrenching. I don't think you get the full impact from just the last episode. You have to have seen the whole series to really feel the smack in the face that last scene gives you. To this day it is widely seen as one of the greatest dramatic scenes in TV history and the most incisive foray into the futility of war. For such a moment of drama to round off a raucous contemporary comedy is something that has never been done better. That end scene as it lifts into a full colour poppy field where they fell is chilling. "War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" - Edwin Starr
One of the GREATEST endings ever! 🎬 It's not just comedy; it's pure brilliance! It perfectly illustrates how those at the top will throw everyone under the bus. Even felt for Darling in the end.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
The poem by John McCrae! Also featured as a musical contribution by Siouxsie and the Banshees "Poppy Day" ! Fantastic song, haunting.. Subject matter was about the 1st world war.
I think "the Splinter" was a way for the production team to give Blackadder an "out" if they decided to make another series.. However I am glad they left the series as it was .. a fitting finale
@kittyhawk9707 I don't get the point regarding the splinter remark about getting another series.i know Megan showed heavily edited highlights 🤔 I don't think that baldrick line was in,it was omitted,but I remember it being in the original bbc version, explaining the irony meant alittle cut from a spell or splinter in a 🪜 ladder is nothing compared too what was to come..
They didn't really need an out like that. After all the first and second series ended with the entire regular cast being wiped out. That didn't stop them doing more series on the premise that "They may have died but their line lives on". And we did get to see a present-day Blackadder in "Blackadder: Back and Forth".
@@kittyhawk9707I reiterate the splinter wasn't a reference to a splinter group ,it was specifically meant as a jagged piece of wood stuck out on a ladder before climbing up & over the top,baldrick said you can do yourself a hand injury getting a spell splinter or bit of wood,hope that clears up the anomaly over the irony..
@@Rodgerslicker I know what the splinter meant .. what i meant was in the next series Blackadder could have survived the war due to getting "injured" by the splinter and invalided home .. just like he wanted to do during the whole episode ..
Yes, the same applied to the last episode of 'Upstart crow', also written by Ben Elton, which dealt with the death of Shakespeare's young son Hamnet. A subtle and very clever shift from comedy to tragedy without spoiling either.
My grandfather fought in WW1.. He lost three brothers and a brother-in-law.. his youngest brother, Lewis, died on 11/11/1918.. Armistice day itself...RIP Fred, Frank,Lewis and James...and RIP to all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
As many have stated here and elsewhere the ending is one of the greatest, going from such a great comedy you can feel the humour almost get sucked out at a specific point. I remember when the BBC I think did the greatest ever British comedies ever and the top few got a segment or episode justifying the reason, and they went over all of black adder and said finally you can ignore everything so far and this episode alone was a justification alone. For a comedy like this to be able to create such a moving scene is very very rare, still an all time top top ending imo
I was born into a military family with a very strong history of service. Great Grandfather was involved in WWI as part of the medical services in both Malta and Gallipoli; Great Uncle was in the Howe Battalion of the Royal Navy Division that fought in the Somme. He is buried at the military cemetery in Ancre. My Grandfather landed on the beaches on D Day and took part in the liberation of Belgium. My Dad served from '59 to '98 including Malaya in the early '60s. I would then also go on to serve, beginning my time 8 years after this was broadcast. When Goes Forth was broadcast in '89, I was in college in the UK. My Dad was based in Germany. In the boarding house at college, Goes Forth was one of a few tv programs that was compulsive viewing. Everybody crammed into the tv room to watch it, and the final episode was much anticipated. Every chair was full, beanbags, and floor space all occupied, including the housemaster on duty that night. The whole series had been superb and most of us wondered how they were going to finish it off, this being the final episode. Given the comedy and humour throughout, what they put together, and how they depicted WWI, was nothing short of perfect. Poignant, respectful, and thought provoking, when the final credits came up, with the now infamous vibrant red colour of the poppies on the battlefields of Flanders, there was silence in the tv room and a fair few tears.
i understand how you remember war histroy more, i have a saying i use often "you have to understand the past to see where you are going". war is nasty, horrible but at the same time has the most human moments ever. example the troops stopped fighting on christmas day and went out to play a friendly match of football in nomans land with the germans. that in itself is kinda beautiful.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
Calling one of the characters Captain 'Darling' was inspired, because it allowed so much comedy in just one word. The ending was the 'Piece de Resistance' The Juxtaposition of black comedy and the horror of the carnage...Brilliant writing..
There was never another regular series of Blackadder after that final shot with the field of poppies. It implies that Blackadder's entire family history ended in that moment. I suspect that was true of many families whose sons went to the trenches in the great war.
The story about the Christmas truce has a sad ending after the next day when the troops refused to fight and they all got punished. They leave that bit out of the story most of the time.
Move him into the sun--- Gently it's touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields half-sown. Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know. Think how it wakes the seeds--- Woke once the clays of a cold star. Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? ---O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all? Futility. by Wilfred Owen r.i.p. 🕊️ 1893 - 1918 one week before armistice
Pray God you can cope I stand outside this woman's work This woman's world Ooh, it's hard on the man Now his part is over Now starts the craft of the father I know you've got a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left I know you've got a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left I should be crying, but i just can't let it show I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking Of all the things I should've said That I never said All the things we should've done Though we never did All the things I should've given But I didn't Oh, darling, make it go Make it go away Give me these moments back Give them back to me Give me that little kiss Give me your hand (I know you have a little life in you yet) (I know you have a lot of strength left) (I know you have a little life in you yet) (I know you have a lot of strength left) I should be crying, but I just can't let it show I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking Of all the things we should've said That we never said All the things we should've done That we never did All the things that you needed from me All the things that you wanted for me All the things I should've given But I didn't Oh, darling! make it go away Just make it go away, now--- This Woman's Work Kate Bush 1958 -
Watch the video for Paul McCartney's "Pipes of Peace" if you want to see a reenactment of the 1914 Christmas Truce. (See also: Doctor Who "Twice Upon a Time.")
Black Adder 4 is so funny until in this clip at 12:30 where Lt George says "I'm scared Sir" That jolts you and brings a tear to my eyes every time. The writers were so on point and even got a comedy bit from Darling thinking the Great War was 1914 to 1917.... I remember seeing this for the first time and going from excepting the comedy references and chuckling to 13:39 OMG....brought floods of tears and does still to this day. This is soooo real...I'm sure🥹😭
In Tine Team, every time the archaeologists made the reasonable rational comfort choice to wear shorts, they indicted the the gender discriminatory mass hate crime against highly vulnerable boys done by Blackadder ep 2/6 in its siding with, taking part in, and victim blaming for, school bullying. Never mentioned when the boy skirt protests in schools against discriminatory uniforms now happen every summer, nor when the boy who got them started in 2011 Chris Whitehead won his award, nor when Tony Robinson was in an anti-bullying campaign during the Blair govt.
That last scene gets me every time. The one last gag from Captain Darling (the 1914-17 war!) and then the transition from battlefield to poppy field after they go over the top.
its kudos overshadows, and helps ensure nobody speaks out, how episode 2/6 of the same show was heartbreaking for an utterly opposite reason. For the sick mass hate crime of siding with and taking part in and victim blaming for school bullying
The First World War took its toll on my family. All of the boys served 2 Army, 3 Royal Navy. One of my Gt Uncles went down on HMS Hampshire with Kitchener. The two others in the RN remained unscathed one of them being my G/Dad. Another of his brothers was killed at the second Somme in 1918 and the other was so badly wounded at Pashendaelle and invalided out (his life was saved by a German medic who went out into no man's land to tend his wounds and hand him over to a British patrol before returning to his own trenches. My other G/Dad served for four years in the artillery and one of his brothers died at Loos. My G/Dad went on to serve the interwar years in the RN and into 1943 when the destroyer he was on was bombed approaching Tobruk. His injuries were so bad he was invalided out. He never fully recovered and died in the 70's
Incredibly emotional ending, the pointlessness, then the fade to a field of poppies - brought tears to my eyes when it was originally broadcast, and still does.
I have seen the series a couple of times, but not _many_ times. But that final episode is etched in my brain. My eyes well up from around the moment they stand in the trench, ready to go over. Every time I see it. As a Dane, I didn't get the fade over to a poppy field the first time I saw it (on TV many years ago), I have since learnt the meaning of the poppy flower in the context of WW1. Today, some may think that war is ancient history, I think it is not, though. My great-grandfather died in that war. As a Dane in the northern part of Slesvig (just north of what is now the border with Germany), which had been annexed by Prussia in 1864, he had to fight in the German army for Kaiser Wilhelm. 😞 My wonderful grandmother can't have been more than 14 when she lost her father (I am not sure what year he fell), she wrote an essay about her childhood and youth, and I have a copy of it. The original is in a historical archive. It is horrible that now, some 110 years later, people are still dying in trenches, and some governments still believe that war or the threat of war is an acceptable way to achieve anything. Like the recent threats against both Canada and Denmark/Greenland. I loved your reaction, and am glad I just stumbled upon it. I couldn't quite pinpoint your accent, but I see you are Canadian, living in England, that makes a lot of sense. No US American would have had such a good grasp of history. 😉 We Danes are very fond of Canadians, you should know. It was Canadians who ensured that Denmark was not "liberated" by the Soviet army in 1945, which very likely would have meant that we had found ourselves on the wrong side of the iron curtain. Thank you!
Part of the sheer brilliance of this episode is that it makes you feel genuine empathy for Darling. He is, in the other 5 episodes, an antagonistic, obnoxious figure, you aren't meant to like him. Then you actually feel your heart break when Melchitt sends him to his certain death, and acts like it's doing Darling a favour, how out of touch with reality Melchitt is. And how little he will think of it, another warm body will become his aide, and Darling will lie unburied in the fields of the Somme. It makes you care about a character you loathe.
If you like war history theres a youtube channel called "the great war" where between 2014 and 2018 uploaded weekly videos detailing what was happening in that week 100 years ago during WW1, it was histed by Indy Nidell, since then he left the channel and they've made random videos here and there, you might like the weekly series and biography videos
I remember watching this on TV when it first aired here in the UK in 1989 - I was 12, and while I'd learned about WWI in school this was my first time watching anything to do with it. Granted the series was mostly comedy writing, but the comment on the Christmas 1914 Armistice and then the ending really drove home the horror of war for me.
Wonderful comedy to convey history then transitioned to a solemn respectful end, one of the best television series finales on either side of the Pond. Thank you Megan Ruth for the Blackadder reactions.
One of my great grandfathers got the nickname Poppy because he fought in the poppy fields in WW1 he was one of the lucky ones that came back, apparently he would not talk about the war he must have seen some horrific things.
@MeganRuth The water in those trenches would come up to their waists sometimes that's why Blackadder made the joke about the Somme public baths unfortunately the dead bodies would be in those trenches with them in whatever state they was in for some time it must have been like a wet Hell.
My father ad many of his contemporaries served in WW2. He never spoke about his experiences. It was a chapter of his life that remained closed to the rest of the family.
@@geoffpoole483 Anybody who has seen the D-Day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan should understand the horrors the soldiers saw in WW2 it's no wonder they didn't talk about it either.
Let that be a lesson to every youngster thinking of joining up, you'll be treated like cr*p, poor pay, used to enhance senior NCOs and officers careers , win them medals and promotion for no thanks, except possible injury or death.
Playing the ending completely straight was a stroke of genius and appropriate to pay respect for all the men who died in WW1.
I agree!
Totally correct..
@@MeganRuth Correct. There's no other way to react to this tv episode ending. The entire point of the ending was that we can make all these black comedy jokes rife with sarcasm, but now, at this point, this is ... actually what happened. War is objectively terrible.
Or rather, to show the futility of it.
I think it was a lady who came up with the idea. They only had a short stage set so for the guys only had about 5 or 6 meters to run before they ran into the film cameras. Which quite frankly looked really bad when they filmed it. Then a lady suggested slowing down the footage and fading it out into a field of poppies that she got as a stock image.
Greatest final scene of any comedy ever. I remember seeing it when it was aired on the BBC for the first time and just being stunned. Brilliant writing.
There was a similar scene in the childrens comedy claymation series Trapdoor.
A lovable side character dies at the end, and you're left thinking.....
WOT DA AKCHEWAL FOOK?!?!?
N SHE MESSED IT UP MEGA TIME
Perfect scheduling too, finishing on remembrance day.
You could hear a pin drop in my living room. It was just mindboggling.
Yes! Stunningly poignant and beautiful finale. We were laughing all the way to the end scene I expect, just before they go over the top. Blackadder: "who would notice another madman around here" - Quite. And then we were woken up and reminded that this was no longer a bloody joke. I think Captain Darling summed up the whole situation perfectly - Bugger! In the end I was actually crying. RIP my Great Uncle Arthur who died Nov 9th 1918 - 26 yo, whose company finished the War precisely 4 miles from the location they started it in 1914.
"Sir...I'm _scared,_ sir."
With that single line, a fantastically wry comedy is transformed into the most sobering history lesson ever.
Yep right to the end you thought they would pull some Black Adder shenanigans out of their ass and have a happy ending.........
Another good candidate is "The Great War: 1914 to 1917".
And Blackadder wishing good luck to men he'd despised two minutes before.
@ Yes I think when you are faced with your own mortality it make such things as dislike for people pretty trivial
What really makes you think is........ how many actually had that conversation and how many of those were under 21, can you imagine the older C/O's that had been like father figures to such influential minds having them say "Sir, i'm scared" and knowing you can't do a thing about it, just try and comfort them as they march to the gallows.
To finish the best ever sitcom series with such a profound ending is a mark of genius.
And luck. They only ended it with the slow motion because the episide under-ran.
I watched this in a Uni Common room, with about 100 other students. Raucous laughter and then silence. Never experienced such a thing before or since.
I think you stopped a little early, as I recall the field turns to red poppies just after you paused. Even more in the feels.
Did any of the feminists say...where were the women?
Very poor decision to do this actually - avery important poignant piece there to accentuate the episode’s power 🙄
It doesn't matter how many times I watch that clip it gets me every time. :(
My grandad was killed on the first day of the Battle of Arras, he has no known grave . My mum never got to see her dad she was born two months after he was killed . My nan was awarded a pittance of a war pension and had to take in washing in order to survive and feed my mum.
My great uncle was killed at Gallipoli he also has no known grave . His name appears on the Helles memorial.
They won't be forgotten. I visited the Memorial to the Missing in Arras about twenty years ago and there was a poppy stuck by one of the names with the card 'To mum's first boyfriend'. And on a memorial at Gallipoli, Kemal Attarurk's message ends "You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." He was speaking of the ANZACs but I'm certain he would have felt it applied to all those who died
They were phenomenally brave men
John Lloyd talked a while ago on 'Goon Pod' about the final scene - it was a real shambles when recorded in the studio and the cast refused to do a second take because of the explosions. The brilliance that ends up on screen is a real team effort from the production team with various people suggesting things to save it: the slow motion, the music, the mix to the poppies etc. No one person is responsible for how it came together, but John reckons the universe was on their side that day... :-)
It's a real tribute to post production
like you said it looked terrible, the studio was to small ( cant remember which one in TVC they used for the final ep ) to get any run in and the explosions were to quick all in all it was rubbish, not helped by the fact they had run out of studio time so couldn’t shoot it again, during the viewing it was the editor Chris Wadsworth who not only had the idea to slow down the footage but also to mix to the field of poppies at the end, total genius idea
I was 10 years old when this episode aired. I remember fighting back the tears at the end so my mum couldn't see me. Even at that age that got me because I understood the significance of that ending. The contrast at the end of a battlefield to it being just a quiet calm field. I hate war.
Yet no Politician seems to have learned from it..............
@@ianwauters1659 I think they would learn
fast enough if the ones that started the wars also had to serve in the front line.
Brings tears to my eyes every time - and the fact nobody learned from this - the song Green Fields of France sums it up.
And yet she cut the poppies out !! 😠
First shown just before Armistice Day I believe they were a bit worried about showing it but it's pretty much universally accepted that they handled a difficult subject with real tact and sensitivity. The ending where the trenches fade from black and white to poppy fields in vibrant colour is just perfect. And that was the end of Blackadder, 4 series, and not allowed to run on and get old and tired like so many other series.
There was actually another episode after this, called Blackadder: Back & Forth. It was made by the BBC & Sky in 1999. It was originally premiered in the Millennium Dome on 31st Dec 1999. It was then shown later on Sky & then the BBC.
Beautifully done. Acknowledging both the absurdity and tragedy of the time. Absolutely timeless
I heard a rumour years ago that another series was planned. Set in the 1960s around a band called The Blackadder Five. Never got made and I'm glad it didn't. This was the best way to end the main series..... One of the most moving few minutes of TV ever in the world!
I'm a British Army armed forces veteran who saw action and served my country and my Queen, that final scene always brings tears to my eyes and makes me reflect on the mates who didn't come home during my service. I come from a military family that served our country throughout the generations and my 4 x Great Uncle was in the Royal Horse Artillary as a Gunner/Driver firing the cannons at the French at The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and survived and lived to 80 years old as a Chelsea Pensioner.
Respect!
Thanks for sharing. Respect to you Sir.
RIP my great uncle Thomas KIA 1917 aged 18
Respect
We will remember them
@@glennreeve9686 Respect indeed.
Gratitude and respect to your great uncle Thomas
my great uncle died during the second battle of the Somme. the battalion on his left lost 252 men about 50% of them. the battalion on his right lost 254 men about 50% of them. his battalion lost 493 men. almost the entire battalion. KIA or MIA, disappeared into the mud filled shell holes never to be seen again.
"Who would notice another mad man around here" The insanity of war just keeps getting past on from one generation to the next !
"History repeats itself - Because nobody was listening the first time."
Right now anybody who's studied history can see parallels with the rise of the far right in Europe in the 1930s and with it's current resurgence. The signs are so clear, but too many people seem oblivious - It's a dark time and very scary.
Yes. The same message as that masterpiece of anti-war literature, Catch-22.
I am 76 and my dad was a sergeant in the Lancashire Fusiliars in WW1 he was at the Battle of the Somme and he was gassed but clearly survived as many did because so many troops were involved .
He might have known my Grandad - Accy Pals. He also fought on the Somme near Serre - he was 16 or 17 years old at the time. Somehow he survived, but was injured (carried shrapnel in his leg his whole life) and then taken prisoner. Forced labour repairing the German railways that the Brits were blowing up. He managed to escape and walked barefoot to Spain with a couple of other lads. Understandably, he didn't really speak much about it, but he was very clear that there is no glory in war.
This is one of the greatest episodes of any programme ever
and its kudos overshadows, and helps ensure nobody speaks out, how episode 2/6 of the same show, siding with and taking part in and victim blaming for school bullying, was the sickest mass hate crime of any comedy programme ever.
The moment Capt Darling is told he is going to the front took me back some 26 years, almost to the day.
I'd been serving for just less than 2 years when word came through we were going to deploy. Myself and another young Officer (Matt) were just weeks from deploying. The exuberance of youth (as portrayed by Lieutenant George in 'Goes Forth'), we were all geared up, looking forward to what was to come with what is now in hindsight, a fair degree of blissful ignorance, even though this wasn't my first deployment, it was my first War. We'd travelled to the Regimental Headquarters a few hours from where we were based, for a study day, after which we'd had a meal and a few drinks with some of the other Company Commanders and 2 ic's (Majors and Captains). As it came time for us to head off, we were saying our farewells, when several of those other Officers, with plenty of time under their belts, shook our hands, with very serious looks on their faces, and one of them said 'Keep your heads down'.
That caught both of us off guard. It was a long quiet drive back to our base.
Looking back, when I'm asked about those times, the 9 years I served, and the almost 3 years in total I spent on operations, I say 'The things you do when you're young'.
Over those years we lost a fair few colleagues in various events. I have a coin that commemorates one particular theatre we worked in, on which are stars for each of those we lost there. There are 12 stars on that coin. I know the names of each one, and for 10 of them I remember exactly where I was when I was told about the news they were no longer with us.
Those of us that remain, we do our best to make sure they are never forgotten.
after the lives of every post-WW2 generation have been filled with that generation sneering and ego-tripping refusing to believe that war experiences still exist for anyone younger.
@@conscienceaginBlackadder sorry. Read your comment a few times and still not sure what you're conveying.
@SeanHendy the emotionally unfair way many of the WW2 generation have treated, and been led by media to treat, everyone after them, often includes assuming that later generations are immune from having any war experiences
@@conscienceaginBlackadder there are many complicated issues at play.
I was born into a military family so everyone I knew and grew up with had connections to the military, often over many generations. It's difficult therefore for me to have seen nothing other than respect for all veterans, regardless of which era they are from, certainly from the circles I'm in. The same cannot be said of some 'civvies' particularly those that identify as pacifists or anarchists, who I have had several difficult conversations with, trying to educate them as to the error of their ways lol.
Have met more than a few WWII veterans, my Grandfather included. One of the most humbling conversations I ever had, was with 2 x WWII veterans, 1 x Parachute Regiment, and the other SAS, when I was serving myself, who said "We don't know how you do it. Back in our day it was easy. We knew who the enemy was". I was taken aback that they would ever think we had it any harder than they had, and that they underestimated the awe and respect that I had for what they did.
I do however have very disparaging views when it comes to many parts of the media having had a fair amount of contact with journalists of various types, and reading some of what they've written that I've had first hand knowledge of, the result being that I could see inaccuracies on every single line printed and all kinds of assumptions presented as misleading facts.
@@conscienceaginBlackadder Bollocks, to quote.
I love the writing that turns our perception of Capt. Darling around. For the whole series, he's been Blackadder's antagonist, trying again and again to get one over on his opponent, but failing. This results in the audience seeing him as a pompous idiot, skulking back at HQ. His response to Blackadder's enquiry about how he's feeling exposes Darling's humanity. Like so many others in every war, all he wants to do is get home safe, go back to work, marry the love of his life and enjoy his favourite sport/pastime/hobby. The poignant revelation foreshadows what we all know is coming at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, also like so many others in every war, he didn't make it.
in the end, Darling and Blackadder come together, realizing they're both the same: doing whatever they can, hook or crook, to get out of the war and avoid certain death: and that they've both failed.
We THINK they didn't make it, although sadly likely. The ending was deliberately ambiguous
I think that encounter when Darling arrives in the trench is the first and only time they call each other 'Captain'.
Some 25 years ago I was a Platoon Commander training Phase 1 recruits during their initial training for the British Army. The course was about 14 weeks long and part way through included a battlefield tour trip of various sites relating to WWI. On the coach from Winchester I used to play the Goes Forth series, all 6 episodes, as a gentle introduction to get them started over the following 2 days, and it was a useful vehicle to get them interested and to understand some of what took place.
The ending leaves no doubt of the sacrifices made by so many, not only in WWI but also countless other wars and conflicts of our predecessors, as did visiting some of the Commonwealth War Graves that are in Belgium. It was particularly telling to see the usual 'characters' amongst the recruits, change completely, as they took in the history and saw the ages of those whose gravestones are in the cemeteries, given they were similar in age to those that died.
REGARDING WW1 RECRUITMENT, MOST ,IF NOT ALL, WORKING CLASS YOUNG MEN, WERE POORLY EDUCATED, AND IGNORANT OF THE WIDER WORLD, AND IN MANY CASES, HAD NEVER EVEN LEFT THE VILLAGE OR TOWN THEY WERE BORN AND LIVED IN. THOSE WITH JOBS, WERE MOSTLY HEAVY LABOURING JOBS WITH NO PROSPECTS,
THE IDEA OF GOING ABROARD BY TRAIN AND SEA, AND ENGAGING IN WAR AS SOLDIER'S IN UNIFORM, AND IN MOST CSES, IN ''PALS'' REGIMENTS, SOUNDED EXCITING.
I saw the same thing in Tyne Cot when a group of squaddies turned, Despite their Sergeants briefing they all looked cocky and streetwise. As they went round the cemetary and looked at all the dead who were about their own age you could see their attitude change. It was a very moving experience watching them grow up so quickly.
it was when the field turned to poppy's at the end that got to most people
that's all everyone talked about the next day
blame the editor Chris Wadsworth for that, it was also his idea to slow down the " over the top footage "
@@mwscuba No one is blaming the editor for that ending. Freak.
It was why the Red Poppy was used as a symbol of remembrance after the Great War. A carpet of millions of beautiful red flowers marking the spot in the battlefields where so much blood had been shed. The symbolism was just too perfect to miss.
Poppies thrive in disturbed soil. Dig it over, sprinkle the seeds, and up they'll come.@Mediumal
The poppies still grow. Visited several sites in 2019 and they are there especially around Ulster tower.
This episode was first aired on Rememberance Sunday (not unlike veterans day to our US friends, but with a bit more gravity). There was outrage before it was screened until people saw how tastefully done it was.
One of the most under rated lines of all time "The great war. 1914-1917" damn
still hits like a sucker punch all these years later. even though you know better, you're still holding on to a bit of hope/denial. After all, that's how TV shows usually work. And then Darling says "1917" and the door just slams shut. And you know.
My grandfather fought in the Somme.
Of 800 people in his company, he was one of only 150 that survived the battle (and he was hit by shrapnel).
He never talked about his time and never talked about the battle (aside from saying once "I was there" whilst "The World at War" was on TV.
My grandfather was a boiler man in the navy during WW2 and was present during the D-Day landings
He never talked about it either and said he didn't understand why everyone chose to remember it
Thank You Megan for Sharing this Episode.... It is STILL so emotional to watch now as when it was first shown...... Your so right in saying that the world hasn't learnt anything
I so clearly remember the first time I saw it, completely unaware that it was the final episode, but as it went on just getting this strange feeling of dread. Just the way the men gradually turn wistful and nostalgic as the night goes on, as if one by one they're making their peace with their fate.
Every character was played immaculately in this show.
The audio only version of this (on cassettes in the 1990s) echoed some of the spoken lines during that lonely piano piece.
George: We've had some good times, we've had some damnably good laughs, eh?
Baldrick: I thought it was going to be such fun.
Darling: But sir, I don't want to.
Blackadder: Good luck, everyone.
"And when he gets to Heaven, to saint Peter he will tell; One more soldier reporting, sir, I've served my time in hell".
It's played straight as tribute to those who gave their lives for real.
For real- what did they give up their lives for?
@davis.fourohfour yup agreed
When realisation hits and he says he is scared always brings a tear to my eye
One of the best endings to a series in tv history. It fades away to poppies and a beautiful birdsong after all the chaos. Absolute genius and a fitting tribute to all those brave souls who didn’t come home.
To me typical British comedy has always lived alongside tragedy. As wacky as some shows can be, they always tend to be grounded in some reality.
More specifically to this though, i like the way it plays with your emotions to bring you from one polar opposite feeling to the other, conveying the seriousness and reality of what those people went through, it leaves a deep sinking feeling in my chest.
And how mad was it that in the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
They were cousins!
It was a sick family fall out and millions of people died...Humans never learn
Queen Victoria died in 1901... in the arms of Kaiser Wilhelm. And in 1917 White (i.e. not Red Bolshevik) Russians wondered why British ships had a portrait of their Tsar. Who was King George's cousin, looked very like him down to the beard and wore similar style uniforms....
Me and my cousins would have found a way to avoid war.
The whole comedy is an homage to those that fell, but in order to actually show respect, we needed to be reminded of the reality at the end.
The Blackadder was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, with Atkinson playing the title role. When a second series was commissioned, Atkinson was happy to continue in the title role, but he didn't want to write, so Ben Elton came in to work with Curtis. The different writing partnership saw changes to the characters and style. The Blackadder was not actually repeated until just after Blackadder Goes Forth had aired. This long gap meant that everyone had become used to the Curtis / Elton writing partnership that they'd forgotten the different Curtis / Atkinson writing partnership, and so didn't enjoy it as much. I actually enjoy The Blackadder as much as the later series, but I am more of a medieval historian at heart.
I think what they did with the Blackadder theme at the end on top of what you are seeing makes it all work so well. A perfect ending for the show and totally respects those that faught and died fornour freedom. Looking at our country today, its such a shame so many no longer realise how much went into that freedom, and how many of the countries forefathers died on those fields to have what they faight for given away so easily and so freely every day now.
What a great programme this was with the ending ranking among the most moving scenes ever seen in any programme. As they said it was 1917 it wasn't the first day of the Somme when the British Army suffered about 60,000 casualties (mostly between 0730 and 0830) including around 20,000 killed. It was probably the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) on 31 July 1917 and which ended in November with men drowning in mud (literally). You said you're from Canada. Have you visited the memorial at Vimy Ridge, Newfoundland Park on the Somme where the Newfoundland Regiment (not part of Canada then) suffered 90% casualties on 1July1916 or Vancouver Corner near Ypres where Canadians held the line against the first gas attack. You'll learn a lot and the young guides to the first two sites come each year from Canada are superb.
A poignant and thought-provoking end to a masterful series. Over a hundred years later, soldiers can still be found stagnating in trenches, waiting to die. From an early age, we are taught that we should '...learn from history.' Alas, the ones who start the wars and have the power to stop them, seem to pay no heed. : (
An unfortunate truth…
You got through it Megan,darlings quote 1914_17 war,as we really knew it was18.the more I watch that last episode the more emotional I become,just thinking how baldrick & george are both scared breaks your ❤️.
There is a picture on my wall of my great great uncle with his fellow soldiers of the lewis gunner section of the 2nd London Scottish regiment. It was taken at Gammecourt, France a week before the Somme. A week later, he was the only one of the fifteen men in the photo still alive.
He spoke about his experience only once. They went over the top, all the men around him fell down dead, he started shooting intermittently to save ammo. He was nearly shot by members of the Royal Irish regiment who thought he was a jerry until they noticed his kilt. He fell in with them. He sustained severe bayonet wounds to the torso and machine gun wounds on his forearms.
After the war he was doing his morning ablutions at the sink, his mother walked in and saw his horrifically scarred body and promptly fainted. He was a quiet man, children would ask what he did in the war and he would gently smile, continue to smoke his pipe and say nothing.
My Grt Uncle (Pvt.Charles Wicks) was killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme...He was 18.
😢😢😢😢😢 Brilliant,the ending was genius ,my favourite line is "It Started When Archie Duke Shots an Ostrich thanks for posting it ,glad to see you' re a little better ❤❤.
“So the poor ostrich died for nothing.”
I remember watching this with my parents when it was first broadcast. We just sat in silence unable to believe what we had just watched. That's how brilliantly written and acted it is. In situation comedy, the one thing you know for sure is that the "situation" will be resolved in some way by the end of the episode and this one wasn't. Amazing.
Also I am glad that they never made a fifth series of Blackadder as that would have diminished the impact of how series 4 ended, in my opinion. Still incredibly moving every time I see it.
Still gets me, and I saw it the first time!
The whole series was brilliant, they were right not to continue.
It was scarily historically correct, with the decision makers well away from the front and the ordinary man being sent to their deaths.
We're supposed to learn from history, but I'm not sure that we are....
Nice reaction
In the British Army, 78 generals were killed on active service during WW1.
"Lions led by Donkeys."
I was laughing as hard as I always did watching Blackadder and on the turn of a coin I was crying just as hard. Absolute genius and only fitting. My grandad was 4 years old when that war ended but WW2 caught up with him. It will never stop.
One of the greatest pieces of British TV ever made.
I can never stop singing the praises of this incredible moment of drama and pathos in the end moments of a comedy show. After the first time I watched the Blackadder Goes Forth series all subsequent views were filled with a sense of forboding because I knew what was coming. It is heart-wrenching. I don't think you get the full impact from just the last episode. You have to have seen the whole series to really feel the smack in the face that last scene gives you. To this day it is widely seen as one of the greatest dramatic scenes in TV history and the most incisive foray into the futility of war. For such a moment of drama to round off a raucous contemporary comedy is something that has never been done better. That end scene as it lifts into a full colour poppy field where they fell is chilling. "War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" - Edwin Starr
Makes me weep, every single time. 😢
I was eagerly waiting for Baldrick to really have a cunning plan. Thirty seconds later, my young daughter said "Why are you crying daddy?"
One of the GREATEST endings ever! 🎬 It's not just comedy; it's pure brilliance! It perfectly illustrates how those at the top will throw everyone under the bus. Even felt for Darling in the end.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The poem by John McCrae! Also featured as a musical contribution by Siouxsie and the Banshees "Poppy Day" ! Fantastic song, haunting.. Subject matter was about the 1st world war.
The irony of baldrick saying that splinter on the ladder could be dangerous 😳, says it all. The last of the tiddlywinkers..
I think "the Splinter" was a way for the production team to give Blackadder an "out" if they decided to make another series.. However I am glad they left the series as it was .. a fitting finale
@kittyhawk9707 I don't get the point regarding the splinter remark about getting another series.i know Megan showed heavily edited highlights 🤔 I don't think that baldrick line was in,it was omitted,but I remember it being in the original bbc version, explaining the irony meant alittle cut from a spell or splinter in a 🪜 ladder is nothing compared too what was to come..
They didn't really need an out like that. After all the first and second series ended with the entire regular cast being wiped out. That didn't stop them doing more series on the premise that "They may have died but their line lives on".
And we did get to see a present-day Blackadder in "Blackadder: Back and Forth".
@@kittyhawk9707I reiterate the splinter wasn't a reference to a splinter group ,it was specifically meant as a jagged piece of wood stuck out on a ladder before climbing up & over the top,baldrick said you can do yourself a hand injury getting a spell splinter or bit of wood,hope that clears up the anomaly over the irony..
@@Rodgerslicker I know what the splinter meant .. what i meant was in the next series Blackadder could have survived the war due to getting "injured" by the splinter and invalided home .. just like he wanted to do during the whole episode ..
There's a great documentary about the making of this episode, which explains why they had to slow down the going over the top scene.
It was a wonderful way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
One thing I’ve learnt from comedy shows written by Ben Elton. Always expect a serious or a sad scene.
Thats the same for any decent comedy. Pathos is essential.
Yes, the same applied to the last episode of 'Upstart crow', also written by Ben Elton, which dealt with the death of Shakespeare's young son Hamnet. A subtle and very clever shift from comedy to tragedy without spoiling either.
The first series is brilliant, you won't be disappointed!
My grandfather fought in WW1.. He lost three brothers and a brother-in-law.. his youngest brother, Lewis, died on 11/11/1918.. Armistice day itself...RIP Fred, Frank,Lewis and James...and RIP to all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
As many have stated here and elsewhere the ending is one of the greatest, going from such a great comedy you can feel the humour almost get sucked out at a specific point.
I remember when the BBC I think did the greatest ever British comedies ever and the top few got a segment or episode justifying the reason, and they went over all of black adder and said finally you can ignore everything so far and this episode alone was a justification alone. For a comedy like this to be able to create such a moving scene is very very rare, still an all time top top ending imo
Oh yes I agree! The humour does get sucked out and the energy is palpable. It was beautifully done!
I was born into a military family with a very strong history of service.
Great Grandfather was involved in WWI as part of the medical services in both Malta and Gallipoli; Great Uncle was in the Howe Battalion of the Royal Navy Division that fought in the Somme. He is buried at the military cemetery in Ancre. My Grandfather landed on the beaches on D Day and took part in the liberation of Belgium. My Dad served from '59 to '98 including Malaya in the early '60s. I would then also go on to serve, beginning my time 8 years after this was broadcast.
When Goes Forth was broadcast in '89, I was in college in the UK. My Dad was based in Germany. In the boarding house at college, Goes Forth was one of a few tv programs that was compulsive viewing. Everybody crammed into the tv room to watch it, and the final episode was much anticipated. Every chair was full, beanbags, and floor space all occupied, including the housemaster on duty that night.
The whole series had been superb and most of us wondered how they were going to finish it off, this being the final episode. Given the comedy and humour throughout, what they put together, and how they depicted WWI, was nothing short of perfect. Poignant, respectful, and thought provoking, when the final credits came up, with the now infamous vibrant red colour of the poppies on the battlefields of Flanders, there was silence in the tv room and a fair few tears.
Should have played it right to the end to see the field of red poppies. Makes me cry each time.
The most powerful piece of tv on the planet.. I doubt there be anything that will come close.
i understand how you remember war histroy more, i have a saying i use often "you have to understand the past to see where you are going". war is nasty, horrible but at the same time has the most human moments ever. example the troops stopped fighting on christmas day and went out to play a friendly match of football in nomans land with the germans. that in itself is kinda beautiful.
The genius of writing in blackadder
One of the finest pieces of Drama I've ever seen. Outstanding
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
"There's a corner of a foreign field that is forever England"
Calling one of the characters Captain 'Darling' was inspired, because it allowed so much comedy in just one word. The ending was the 'Piece de Resistance' The Juxtaposition of black comedy and the horror of the carnage...Brilliant writing..
There was never another regular series of Blackadder after that final shot with the field of poppies. It implies that Blackadder's entire family history ended in that moment. I suspect that was true of many families whose sons went to the trenches in the great war.
The story about the Christmas truce has a sad ending after the next day when the troops refused to fight and they all got punished.
They leave that bit out of the story most of the time.
One of the best final episodes to any tv series, ever created.
4 Seasons of laughter ending on a very sober note, and it was perfect.
This has always hit hard since it was first broadcast.
Years later, I found out that my great-grandfather fought at the Somme. He was 17.
Move him into the sun---
Gently it's touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields half-sown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds---
Woke once the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides
Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
---O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
Futility. by
Wilfred Owen r.i.p. 🕊️
1893 - 1918 one week before armistice
Pray God you can cope
I stand outside this woman's work
This woman's world
Ooh, it's hard on the man
Now his part is over
Now starts the craft of the father
I know you've got a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left
I know you've got a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left
I should be crying, but i just can't let it show
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things I should've said
That I never said
All the things we should've done
Though we never did
All the things I should've given
But I didn't
Oh, darling, make it go
Make it go away
Give me these moments back
Give them back to me
Give me that little kiss
Give me your hand
(I know you have a little life in you yet)
(I know you have a lot of strength left)
(I know you have a little life in you yet)
(I know you have a lot of strength left)
I should be crying, but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things we should've said
That we never said
All the things we should've done
That we never did
All the things that you needed from me
All the things that you wanted for me
All the things I should've given
But I didn't
Oh, darling! make it go away
Just make it go away, now---
This Woman's Work
Kate Bush 1958 -
Watch the video for Paul McCartney's "Pipes of Peace" if you want to see a reenactment of the 1914 Christmas Truce. (See also: Doctor Who "Twice Upon a Time.")
Or the film, Joyeux Noel (2005) with a wonderful international cast, including Ian Richardson, Diane Kruger and Daniel Bruhl.
I've got the complete boxed set & it's great to dig it out occasionally & watch it all again because it's great comedy stuff that never gets old.
Black Adder 4 is so funny until in this clip at 12:30 where Lt George says "I'm scared Sir" That jolts you and brings a tear to my eyes every time.
The writers were so on point and even got a comedy bit from Darling thinking the Great War was 1914 to 1917....
I remember seeing this for the first time and going from excepting the comedy references and chuckling to 13:39 OMG....brought floods of tears and does still to this day.
This is soooo real...I'm sure🥹😭
I always hoped Tony would slip into Baldric on a Time Team Episode. And remember Megan there still IS "Black Adder Back and Forth"!
In Tine Team, every time the archaeologists made the reasonable rational comfort choice to wear shorts, they indicted the the gender discriminatory mass hate crime against highly vulnerable boys done by Blackadder ep 2/6 in its siding with, taking part in, and victim blaming for, school bullying. Never mentioned when the boy skirt protests in schools against discriminatory uniforms now happen every summer, nor when the boy who got them started in 2011 Chris Whitehead won his award, nor when Tony Robinson was in an anti-bullying campaign during the Blair govt.
It was a personal assistant to the producers who suggested fading out to the poppies - a haunting vision that made the entire scene.
From a 64 year old,
That last scene is so heart breaking 💔
It always brings tears to my eyes......😢😢😢
56, same.
Things have changed. Every man who fought in that war was worth ten men today 😔
That last scene gets me every time. The one last gag from Captain Darling (the 1914-17 war!) and then the transition from battlefield to poppy field after they go over the top.
The Blackadders, are my favourite comedy series. This one is heartbreaking.
✌️❤️🏴🇬🇧
its kudos overshadows, and helps ensure nobody speaks out, how episode 2/6 of the same show was heartbreaking for an utterly opposite reason. For the sick mass hate crime of siding with and taking part in and victim blaming for school bullying
The First World War took its toll on my family. All of the boys served 2 Army, 3 Royal Navy. One of my Gt Uncles went down on HMS Hampshire with Kitchener.
The two others in the RN remained unscathed one of them being my G/Dad. Another of his brothers was killed at the second Somme in 1918 and the other was so badly wounded at Pashendaelle and invalided out (his life was saved by a German medic who went out into no man's land to tend his wounds and hand him over to a British patrol before returning to his own trenches. My other G/Dad served for four years in the artillery and one of his brothers died at Loos. My G/Dad went on to serve the interwar years in the RN and into 1943 when the destroyer he was on was bombed approaching Tobruk. His injuries were so bad he was invalided out. He never fully recovered and died in the 70's
My grandad was in the Somme. He got gassed and buried alive and survived it all. Can’t imagine what the went through.
Incredibly emotional ending, the pointlessness, then the fade to a field of poppies - brought tears to my eyes when it was originally broadcast, and still does.
I have seen the series a couple of times, but not _many_ times. But that final episode is etched in my brain. My eyes well up from around the moment they stand in the trench, ready to go over. Every time I see it. As a Dane, I didn't get the fade over to a poppy field the first time I saw it (on TV many years ago), I have since learnt the meaning of the poppy flower in the context of WW1. Today, some may think that war is ancient history, I think it is not, though. My great-grandfather died in that war. As a Dane in the northern part of Slesvig (just north of what is now the border with Germany), which had been annexed by Prussia in 1864, he had to fight in the German army for Kaiser Wilhelm. 😞 My wonderful grandmother can't have been more than 14 when she lost her father (I am not sure what year he fell), she wrote an essay about her childhood and youth, and I have a copy of it. The original is in a historical archive. It is horrible that now, some 110 years later, people are still dying in trenches, and some governments still believe that war or the threat of war is an acceptable way to achieve anything. Like the recent threats against both Canada and Denmark/Greenland.
I loved your reaction, and am glad I just stumbled upon it. I couldn't quite pinpoint your accent, but I see you are Canadian, living in England, that makes a lot of sense. No US American would have had such a good grasp of history. 😉 We Danes are very fond of Canadians, you should know. It was Canadians who ensured that Denmark was not "liberated" by the Soviet army in 1945, which very likely would have meant that we had found ourselves on the wrong side of the iron curtain. Thank you!
Part of the sheer brilliance of this episode is that it makes you feel genuine empathy for Darling. He is, in the other 5 episodes, an antagonistic, obnoxious figure, you aren't meant to like him. Then you actually feel your heart break when Melchitt sends him to his certain death, and acts like it's doing Darling a favour, how out of touch with reality Melchitt is. And how little he will think of it, another warm body will become his aide, and Darling will lie unburied in the fields of the Somme. It makes you care about a character you loathe.
Comedy and tragedy are just reflections of absurdity from different sides of the water.
The 'art' is both in & through those 'surfaced tensions' bought about by pressure. : )
Franz Ferdinand, not 'Fernidad'.
The band is named after him
Brilliant example of the fine line between comedy & tragedy
If you like war history theres a youtube channel called "the great war" where between 2014 and 2018 uploaded weekly videos detailing what was happening in that week 100 years ago during WW1, it was histed by Indy Nidell, since then he left the channel and they've made random videos here and there, you might like the weekly series and biography videos
I remember watching this on TV when it first aired here in the UK in 1989 - I was 12, and while I'd learned about WWI in school this was my first time watching anything to do with it. Granted the series was mostly comedy writing, but the comment on the Christmas 1914 Armistice and then the ending really drove home the horror of war for me.
The first series is a test of education. If you know history and Shakespeare, you'll love it.
It's also a test if endurance (for some). I personally found Rowan Atkinson's performance grating, enough to detract and distract from the writing.
Priceless sarcasm and so much truth in this series
Wonderful comedy to convey history then transitioned to a solemn respectful end, one of the best television series finales on either side of the Pond.
Thank you Megan Ruth for the Blackadder reactions.
this is the greatest ending to a series EVER, so moving
am so sorry that you have not been feeling well Megan.anyway enjoy the rest of your weekend😁
One of my great grandfathers got the nickname Poppy because he fought in the poppy fields in WW1 he was one of the lucky ones that came back, apparently he would not talk about the war he must have seen some horrific things.
What a nickname! He must have been very brave. I can’t imagine the things he saw…
@MeganRuth The water in those trenches would come up to their waists sometimes that's why Blackadder made the joke about the Somme public baths unfortunately the dead bodies would be in those trenches with them in whatever state they was in for some time it must have been like a wet Hell.
My father ad many of his contemporaries served in WW2. He never spoke about his experiences. It was a chapter of his life that remained closed to the rest of the family.
@@geoffpoole483 Anybody who has seen the D-Day landing scene in Saving Private Ryan should understand the horrors the soldiers saw in WW2 it's no wonder they didn't talk about it either.
I was never a black adder fan my self but decided to give blackadder gos forth a watch when it was first aired i was truly moved by its ending
So very moving. Thank you for sharing your reactions. By the way, Blackadder Back and Forth - probably on your list already.
Still cry however many times I watch this.
Let that be a lesson to every youngster thinking of joining up, you'll be treated like cr*p, poor pay, used to enhance senior NCOs and officers careers , win them medals and promotion for no thanks, except possible injury or death.
We watched Blackadder for years and expected them to get out of it. The ending was a shock at the time. The best ending ever.
You are not getting better than that. Genius.