Blackadder's Christmas Carol
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Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) is a one-off episode of Blackadder, a parody of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). Produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on BBC One on Friday December 23 1988, and has been re-broadcast at Christmas several times since then, sometimes on BBC Two.
Ebenezer Blackadder is the nicest man in England. He is everything that Ebenezer Scrooge was by the end of the original story. He is generous and kind to everybody, and sensitive to the misery of others. As a result, everybody takes advantage of his kindness, and all but Baldrick view him as a victim. His business turns no profit, all his earnings going to charity, and he lives a lonely, miserable life.
All this changes when the Spirit of Christmas makes the mistake of calling round to congratulate him for his ways. The spirit lets him see shades of the past, the lives of his ancestors Lord Blackadder and Edmund Blackadder, the butler of the Prince Regent. Instead of being convinced that he is better than them, he grows to admire them and their wit. He asks the spirit to show him what could happen if he became like them. He sees a vision of a distant future where his distant descendant Admiral Blackadder is a successful, if ruthless, official of a Universe-spanning Empire about to marry the similarly ruthless and insanely ambitious Queen Asphyxia XIX, both planning to conquer the Universe. Ebenezer asks the Spirit what will happen if he stays kind. As an answer, he sees an alternate vision of the same future era where his descendant is nothing more than a naked slave of the rather incompetent Admiral Baldrick.
Ebenezer makes his decision, proclaiming, "Bad guys have all the fun." He wakes up a different man: bitter, vengeful, greedy for money, and insulting to everyone he meets. Although he is now more in control of his life, he misses a golden opportunity when he insults two strangers who had come to reward him for his reputed generosity. These are Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort, Albert. The episode ends leaving Ebenezer contemplating his life.
Cast
- Rowan Atkinson as Ebenezer Blackadder and Blackadder ancestors and descendants
- Tony Robinson as Baldrick and Baldrick ancestors and descendants
- Robbie Coltrane as the Spirit of Christmas
- Jim Broadbent as Prince Albert
- Miriam Margolyes as Queen Victoria
- Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth and Queen Asphyxia (future)
- Hugh Laurie as Prince George and Lord Pigmot (future)
- Stephen Fry as Lord Melchett and Lord Frondo (future)
- Nicola Bryant as Millicent, Blackadder's exploitative niece