Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty - Richard Curtis, Ben Elton > Reviews

Advantages: Reasonably priced and money goes to Comic Relief
Disadvantages: Quite lengthy and "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" is missing

I was given "Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty 1485-1917" as a present and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It will appeal to fans of the series who are sad enough to want the scripts! As well all the scripts from each series, there are extra funny stories, features, introductions and illustrations. The usual Blackadder wit is even in the credits and the blurb. The cover shows all 4 Blackadders through the ages. Laugh at the haircuts and drool over Blackadder ... Read review

Advantages: you can pretend to have the wit of Blackadder
Disadvantages: you may mistakenly pretend to have the intelligence of Baldrick

The arrival of the "Whole Damn Dynasty" (released by Penguin books circa 1999) was just in the nick of time to save us from the ritual torture of the family holiday. On wet evenings, faced with endless games of charades ("oh it's a scythe!"); uninspired suppers ("it is mud, we ran out of coffee thirteen months ago"); forced conversation ("Contrafibularities sir, it's a common word down our way")and excuses for attempting to avoid savage games ... Read review

Advantages: Endless humour
Disadvantages: You should really have seen the episodes to get the most out of the book

For many people under 35, their most vivid glimpses of Britain's illustrious history have been through the Blackadder chronicles which brightened television screens from 1983 to 1989. Their constantly reborn protagonist, Edmund Blackadder, flounced through a bloody Middle Ages, a campy Elizabethan court, even camper Regency revels, and the rat-infested trenches of the Great War, armed with only his repulsive servant Baldrick, and a fine line in complex ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent scripts, lots of photographs and illustrations to keep it interesting
Disadvantages: Misses out some one-off episodes

This book of the collected scripts for all four Blackadder series, titled The Black Adder, Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth respectively, was an inevitable and important release which was handled incredibly well. For a start, the book is illustrated and themed to suit each relevant series, with interesting introductory designs and production photographs to each episode and small illustrations within the text to keep ... Read review

Advantages: Side-splitting
Disadvantages: None

The cult of Blackadder has grown, it seems, in the years since the series were first shown. Even the ill-fated Millennium Dome saw its own spin-off one-off episode. There's little point in going through the characters and plots of this well-known series now, but it is worth explaining that this book contains the complete transcripts of the four series. Originally sold in aid of Comic Relief, the book brings together in one place all the funniest ... Read review