Blackadder writer Ben Elton addresses reunion rumours

Blackadder writer Ben Elton has addressed if the show will return more than 30 years after the last episode aired. 

The comedian, 63, talked to Chris Moyles about the swirling reunion rumours after Sir Tony Robinson reprised his role as Baldrick for this year’s Comic Relief special. 

Ben, who appeared on the DJ’s show on Radio X on Thursday, jokingly accused Tony of hyping up speculation as a clever rouse to ‘flog some book or other’. 

Chris, 49, quizzed Ben if Blackadder could be back on screens in the near future after Richard Curtis helped pen the Comic Relief special. 

Ben told him: ‘[Tony] he always says it, me and Richard and Row always know when Tony’s flogging some book or other, “apparently Tony says there might be another Blackadder…”

Back? The comedian, 63, talked to Chris Moyles about the swirling reunion rumours (pictured Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson as Edmund Blackadder and Baldrick 

‘Richard wrote him a piece for Comic Relief, a Baldrick bedtime story or something but that’s as close as it’s going to get.

‘Love Tony, love the Blackadder… to have been part of something that has become part of the cultural furniture is a great privilege, it’s a lovely, lovely thing and I have no interest in messing it up.’ 

Blackadder, starring Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry and Sir Tony, originally ran for four series and two specials from 1983 to 1989, and another special Blackadder: Back and Forth aired in 1999.

Each series of Blackadder covered a different period of history, including the Middle Ages, Elizabethan England, the Georgian Era and a run of episodes focused on the trenches during World War One.

Ben co-wrote series two, three and four with Richard, but admitted last year he didn’t have any ‘appetite’ for more seasons of the show. 

However, Sir Tony insists it wouldn’t be possible to bring back a full series of the sitcom because ‘people wouldn’t be in the same headspace they were when they saw the original’, with the star adding: ‘We couldn’t re-create it.’ 

In 2018, Sir Tony admitted he could see ‘a version’ of the programme returning.

He said at the time: ‘I do see a version of the show coming back. There are a host of other periods in history which could be turned into a six-part Blackadder series. We’d have to get the old group back together again.

Chat: Ben joined Chris Moyles on his radio show to talk about all things Blackadder 

Clash: Ben also recalled a time when he had a fight with Ronnie Barker at a BBC Christmas party after the actor told him: ‘I don’t like you’

‘I know everyone is busy doing wonderful things, but we all have fond memories so I’m sure we would work it out.’

 Elsewhere in the interview, Ben also recalled a time when he had a fight with Ronnie Barker at a BBC Christmas party after the actor told him: ‘I don’t like you’.

The comedian said: ‘I had a fight with Ronnie Barker in 1986 at the BBC Christmas Party, it was the first time we ever met. 

‘He said, “I don’t like you”, and I was quite shocked because he was one of my heroes. Me, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, all young in the mid 80s and the Two Rons’ were there.

‘He looked at Row’ and pointed, “I like you”, then Stephen “like you”, then he pointed at me and went “I don’t like you”. 

‘I said I’m awfully sorry to hear that Mr Barker I’m such a huge fan and he said, “You swear too much on television,” .  

‘And I said, “well Mister Barker I’m very surprised because I have never sworn on television” and I knew I hadn’t, as if you could in the 80s, they all started doing it soon after that but I actually never have. 

‘We carried on talking and got through it but years later, we actually became friends.’

Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and on Global Player 

TV show: Blackadder stars (from left): Tim McInnerny, Rowan, Stephen Fry, Tony and Hugh Laurie