10 Serious Moments From Sitcoms
6. Blackadder Goes Forth - Going Over The Top
Blackadder is some of the finest comedy the BBC has offered. It brilliantly navigates a different historical period every season which prevents the show from becoming predictable and supplies an ever changing set of characters, settings and plot possibilities. One thing in the history books you cant escape from, however, is death. The finale of each Blackadder manages to off at least one of the main characters and when Blackadder Goes Fourth brought our favourites to the Great War, we knew the end was not going to be pretty.
In fact it was beautiful and touching. Teased throughout the rest of the season, the finale seals the fates of Blackadder and his friends. Theyre finally going over the top. When Blackadders plan to escape by pretending to be mad comes up short, the men line up in the trenches. Baldrick, like always, has a cunning plan, but this time it will have to wait. All thats left is to see Blackadder, Baldrik, George and Darling run out in slow motion, a quick look at the empty trenches and the last images are of a peaceful poppy field.
Not bad considering this classic moment was constructed because the final scene looked unconvincing on the artificial set. Rather than the intended use of a straight forward take, the post production team slowed the footage down, added the music and then grabbed the images of the poppy field to make arguably the greatest show finale in TV history.