'Blackadder' star Sir Tony Robinson believes Rowan Atkinson will be in the show's Comic Relief return "in some form or another".
Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson believes Rowan Atkinson will be in the show's Comic Relief return 'in some form or another'
Show creator Richard Curtis confirmed this week that the sitcom will be back for a charity sketch but without his co-creator and Rowan, who played the titular character Edmund Blackadder, but Tony has now revealed the script is written for his character, hapless servant Baldrick, and insisted Rowan "always contributes to Comic Relief".
He said: "This just happens to be a script for Baldrick but Rowan always contributes to Comic Relief. I am sure he will be there in some form or another."
Tony revealed Richard messaged him with a script for the Comic Relief sketch just a day after they reunited at an event, and the star jumped at the chance to reprise his iconic role.
He said: "It was quite extraordinary. It happened very fast. Last week I was at some posh do at Claridges, where they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the front covers of the Radio Times and I went there to receive an award for a cover that 'Blackadder' had done all those years previously.
"Very early the following morning I was woken up by a text from Richard Curtis saying, 'Lovely to have seen you,' and it included this script for a piece for Baldrick to do and he said, 'Would you do it?'
"It was extraordinary for me, this is a character that I haven’t played for 25 years and I suddenly got this beautifully crafted script, and I said, 'Yeah, yeah, try and keep me away from it!' "
Tony believes a new 'Blackadder' series is probably unlikely because people may not feel as "warm" about it as they did the original episodes, but he hasn't completely ruled it out.
Speaking on Radio 4's 'Today' programme, he said: "The argument always is that however good a new series might be, the people who are watching it wouldn’t be in the same state of mind and same state of emotions as they were when they watched the first series.
"They wouldn’t feel as warm about it, they wouldn’t feel as good about it. Even if it was absolutely great they’d go, 'It’s not like the old series, is it?'
"So I think that’s one of the main reasons why no one has ever seriously thought about writing another series.
"But who knows, who knows? It’s not down to me, it’s down to Richard and Ben [Elton]."
Earlier this week, Richard confirmed the show would be back for the Comic Relief sketch.
He said: "For the first time in 20 years, Baldrick is going to be giving some kind of performance.
"We're just conspiring about it now, so I think there's going to be a marvellous, turnip-based thing with Tony Robinson now back in action, so I'm excited about that."
Asked if Rowan is going to be in the Comic Relief special, Richard added: "No [laughs]. Rowan's far too serious to do any of that."
'Blackadder' originally ran for four series and two specials from 1983 to 1989, and another special 'Blackadder: Back and Forth' aired in 1999.
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