THEkingboomer / Blackadder S2 Ep1 "Bells" REACTION!

This was clearly the series (season) that this show really hit it's stride

Simon Butterworth

2025-09-26 10:15:50 +0000 UTC

Everyone apparently always stood back whenever Rik was on set, RIP legend!

Stuart Biegala

2025-08-06 15:17:30 +0000 UTC

Classic for sure. Also rik as flasheart was the perfect casting

Justyn

2025-02-14 00:33:52 +0000 UTC

I wish he would. I know he was a little underwhelmed by the TV series, but the live shows are very different.

Michael K

2024-12-24 21:28:48 +0000 UTC

We get it, you like season one. Move on with your life 😂

Adam Senior

2024-12-13 10:47:08 +0000 UTC

Stayed Tuned For Blackadder Goes Forth, Lord Flash Hearts Returns! And Eddie from Bottom too in the same episode.

Tone Grumbt

2024-10-26 23:04:00 +0000 UTC

Early Modern is 16th to 18th centuries, coterminous with the continental Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries), and overlapping with the later-flowering English Renaissance (late 15th to early 17th centuries).

Ash X

2024-09-29 14:25:49 +0000 UTC

Stupid thought.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:22:52 +0000 UTC

More like the real twat starts moaning about season 1 again.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:22:45 +0000 UTC

Except it started with season 1.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:22:13 +0000 UTC

60 cm.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:22:01 +0000 UTC

It was good before this.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:21:27 +0000 UTC

There really isn't any repetition.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:20:29 +0000 UTC

Shut up.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:18:24 +0000 UTC

It's not the early modern period. It's the Renaissance.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:17:44 +0000 UTC

We don't need to know that yet another part of the tiny minority doesn't like it.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:17:21 +0000 UTC

Skipping it is just ridiculous.

Grady Parsons

2024-09-29 13:16:35 +0000 UTC

Will you react to the Bottom Live shows?

Tomious

2024-07-21 18:32:56 +0000 UTC

WOOF!

Geraint Harrison

2024-07-08 23:01:37 +0000 UTC

Bury me in a Y-shaped coffin…😂😂😂

Dan Jaypii

2024-07-04 13:40:38 +0000 UTC

Miranda Richardson is beautiful

Erica

2024-06-30 13:46:16 +0000 UTC

Yes you’re right maybe I typed that when I was drunk because I actually meant the third series it’s my favourite 🤩. The one with the actors when he does the roar before the speech is bloody gold

Erica

2024-06-30 13:45:10 +0000 UTC

finally the second series of Blackadder this is when the show really hits off I'm sure the first series is fine I've always just avoided it but genuinely this show just becomes legendary by now also glad to see and hear that you're a Rik Mayall fan and I think that the only kindest thing to do is to suggest the young ones yet again like Blackadder really hits it's steed by the second series but actually series of Young Ones is fantastic too.

Nunabissess

2024-06-26 11:14:39 +0000 UTC

Brilliant - I admit to skipping the first season, sorry! The Lord Flashheart moments are brilliant - once you've completed all the seasons, there's a compilation on youtube of his moments that you could watch on the YT channel for a reaction.

Adi Hughes

2024-06-26 09:50:28 +0000 UTC

Yep, that's pretty much a whole generation that do that 🤣

Stu T

2024-06-22 21:30:54 +0000 UTC

You know Rotten Tomatoes is just how many of them thought it was worth a watch, right? Not a perfect score. Even the shittiest B movies might get a fair score because it's worth knowing what not to do.

Joe Thornhill

2024-06-22 20:37:33 +0000 UTC

According to Alan, over on The Eclectic Beard, that's pretty much what she was actually like.

Joe Thornhill

2024-06-22 20:33:22 +0000 UTC

I didn't know an Adder was a snake until recently. I'm not sure I ever really new if we had proper 2ft+ wild snakes. Especially a venomous one.

Joe Thornhill

2024-06-22 20:28:50 +0000 UTC

I must admit, while I never knew what an Adder was until about a month ago when I stumbled on a video of a guy's lucky day, finding the only venomous snake in England, I thought you'd know a Blackadder was a snake. Very hard to find as they'll slither away pretty fast, really wanting to be left alone. Only about 14 recorded deaths in 150 years or so.

Joe Thornhill

2024-06-22 20:24:43 +0000 UTC

Great reaction! Yes, they were wearing Elizabethan clothes. Lord Blackadder in this is the great-grandson of Edmund from the first series. That series was Medieval, this one is the Early Modern age set in the 16th century. Miranda Richardson plays Queen Elizabeth I as a kind of spoiled girl, still looked after by her wet nurse who fed her as a baby! Stephen Fry is Lord Melchett, the Queen's Lord Chamberlain who manages the Royal Household. Fry appears again in Blackadder Goes Forth, the series set during the First World War, where he plays General Melchett (a descendant of Lord Melchett). Tim McInnerny plays Lord Percy, the upper-class dimwit and 'friend' of Blackadder, and a descendant of the Lord Percy who appeared in the first series.

Ash X

2024-06-22 18:41:58 +0000 UTC

Absolutely..especially Bob in goes forth

Paul Liversage

2024-06-22 16:50:09 +0000 UTC

They did get the young ones on mtv in the US but it was in the 80s i think so I guess it's possible. That would be shame if he has seen it

Richard Stokes

2024-06-22 09:50:42 +0000 UTC

I had a massive crush on her in this when I was younger... I wouldn't say no to Bob either 🤪

BigChanChan

2024-06-22 08:37:33 +0000 UTC

I could be wrong but I think I've seen it mentioned before that he's already watched it.

BigChanChan

2024-06-22 08:36:09 +0000 UTC

I always say 'Bob' à la Blackadder now! Ahh the first proper series, bring it on 😉👍🏻

Odette Hull

2024-06-21 22:18:59 +0000 UTC

Theres a short documentary about it. Cant find the full episode (but not properly searched yet). Didn't even know it existed.

Ryan Lynch

2024-06-21 19:34:45 +0000 UTC

The unaired pilot is a lot more like this style than the first series, it's on youtube I believe.

BurmaCuWin

2024-06-21 17:32:49 +0000 UTC

The more I watch the more I see the influence of the young ones on Blackadder and there was crossover in both directions - Rik Mayall as Flasheart and his general over the top knockabout violence! Ben Elton writing for both, fry and Laurie. Does make me think you would enjoy the young ones KB!

Richard Stokes

2024-06-21 11:43:52 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the great content as always King Boomer, never fail to put a smile on my face. Cheers!

Nick Hurford

2024-06-20 23:57:58 +0000 UTC

Good reaction, looking forward to rest of the series! :) The intro to Blackadder II is inspired by / making fun of the intro to the very serious Ancient Rome historical saga 'I, Claudius'. Which is based on Caesar Claudius' personal diaries. KB, you'd love 'I, Claudius. It's award winning mid 70s UK drama, great cast includes Brian Blessed (as Augustus), Patrick Stewart (as Sejanus), Derek Jacobi (as Claudius) and many more. In the USA it was broadcast by PBS's Masterpiece Theatre series. It has a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. 12 episodes, 1 series. Eps are just under 1 hour each. It might sound like a long haul but when it's over you'll be gutted there were only 12 of them. The website's consensus reads: "Marrying a trove of terrific actors at their peak with a masterful script that draws from irresistibly juicy source material, I, Claudius transcends its paltry production values to become a gold standard for historical dramas."

Jason Scade

2024-06-20 22:25:55 +0000 UTC

I think episodes 1 and 2 were aired the wrong way round, which I think may have also happened to Peep Show. Sometimes the channel just decides that unless it creates any glaring continuity errors, to put what they think is the stronger episode first.

Mark Fraser

2024-06-20 22:19:09 +0000 UTC

Maybe unpopular opinion but I think The Third was peak Blackadder. No doubt Goes Forth has one of the greatest finales in British TV history, but still, having rewatched it recently, I find a lot of the jokes and insults very over-written. There's a LOT of "Baldrick, your ___ is like a [insert very long and wordy insult]" so many times an episode. This is nitpicking, it's still a classic series, I just find it became "too" Blackaddery compared to The Third.

Mark Fraser

2024-06-20 22:16:56 +0000 UTC

Sorta. If you strip away Rik and his charisma, it's still obvious the whole point of Flashheart is he's an overly macho, overly sexual, stereotype of a classic fictional hero and the joke is that normally this person would be the star, but we're stuck with Blackadder. He's basically written to upstage Blackadder and that's still partly because Rik pitched that direction for the character early on. They knew going in that he was going to give this big performance and wanted it.

Mark Fraser

2024-06-20 22:10:07 +0000 UTC

Forgot on how much I love this series, is the weakest episode of this season but still is great.

Mackem

2024-06-20 21:39:52 +0000 UTC

Yay, proper Blackadders begin...

Martin N

2024-06-20 21:38:18 +0000 UTC

Hugh Laurie is even more bonkers and off the scale in Blackadder The Third.

Martin N

2024-06-20 21:37:40 +0000 UTC

Love mirranda Richardson playing queen Elizabeth as a spoilt little girl

Paul Liversage

2024-06-20 21:34:10 +0000 UTC

Haha... I thought someone would make a sarcastic comment like this. (And if they didn't, I was going to)

Ryan Lynch

2024-06-20 21:31:46 +0000 UTC

Not only Stephen Fry's Blackadder debut, but also the start of his TV breakthrough! He'd previously been in that one episode of The Young Ones (along with Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson) and did a couple of ITV sketch shows in the meantime which never really got going, but this was the first time the public saw him getting his teeth into a character, and although you have to wait till Series 4 for the iconic incarnation of Melchett, Fry nailed it right from the off. Trivia: Rowan Atkinson actually has a lifelong stammer triggered by prominent B sounds, which he trained himself to avoid by pausing and articulating them carefully, so Curtis & Elton deliberately had Kate use the pseudonym "Bob" because they knew Atkinson would have to say it in that comically peculiar way all through the episode to keep himself from stuttering. If that seems a bit cruel of them, rest assured that Rik Mayall pissed them both off by tearing up the final pages of their script, rewriting it himself and then ignoring half of what he wrote in favour of ad-libbed anarchy in that final scene!

Ian Richards

2024-06-20 21:27:43 +0000 UTC

I love how quick you caught on to the way he says Bob!

Laurence P-O

2024-06-20 21:12:09 +0000 UTC

Yes, I remember this was one of the later episodes when it first aired.

Jay

2024-06-20 21:08:29 +0000 UTC

Oh good grief you can tell I drank too much watching the England match that I got his name wrong. When I passed my GCSEs my dad bought me a book of the script. Very cross with myself hahaha

Erica

2024-06-20 21:02:03 +0000 UTC

Do you mean Edmund? :) I probably would've had a thing for Queenie if she hadn't been so insufferable. Definitely had a thing for Bob though

irreverend

2024-06-20 20:51:46 +0000 UTC

They needed to improve viewing figures, as far as I am aware. And brought in Ben Elton to co write. You can see the different sense of humour and comedy straight away.

Ryan Lynch

2024-06-20 20:50:23 +0000 UTC

I had a crush on Edward so much in this series when I was a teenager . Too much info sorry

Erica

2024-06-20 20:38:15 +0000 UTC

I'm convinced this wasn't episode 1 when it was first aired The way he says Bbbobb..is because he has a very slight stutter

Paul Liversage

2024-06-20 20:29:44 +0000 UTC

RIP Rik - 10 years on. I love this speech he gave in 2008 to the rest of the year's graduates when he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Exeter. His 5 Mantras For Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM8ZwW9pdc8&t=1s

Nidge

2024-06-20 19:57:24 +0000 UTC

I always assumed it was because of the era it was set in, there's quite a few allusions to Shakespeare in this series and he was writing mostly under Queen Elizabeth I reign. I may be completely off the mark on that, but I always assumed that was the reason for it in this series. Series 3 is markedly less like that. So all the talking to the audience as if no one else in the room can hear them as inner monologue etc

irreverend

2024-06-20 19:40:19 +0000 UTC

I like this obviously but it gets better blackadder goes forth is my favourite because Hugh Laurie is off the scale

Erica

2024-06-20 19:25:46 +0000 UTC

Am I pleased to see you or did I just put a canoe in my pocket . Oh that’s from this episode isn’t is haha haven’t watched the reaction yet

Erica

2024-06-20 19:23:44 +0000 UTC

Glad you liked the episode KB. I think the two biggest changes from the first Blackadder to this one is 1) bringing Ben Elton on board as co-writer with Richard Curtis (Curtis co-wrote the first season with Rowan Atkinson) and 2) the writers giving the Blackadder character wit, intelligence and cunning, which were severely lacking in the character’s first season! Ben Elton was probably responsible for the knob type gags and putting the characters in to stupid situations, whereas Curtis (being more the wordsmith of the two), probably wrote a lot of the witty one liners and put downs. It seemed to work well because both writers wrote Blackadder the Third and Blackadder goes Forth (the latter is usually regarded as the best of the four seasons.)

Andrew Roberts

2024-06-20 19:22:47 +0000 UTC

That is probably one of the best responses I wasn't expecting and completely understandable, it's just a shame that the over the top exaggerated theatrics is just so distracting and feels forced. I know it's a comedy sitcom and you arent expecting academy award level of performance but you know what I mean

Dave Jones

2024-06-20 19:09:21 +0000 UTC

I haven't watched Blackadder in years. Weird how the opening episode of every series is always the weakest.

Colin R

2024-06-20 19:01:59 +0000 UTC

I love the way flashheart comes in and completely turns the world upside down. everything goes out the window, they break the 4th wall, tear the set down. RIP Rik

The Everything Guy

2024-06-20 19:00:02 +0000 UTC

probably a mix of a couple of things. atkinson and ben elton had a particular style in the earlier days, they wrote in a theatre style and the production methods they used were much more suited to a theatre style system than a fully on set one like we have today. actors would have had to project their lines alot more to be picked up over the noise of the set, all dialogue being recorded during filming with maybe only 1 or 2 mics. where as today we have multiple boom mics and worn mics to pick up subtle dialogue. I think they probably also wanted to be able to incorporate these types of sit coms into shows that could go into theatres and tour if need be.

The Everything Guy

2024-06-20 18:54:10 +0000 UTC

Rik was told not to 'Upstage' Blackadder in the Pilot for the 2nd series, so he promised not to, but nobody could stop him haha

Danny Heywood

2024-06-20 18:46:02 +0000 UTC

The important part of this episode is to establish the huge change in characters too. And yes it is Elizabethan, Queenie being Queen Elizabeth I (the redhead in the crown). He's still a descendent of Blackadder the first, but only a Lord now, not a Prince. The snide wit is really what makes the last 3 series better than the first.

irreverend

2024-06-20 18:37:26 +0000 UTC

Just how I like it... Firm and fruity!

Jay

2024-06-20 18:24:13 +0000 UTC

Mot sure if it's just me, but I really can't stand the over exaggerated acting where they are shouting out their lines like they are on stage without a microphone, something a lot of these vintage sitcoms was always guilty of

Dave Jones

2024-06-20 18:23:19 +0000 UTC

Huzzah!!

Duncan Hart

2024-06-20 18:13:21 +0000 UTC

total gold from here on out

Leo Stewart-Smith

2024-06-20 18:10:53 +0000 UTC

''Ooooh It's a Snake!'' ....Yes a Black one....Some kind of Adder I think.

Danny Heywood

2024-06-20 18:10:44 +0000 UTC

At larst the series realy starts 😆 😂 😄 🤣

Dango247

2024-06-20 18:07:44 +0000 UTC

Ya mate, been waiting for this, 👌 enjoy

Nothinghalo

2024-06-20 18:04:45 +0000 UTC

My thoughts exactly

irreverend

2024-06-20 18:02:56 +0000 UTC

Here we fucking go, the real Blackadder starts now. Bobbb

Phoenix

2024-06-20 18:02:34 +0000 UTC

Blackadder S2 Ep1 "Bells" REACTION!

Comments

This was clearly the series (season) that this show really hit it's stride

Everyone apparently always stood back whenever Rik was on set, RIP legend!

Classic for sure. Also rik as flasheart was the perfect casting

I wish he would. I know he was a little underwhelmed by the TV series, but the live shows are very different.

We get it, you like season one. Move on with your life 😂

Stayed Tuned For Blackadder Goes Forth, Lord Flash Hearts Returns! And Eddie from Bottom too in the same episode.

Early Modern is 16th to 18th centuries, coterminous with the continental Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries), and overlapping with the later-flowering English Renaissance (late 15th to early 17th centuries).

Stupid thought.

More like the real twat starts moaning about season 1 again.

Except it started with season 1.

60 cm.

It was good before this.

There really isn't any repetition.

Shut up.

It's not the early modern period. It's the Renaissance.

We don't need to know that yet another part of the tiny minority doesn't like it.

Skipping it is just ridiculous.

Will you react to the Bottom Live shows?

WOOF!

Bury me in a Y-shaped coffin…😂😂😂

Miranda Richardson is beautiful

Yes you’re right maybe I typed that when I was drunk because I actually meant the third series it’s my favourite 🤩. The one with the actors when he does the roar before the speech is bloody gold

Brilliant - I admit to skipping the first season, sorry! The Lord Flashheart moments are brilliant - once you've completed all the seasons, there's a compilation on youtube of his moments that you could watch on the YT channel for a reaction.

Yep, that's pretty much a whole generation that do that 🤣

You know Rotten Tomatoes is just how many of them thought it was worth a watch, right? Not a perfect score. Even the shittiest B movies might get a fair score because it's worth knowing what not to do.

According to Alan, over on The Eclectic Beard, that's pretty much what she was actually like.

I didn't know an Adder was a snake until recently. I'm not sure I ever really new if we had proper 2ft+ wild snakes. Especially a venomous one.

Absolutely..especially Bob in goes forth

They did get the young ones on mtv in the US but it was in the 80s i think so I guess it's possible. That would be shame if he has seen it

I had a massive crush on her in this when I was younger... I wouldn't say no to Bob either 🤪

I could be wrong but I think I've seen it mentioned before that he's already watched it.

I always say 'Bob' à la Blackadder now! Ahh the first proper series, bring it on 😉👍🏻

Theres a short documentary about it. Cant find the full episode (but not properly searched yet). Didn't even know it existed.

The unaired pilot is a lot more like this style than the first series, it's on youtube I believe.

The more I watch the more I see the influence of the young ones on Blackadder and there was crossover in both directions - Rik Mayall as Flasheart and his general over the top knockabout violence! Ben Elton writing for both, fry and Laurie. Does make me think you would enjoy the young ones KB!

Thanks for the great content as always King Boomer, never fail to put a smile on my face. Cheers!

I think episodes 1 and 2 were aired the wrong way round, which I think may have also happened to Peep Show. Sometimes the channel just decides that unless it creates any glaring continuity errors, to put what they think is the stronger episode first.

Forgot on how much I love this series, is the weakest episode of this season but still is great.

Yay, proper Blackadders begin...

Hugh Laurie is even more bonkers and off the scale in Blackadder The Third.

Love mirranda Richardson playing queen Elizabeth as a spoilt little girl

Haha... I thought someone would make a sarcastic comment like this. (And if they didn't, I was going to)

I love how quick you caught on to the way he says Bob!

Yes, I remember this was one of the later episodes when it first aired.

Oh good grief you can tell I drank too much watching the England match that I got his name wrong. When I passed my GCSEs my dad bought me a book of the script. Very cross with myself hahaha

Do you mean Edmund? :) I probably would've had a thing for Queenie if she hadn't been so insufferable. Definitely had a thing for Bob though

They needed to improve viewing figures, as far as I am aware. And brought in Ben Elton to co write. You can see the different sense of humour and comedy straight away.

I had a crush on Edward so much in this series when I was a teenager . Too much info sorry

I'm convinced this wasn't episode 1 when it was first aired The way he says Bbbobb..is because he has a very slight stutter

RIP Rik - 10 years on. I love this speech he gave in 2008 to the rest of the year's graduates when he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Exeter. His 5 Mantras For Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM8ZwW9pdc8&t=1s

I like this obviously but it gets better blackadder goes forth is my favourite because Hugh Laurie is off the scale

Am I pleased to see you or did I just put a canoe in my pocket . Oh that’s from this episode isn’t is haha haven’t watched the reaction yet

I haven't watched Blackadder in years. Weird how the opening episode of every series is always the weakest.

I love the way flashheart comes in and completely turns the world upside down. everything goes out the window, they break the 4th wall, tear the set down. RIP Rik

Rik was told not to 'Upstage' Blackadder in the Pilot for the 2nd series, so he promised not to, but nobody could stop him haha

Just how I like it... Firm and fruity!

Mot sure if it's just me, but I really can't stand the over exaggerated acting where they are shouting out their lines like they are on stage without a microphone, something a lot of these vintage sitcoms was always guilty of

Huzzah!!

total gold from here on out

''Ooooh It's a Snake!'' ....Yes a Black one....Some kind of Adder I think.

At larst the series realy starts 😆 😂 😄 🤣

Ya mate, been waiting for this, 👌 enjoy

My thoughts exactly

Here we fucking go, the real Blackadder starts now. Bobbb

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