
Tony Robinson has revealed why Rowan Atkinson will not be appearing in the forthcoming Comic Relief version of Blackadder.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Blackadder would return for a one-off special at the annual fundraising on March 17, but without Atkinson, despite the fact that he portrays the eponymous character.
Naturally, fans were perplexed.
One person compared a Blackadder resurrection without its lead to a “broken pencil,” while another were concerned that the drawing would be “watered down.”
However, Robinson has stated why his co-star will not be participating, and it is rather simple: ‘It just so happens that this is a script for Baldrick.’
Blackadder is one of the most successful British sitcoms of all time, lasting 24 episodes from 1983 until 1989.
‘Rowan’s far too serious to do any of it,’ said Comic Relief co-founder Richard Curtis during an interview on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday.
Speaking to Radio Times last year, Atkinson argued that a return to Blackadder ‘definitely wasn’t inconceivable’.
He said: ‘I’d rather not speculate on when it could be set. But Blackadder represented the creative energy we all had in the ’80s. To try to replicate that 30 years on wouldn’t be easy.’
Later, Robinson added to the publication: ‘Well, what Rowan has always said to me is if there was to be another Blackadder it shouldn’t necessarily be another six-part television series.
‘We should find another guise for it, another way of doing it.’
Here we are, only a few months later.
Comic Relief airs March 17 on BBC One.