A cunning plan

Baldrick actor Sir Tony Robinson reveals the secrets behind Blackadder's beginnings...

- IAN MACEWAN, SEAN MARL

Forty years ago this week, historical rotter Edmund Blackadder, played by Rowan Atkinson, slithered on to our screens in the first episode of what would become one of the bestloved British sitcoms of all time.

To mark the anniversary, Sir Tony Robinson, who played Blackadder’s downtrodden and cerebrally challenged servant Baldrick, is turning back the clock in a Gold documentary to tell the story of the previously unseen pilot episode.

Although Robinson was originally cast as Baldrick, fellow actor Philip Fox played him in the pilot after shooting clashed with a production Robinson was appearing in at the National Theatre.