Twenty-four episodes across four centuries, and the first six are the ones to be careful about.
Broadcast order works, because the four series happen to run forwards through history as well: medieval, Elizabethan, Regency, First World War. The trap is at the two ends. The first series is not the programme people are recommending when they recommend Blackadder, and a lot of first-time viewers give up on it. The last episode is the ending, and the special that came ten years later softens it.
Seen some of these already? Tap the circles to tick them off. The full list below fills in as you go.
Start here. New co-writer, no money, studio-bound, and Edmund becomes the clever one. If you like nothing else you will like Bells.
The Christmas Carol went out between the third series and the fourth and has a flash-forward gag that only works once you have seen the first three.
Six episodes in a trench, and Goodbyeee is the end of it. Stop here if you want the ending to stay where it is.
Go back to the 1983 series as a curiosity once you know the shape of the thing. It plays much better second.
Thirty minutes of time travel that revisits every era and ends the dynasty as winners. Straight after Goodbyeee it flattens the ending, so choose your moment.
Then what? The Cavalier Years, the documentary and the five live sketches are for completists, and several of the sketches have never been released.
A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.
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