Tony Robinson on Blackadder: ‘I learned how to ride at the feet of those masters’

The idea that the “constantly thwarted” Edmund Blackadder had to be surrounded by “people even dafter than him” originally came from co-writer Ben Elton, Robinson says.

While the 79-year-old historian loved making the mock-historical comedy show, as a “typical working-class boy” amongst Blackadder‘s Oxford and Cambridge-educated creators, at first, he felt like he was from a different world.

“It was quite an intimidating atmosphere to find yourself in, but they were all very, very clever, very friendly, always kind, always courteous. I always feel that I learned how to ride at the feet of those masters, and I have enormous gratitude,” he tells RNZ’s Saturday Morning.