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Blackadder

1983–1989BBC OneComedy

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Four series, four centuries, and a theme re-orchestrated each time to suit the period — lute, harpsichord, military band.

Blackadder rebuilt its titles: four distinct opening sequences are catalogued here across seasons 1–4, running between 40 and 41 seconds.

It arrived on BBC One in 1983, when A Question of Sport, Grandstand and This Is Your Life were also on the network.

Only 139 of the 2,618 shows catalogued here changed their titles at all; Blackadder did so three times.

4 sequences14th most looked up of 248 in the 1980sIMDb ↗Official site ↗
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All 4 opening title sequences

Season 1

40s

The medieval original, and the odd one out: shot on location, scored for lute and recorder, and played completely straight over illuminated-manuscript lettering.

Season 2

41s

Elizabethan, and the point at which the show found its shape. The theme is rearranged for harpsichord and viol, and the credits move indoors to portrait miniatures.

Season 3

40s

Regency. The same melody again on fortepiano and strings, over engravings — a century on and a class down, with Blackadder now the servant.

Season 4

40s

The trenches, as a military march on snare and brass. The joke of the arrangement stops being a joke here, which is the whole of what the final series does.

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