Tim McInnerny's character was originally named Captain Cartwright. Sir Stephen Fry had the idea to change it to Darling (named after a boy at his school) and created a running gag which is frequently used throughout the series.
Tim McInnerny affected a nervous tick in his eye for the character of Captain Darling, but after the six-week rehearsal and shooting schedule was over, the tick had become second nature and it took him a further two months to get rid of it.
During rehearsals, the script was exhaustively discussed and redrafted by the cast, with Richard Curtis having the final say on the content. Sir Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson were comic writers/actors themselves, and having worked together on previous Blackadder series were not afraid to question the script and make suggestions. However, this caused tensions to arise between the writers and the cast; in interviews Ben Elton felt that they had allowed the cast to question every aspect of the script, while Tony Robinson claims "the writers felt we were unilaterally altering the script for the worse; by the end, they felt we had run away with it." The ill-feeling between the writers and actors, coupled with the draining scripting and rehearsals led to everyone deciding not to make more Blackadder shows.
Writers Ben Elton and Richard Curtis wrote the episode scripts separately using word processors, and then swapped floppy disks containing their scripts with each other to edit jokes/dialogue. Curtis says that they always wrote separately, because if they were in the same room they would discuss anything BUT Blackadder. He also recalls that they stuck to a policy whereby if one removed a line for not being funny, then it was never put back.
According to John Lloyd, the popularity of the series within the armed forces meant that one point, half of all regimental goats had the name 'Baldrick'. Further evidence of the show's popularity can be seen from records of the first Gulf War, during which the British lines in Iraq were named after characters from the series.
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