The unaired Blackadder pilot episode is a curiosity. Apparently set in a later Tudor period than what was to become the first Blackadder series, this sees a far more… Blackaddery performance from Rowan Atkinson than the snivelly coward with the silly voice that was settled on in the final series.

Thankfully they returned to this portrayal, but it’s a matter of some confusion just why they changed the characterization of the central character so dramatically between the pilot and the final product. There’s definitely a number of improvements - the actor portraying Baldrick here is simply terrible, and the addition of Brian Blessed to the cast is arguably what makes the original series as watchable as it is, but dropping the sardonic, confident Blackadder to replace him with a foolish and foppish version was a definite misstep. Especially as the first series was such an expensive exercise and considered a failure, that we were lucky to get a (much improved) second.