Recently found this rather strange (1982) pilot for the first series of Blackadder (which was eventually produced in 1983 as The Black Adder).
The script and plot are essentially the same as the first series episode, Born to be King, although bits and pieces from the pilot were deleted (clearly for the better). And the pilot is vaguely set in late 16th Century Elizabethan England rather than the late-15th Century Battle of Bosworth Field era (First Series).
But by far the most interesting thing is the casting and characterisation of the pilot. Rowan Atkinson (Prince Edmund / The Black Adder), Tim McInnerny (Lord Percy Percy), and Alex Norton (McAngus) are all there in the pilot. So is Elspet Gray (although she plays a very aristocratic English Queen in the pilot rather than Gertrude of Flanders - "just a little Dutch Girl" as she describes herself in Born to be King).
Baldrick, though, is played by some bloke named Philip Fox (and I have to say he doesn't come close to Tony Robinson's characterisation), The King is played by veteran actor John Savident (who later went on to become Fred Elliott in Coronation Street) as a fairly tired, irritable, somewhat pompous Upper Class character rather than the wild and boisterous Series One version played by Brian Blessed, and Cold Feet's Robert Bathurst was cast as Prince Harry in the pilot, with the role ultimately going to Robert East.
What's more, Atkinson plays The Black Adder as a shrewd and scheming character much closer in temperament to the Blackadders of the later series (and more than a wee bit like some of his Not the Nine O'Clock News personas from just a year or two earlier). Eventually, of course, he was to play Prince Edmund in the commissioned first series as an equally ambitious but much more weasly, clueless and inept character.
I suppose it's normal for pilots, but the low production values and odd casting are fairly apparent. Here's the pilot in 3 parts...
Part 1 .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5NWNHS3eM4
Part 2 .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmxc0tQaLeE
Part 3 .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y3S3oynje4
And just for comparison, here's a scene from the Born to be King episode that the pilot inspired. Looks much more professional...
Born to be King (Edmund's Duel with McAngus) .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz1A7Xaz-rk
