After
months of living in soggy trenches, General Melchett has finally given the command
for the company to go over "over the top", that is to say charge to
a certain death. Blackadder pretends to be mad so that he can be invalided
back to Blighty - but that plan ends in failure. Melchett sends Darling
to the trench to join them for the final push. Even George realises, finally,
that he's afraid.
Review:This was a remarkable episode in
a comedy series, plaing the stupidity and futility of war side by side with an
absolutely convincing portrayal of what the certainty of death might have felt
like. While it is all too easy to poke fun at the awful events of The Great War,
all these years on, this episode manages to do that with total respect for the
poor sods in the middle of it all. The ending was the work of true genius;
tragic, funny and profoundly moving too. Credits:
| Director | Richard Boden |
| Writers | Richard Curtis and Ben Elton |
| Geoffrey Palmer | Field Marshal Haig |
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