A Cunning Plan

One of the many people helping Jo Brand get to grips with the organ last night was composer Howard Goodall showing her the ropes at Oxford University.
His rather overbearing drones can be heard throughout the final episode of the first series of "The Black Adder" complete with the early 80s BBC 1 globe to add to the authenticity of 1983.

This series isn't as fondly remembered as the subsequent series for many reasons including the rather dominant organ chords that are heard at any given time. Another one was that big locations and dramatic filming techinques didn't really mix with the humour it was trying to produce which was why Michael Grade, the then controller of BBC 1 was very reluctant to comission a second series. However with a cheaper budget and Ben Elton in place of Rowan Atkinson at the writing duties with Richard Curtis, the series went onto became a more fondly remembered sitcom with a more snider main character compared to the rather weedy and idiotic protrayal in this episode.

The episode ends with a rather sombre version of the theme tune after the main characters death, in an attempt to tug at the heart but this was no match for the ending of the final series in 1989 where all the men went "over the top" and got killed, fading into an image of poppies with just the BBC logo superimposed over it. An image which sticks in the mind of many television viewers.

It's really odd being here on a Monday night and missing the antics at the Undercroft for the first time since Christmas. I'm quite gutted to be honest as a lot of people from the first and second years will be in York for the Student Radio Conference where the many stations of the Student Radio Association get together and involved in workshops, talks from industry professionals, and lots of drinking. I'm gutted that I'm missing out on this, especially as nobody from Westminster went last year and by the time I reach the third year I'm supposed to be more focused to what I want to do when finishing the course. Although by the way things are going at the moment I may end up failing a few modules especially the podcasting one by the way things are currently going. I pray to God that there are some spare MD recorders that work in M-Block.