History Fridge / Blackadder

* Queenie's court looks rather empty throughout the second season. When they made ''Blackadder Back and Forth'' they made it more inline with what one would expect. Budgetary reasons are obviously [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] (ie. real-life) explanation for this, but there is also a perfectly reasonable Watsonian (ie. in-universe) explanation. Queenie remarks that the modern Blackadder looks old which means he travelled back to the start of her reign (when the Lord Blackadder she knows would be a younger man). By the time the series comes round, it's later on in her reign, and her AcCrazy tendencies have caused a situation whereby many courtiers have either lost their heads already or are too terrified to even hang around and try to gain her favour -- only Melchett (who, going by what his descendant is like, may well be a bit insane) and Blackadder (who's really desperate gif royal favour) are permanent fixtures. As for Queenie looking younger, it is well-known that the real Elizabeth I used make-up in order to conceal the signs of aging.

* In "General Hospital", George writes letters to his Uncle Hermie. How many names abbreviate to "Hermie" apart from "Hermann", which is a German name? [[spoiler:An early hint that George's letters are the cause of the leak.]]]

* Le Compte de Frou-Frou in Blackadder the Third claims to speak only a little English before immediately saying: "Don't ask me to take a physiology class or conduct a light opera". It's delivered like a joke but should have given away to Blackadder that the Compte is not quite who he says he is.

* In the ''Blackadder the Third'' episode "[[Recap/BlackadderS3E3NobAndNobility Nob and Nobility]]", Edmund goes to the pie shop to recruit a French aristocrat to easily win his bet. The Count leaps at the opportunity to attend a party and declares, "If only I'd brought my mongoose costume." At first it just seems a random ditzy statement, but when we find out he's actually Topper/[[spoiler: The Scarlet Pimpernel]], and the fact that he wants to one up Edmund, it comes off as foreshadowing since mongoose are famous for killing snakes. Unfortunately for Topper, mongoose are only advantageous against cobras, and he's up against an Adder, [[spoiler: so he ends up dead, and by poison no less]].

** Unfortunately, Samuel Johnson didn't have a Scottish accent, as the Ghost in ''Christmas Carol'' does (it's actor Robbie Coltrane's own accent). Johnson didn't have the posh London accent that he has in "Ink & Incapability", either. He was from Staffordshire, which has a very peculiar accent of its own, a variant on the Midlands accent.

* In the first season, Blackadder's first name is Edmund, and he's the manipulative power-hungry second son of the Duke of York. In ''Theatre/KingLear'', Edmund is the manipulative power-hungry second son of the Duke of Gloucester. Both Edmunds were born out of wedlock (although our Edmund quickly destroys the evidence of this before it can be examined in greater detail and is therefore able to maintain his position as a Prince for the rest of the first series). Considering how often the first episode of the series references ''Theatre/RichardIII'', it seems fitting that the writers would drop a subtle reference to a different Shakespearean play.
* Queenie's court looks rather empty throughout the second season. When they made ''Blackadder Back and Forth'' they made it more inline with what one would expect. In universe though there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this difference. Queenie says the modern Blackadder looks old which means he travels back to the start of her reign. By the time the series comes round her Queen of Hearts tendencies has made it so the majority of people have either lost their head already or are too terrified to even hang around and try to gain her favor.
* Carrying on the Shakespeare references, it turns out Henry VII got to take the throne by default after the Yorkist royal family wiped themselves out in an internal dispute, via poison. Essentially, the same way Fortinbras in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' did.

* Le Compte de Frou-Frou in Blackadder the Third claims to speak only a little English before immediately saying 'Don't ask me to take a physiology class or conduct a light opera'. It's delivered like a joke but should have given away to Blackadder that the Compte is not quite who he says he is.

* In the very first episode, the canopy in Edmund's bedroom has a black snake design on it even before he chooses his name. (Of course, this might just be a lucky coincidence, or even the thing that inspired Baldrick to come up with "the Black Adder".)
* Elizabeth I really wasn't keen on Catholics, yet her Bishop of Bath and Wells is a monk and therefore Catholic. The Radio Times listed "Money" as set in 1564, early in Elizabeth's reign - so the Bishop's Catholicism is explained by his being a Marian leftover.

** Unfortunately, Samuel Johnson didn't have a Scottish accent, as the Ghost in ''Christmas Carol'' does (it's actor Robbie Coltrane's own accent.) Johnson didn't have the posh London accent that he has in "Ink & Incapability", either. He was from Lincolnshire, which has a very peculiar accent of its own, somewhere between English Midlands and OopNorth.

* In the first season, Blackadder's first name is Edmund, and he's the manipulative power-hungry second son of the Duke of York. In ''Theatre/KingLear'', Edmund is the manipulative power-hungry second son of the Duke of Gloucester. Considering how often the first episode of the series references ''Theatre/RichardIII'', it seems fitting that the writers would drop a subtle reference to a different Shakespearean play.

* Prince Ludwig permanently impersonating Queen Elizabeth nicely explains the whole Virgin Queen thing.

* In the finale ''Blackadder the Second'', Lord Melchett is stated to have had relations with several sheep, at least one of which was a human in disguise. A few generations later, in ''Blackadder Goes Forth'', General Melchett's catch-phrase is a very sheeplike "Baahhh"!