Mr. Baldrick

Baldrick is servant to Edmund Blackadder, a grubby, unwashed presence forever hovering with some dreadful homemade concoction or a scheme he insists is foolproof. He is loyal to a fault, cheerfully unbothered by filth or indignity, and utterly convinced of his own cleverness even as the evidence stacks up against him.

Tony Robinson plays him with a beaming, unshakeable confidence that turns stupidity into something joyful rather than pathetic. The gap between Baldrick's certainty and his usefulness is the engine of half the show's best exchanges, and Robinson's straight-faced delivery of nonsense makes him the perfect target for Blackadder's contempt.