Blackadder new series on the cards, says Tony Robinson

A new series of the 1980s BBC comedy Blackadder is on the cards, star Sir Tony Robinson has said – as long as they can afford Hugh Laurie’s wages.

Robinson, 69, who played Baldrick in all four series of the sitcom, joked that they might struggle to pay Laurie, who went on to become a major star in the US with the medical drama House.

“I do think a new series of Blackadder is on the cards,” the comedian and TV presenter told the Sun. “I have spoken to virtually all the cast about this now. The only problem is Hugh’s fee. He’s a huge star now – or so he’d like to think.”

Laurie is believed to have been paid £250,000 an episode for House – which ran from 2004 to 2012 – at its peak. He adopted a convincing American accent to play the curmudgeonly doctor Gregory House.

Before that he was a successful comedian, mostly alongside fellow Blackadder star Stephen Fry in programmes including their own sketch show and ITV’s Jeeves And Wooster.

Blackadder featured Rowan Atkinson in the title role, before he went on to star in Mr Bean.

Its settings spanned medieval England to the first world war. It ended in 1989, although a special episode, Blackadder Back & Forth, was made for the Millennium Dome in 1999.

Robinson, who went on to host Channel 4’s Time Team for 20 years, told the Sun: “Expectations for a new series will be high because people not only remember the original; they remember who they were when it was on. It’s a big danger.”