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{{about|the Blackadder episode|the First World War song|Good-bye-ee!}}
{{featured article}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series = [[Blackadder]]
| image = Goodbyeee Melchett and Blackadder.jpg
| image_alt = A man with a large moustache wearing a general's cap stands behind a man wearing underpants on his head and with pencils in his nose.
| caption = General Melchett catches Blackadder pretending to be mad. Melchett represents the "[[lions led by donkeys]]" perception of the war,<ref name="newhistories">{{cite web|last=Stirling|first=Marie|title='Haig is about to make yet another gargantuan effort to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin': Blackadder Goes Forth|url=http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/haig-is-about-to-make-yet-another-gargantuan-effort-to-move-his-drinks-cabinet-six-inches-closer-to-berlin%E2%80%99-blackadder-goes-forth/|work=New Histories|publisher=[[University of Sheffield]]|date=20 September 2011|access-date=22 September 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031183111/http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/haig-is-about-to-make-yet-another-gargantuan-effort-to-move-his-drinks-cabinet-six-inches-closer-to-berlin%E2%80%99-blackadder-goes-forth/|archive-date=31 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and is an amalgam of [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]] and [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|John French]], among others.
| series_no = 4
| episode = 6
| director = [[Richard Boden]]
| writer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Richard Curtis]]
* [[Ben Elton]]
}}
| producer = [[John Lloyd (producer)|John Lloyd]]
| airdate = {{Start date|1989|11|2|df=y}}
| length = 29 minutes
| guests =
* [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]] as [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Field Marshal Haig]]
}}
"'''Goodbyeee'''", or "'''Plan F: Goodbyeee'''",{{refn|group=nb|The on-screen title in this episode reads "Goodbyeee"; some sources list it with the prefix "[[wikt:plan B|Plan F]]",<ref name="bbcp">{{cite web|title=Plan F – Goodbyeee|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078nnr|access-date=23 September 2012|publisher=[[BBC]]|archive-date=6 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806180951/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078nnr|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="rtep">{{cite web|title=Series 4: Plan F – Goodbyeee|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/vc746/blackadder-goes-forth--series-4---6-plan-f---goodbyeee|work=[[Radio Times]]|access-date=30 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226055055/http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/vc746/blackadder-goes-forth--series-4---6-plan-f---goodbyeee|archive-date=26 February 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> signifying the sixth episode.}} is the sixth and final episode of ''[[Blackadder Goes Forth]]'', the fourth and final series of British historical [[television comedy|sitcom]] ''[[Blackadder]]''. The episode was first broadcast on [[BBC One|BBC1]] in the United Kingdom on 2 November 1989, shortly before [[Armistice Day]]. Apart from the one-off short film ''[[Blackadder: Back & Forth]]'' made a decade later, it was the last episode of ''Blackadder'' to be produced and transmitted.

The episode depicts its main characters' final hours before a major British offensive on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the [[First World War]], and [[Captain Blackadder]]'s attempts to escape his fate by feigning madness; after he fails to convince [[General Melchett]], and [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Field Marshal Haig]]'s advice proves useless, he resigns himself to taking part in the offensive. "Goodbyeee" has a darker tone than other episodes in the series, culminating in its acclaimed ending in which the main characters are assumed to have died. The episode's theme of death ties in with the series' use of [[gallows humour]], its criticism and satire of war, and its depiction of authority figures contentedly sending their subordinates to face the enemy, while unwilling to do so themselves.

[[Richard Curtis]] and [[Ben Elton]] wrote the episode, and further material was provided by cast members. The final sequence, which shows the main characters going "over the top", uses slow motion, as the programme's creators were unhappy with the result of the scripted ending. The enhanced scene has been described as bold and highly poignant.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackaddergoesforth/|title=Blackadder Goes Forth|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=20 December 2019|archive-date=26 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226161905/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackaddergoesforth/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Plot==

===Background===
[[File:RowanAtkinsonMar07.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Rowan Atkinson]] played Captain Blackadder in the series.]]
Each series of ''Blackadder'' depicts its protagonist, always a scheming and (except in the [[The Black Adder|first series]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Black Adder|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theblackadder/|work=Comedy|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=24 September 2012|archive-date=11 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111162740/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theblackadder/|url-status=live}}</ref>) witty man named [[Edmund Blackadder]], in different periods throughout history. In ''Blackadder Goes Forth'', he is [[Captain Blackadder]] ([[Rowan Atkinson]]), an officer in the [[British Army]] on the Western Front during the First World War.

Joined by his colleagues—the poor, stupid and unhygienic [[Baldrick#Blackadder Goes Forth|Private Baldrick]] ([[Tony Robinson]]), and the overly optimistic, upper-class and equally idiotic [[George (Blackadder)|Lieutenant George Colthurst St Barleigh]] ([[Hugh Laurie]])—Blackadder tries constantly to escape his position and avoid the "big push", which he fears will result in his death. His efforts are hindered by the loud and intimidating [[General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett]] ([[Stephen Fry]]) and Melchett's strict, sardonic, and [[jobsworth]] [[staff officer]], [[Darling (Blackadder)|Captain Kevin Darling]] ([[Tim McInnerny]]).

===Events===
Captain Blackadder's trench receives a phone call from HQ: a full-scale attack has been ordered for the next day at dawn. Realising that this is likely to mean his death, Blackadder plans to [[Desertion|escape]] by [[Feigned madness|pretending to be mad]]: he puts underpants on his head and sticks pencils in his nostrils. His plan is thwarted when General Melchett arrives to see what is happening and remarks that he shot an entire platoon that used this exact method; Blackadder overhears and narrowly escapes Melchett's punishment by pretending he is relating the story to Baldrick.

Melchett leaves after George declines his offer not to participate in the push, and Baldrick suggests that Blackadder ask Field Marshal [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]] to get them out; remembering that Haig owes him a favour, Blackadder decides to call in the morning. George, Baldrick and Blackadder discuss the War and the friends they have lost—George mentions the [[Christmas truce]] of 1914 (in which the belligerents stopped fighting to play football) and realises he is the only "[[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity]] [[Tiddlywinks|Tiddlers]]" member still alive; this is paralleled in Baldrick's pets, who have all died. Back at HQ, Melchett surprises Captain Darling with a front-line [[Commissioned officer|commission]]. Darling's pleas to reconsider are misinterpreted, and Melchett insists that he go.

The following morning, Blackadder calls Field Marshal Haig and reminds him of his debt; Haig reluctantly advises using the previously attempted underpants method, ending the call with the words "favor returned", sealing Blackadder's fate. Darling arrives, and his animosity with Blackadder dissolves as they are both put in the same situation. George tries to cheer everybody up, but finds himself as scared as the others. Darling states that he had hoped to live through the War, return to England and marry his fiancée.

{{quote box
|quote="Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would've noticed another madman around here? Good luck, everyone."
|source=—Captain Blackadder, on Baldrick's final plan<ref>{{cite AV media |people=[[Richard Boden|Boden, Richard]] (director) |date=2 November 1989 |title=Goodbyeee |work=[[Blackadder Goes Forth]] |medium=Television episode |time=28:06–28:14 |publisher=[[BBC One|BBC1]] }}</ref>
|align=left
|width=22em
}}

The men are called to the trench to prepare for the big push. There is a moment of hope when the British [[Barrage (artillery)|barrage]] lifts, but Blackadder reminds his colleagues that they have stopped only to avoid hitting their own men. Baldrick tells Blackadder that he has a plan to escape certain death, but for the first time in any series, does not call it a "cunning plan". Blackadder replies Baldrick's idea will have to wait, but admits it couldn't fail to improve over his own plan to feign insanity because "who would have noticed another madman round here?" The series concludes with Blackadder earnestly wishing his comrades good luck, and they charge over the top into thunderous machine-gun fire. The sequence enters slow motion as a slow piano version of the [[Blackadder#Theme tune|''Blackadder'' theme]] is played. The series ends as the violent chaos of [[No man's land]] fades into a tranquil field of [[Poppy|poppies]], with only birdsong to be heard.

==Production==
{{multiple image|align=right|image1=Richard Curtis MFF 2016.jpg|width1={{#expr: (210 * 133 / 181) round 0}}|image2=Ben Elton cropped.jpg|width2={{#expr: (215 * 189 / 274) round 0}}|footer=[[Richard Curtis]] and [[Ben Elton]] wrote "Goodbyeee"; Curtis co-created ''Blackadder'', and Elton had co-written it since the [[Blackadder II|second series]].||alt1=A blond-gray man outside in a suit|alt2=A man in a suit and wearing glasses talking into a microphone}}

The episode was written by [[Richard Curtis]] and [[Ben Elton]],<ref name="Lewisohn">{{Cite web |last=Lewisohn |first=Mark |title=''Blackadder Goes Forth'' |work=[[BBC Online#BBC Guide to Comedy|BBC Guide to Comedy]] |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=2004 |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/b/blackaddergoesfo_7770785.shtml | access-date = 30 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050411175722/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/b/blackaddergoesfo_7770785.shtml |archive-date=11 April 2005}}</ref> who swapped [[Floppy disk|computer disks]] to make edits. They stuck to a rule whereby they could not add back material the other had removed. The script was collaboratively edited by the cast members of ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' during [[read-through]]s.<ref name="britainsbestsitcom">{{Cite AV media | title = Britain's Best Sitcom: ''Blackadder''| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/advocate_blackadder.shtml | work = [[Britain's Best Sitcom]] | people = [[John Sergeant (journalist)|Sergeant, John]] (presenter)| publisher = [[BBC One]] | date = 10 January 2004 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131112104019/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/advocate_blackadder.shtml | archive-date = 12 November 2013}}</ref><ref name="wrs">{{Cite AV media|title=Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga |medium=Television special |publisher=[[Gold (UK TV channel)|Gold]] |date=9 October 2008}}</ref> Elton was primarily responsible for the sequence in which Blackadder explains [[Causes of World War I|how the First World War started]];<ref name="dvd-lloyd">Lloyd, John. Audio commentary for "Goodbyeee" in ''Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition'' (DVD). [[2 Entertain]]. 2009.</ref> the [[running gag]] of Baldrick using mud and bodily fluids to make coffee throughout the episode was greatly expanded during rehearsals.<ref name="rides">{{cite AV media|title=Blackadder Rides Again |medium=Television special |publisher=[[BBC One]] |date=25 December 2008}}</ref>

The episode's title is a reference to the popular First World War song "[[Good-bye-ee!]]",{{sfn|Roberts|2012|p=312}} which was based on a catchphrase of the comedian [[Harry Tate]].<ref name=bmh>{{citation |page=146 |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated History |author=Richard Anthony Baker |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2014 |isbn=9781473837188}}</ref> The song is also heard in an earlier episode—"[[Major Star]]". The title is a departure from those of previous ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' episodes, which are puns on military ranks.{{sfn|Roberts|2012|p=313}}

During the filming of the episode, which took place before a [[studio audience]] at [[BBC Television Centre]],<ref name="britainsbestsitcom" /> Rowan Atkinson described sharing his character's dread of impending death and feeling a "knot in the pit of my stomach",<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=David|title=Fagin goes forth in the West End|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/28/rowan-atkinson-profile-oliver-blackadder|access-date=22 September 2012|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=28 December 2008|archive-date=25 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525200756/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/dec/28/rowan-atkinson-profile-oliver-blackadder|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dvd-atkinson">Atkinson, Rowan. Audio commentary for "Goodbyeee" in ''Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition'' (DVD). 2 Entertain. 2009.</ref> something that he had never experienced.<ref name="dvd-atkinson" /> Hugh Laurie said that filming was sad because "even for comic effect, we were representing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people".<ref name="wrs" /> Regarding guest star [[Geoffrey Palmer (actor)|Geoffrey Palmer]], the producer [[John Lloyd (producer)|John Lloyd]] said "[We] probably could have given [him] more attention", calling him "a wonderful actor" who is "really just delivering three or four plot lines [pieces of dialogue essential to the plot]".<ref name="dvd-lloyd" />

The slow motion and fade effects at the end of the episode were not scripted,<ref name="uktvs4">{{cite web|title=Blackadder Goes Forth|url=http://gold.uktv.co.uk/blackadder/article/blackadder-goes-forth/|publisher=UKTV|access-date=28 September 2012|archive-date=2 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502001839/http://gold.uktv.co.uk/blackadder/article/blackadder-goes-forth/|url-status=live}}</ref> but the decision to use them was made in editing after the final scene was hastily filmed on an unconvincing [[polystyrene]] set, ruining the poignancy of the sequence; the episode's director [[Richard Boden]] added the poppy field image.<ref name="wrs" /> The piano version of the theme tune was performed by [[Howard Goodall]] and recorded in a [[gym]]nasium, giving it what Lloyd described as a "liquid, lonely sound".{{sfn|Roberts|2012|p=320}} The episode's end credits were omitted.<ref name="britainsbestsitcom" /> Tim McInnerny did not know about these changes before the episode aired, and has said that he found the ending particularly emotional.<ref name="britainsbestsitcom" />

==Themes==
In the episode, Field Marshal Haig is shown casually sweeping away toy soldiers with a dustpan and brush; ''BBC News Magazine''{{'}}s Finlo Rohrer called this a "visual allusion to his callousness", but quoted the historian [[Gary Sheffield (historian)|Gary Sheffield]] as saying "The real Field Marshal Haig was certainly not a callous man. He was commanding the largest British army ever. Whatever he did, you ended up with lots and lots of casualties." Sheffield also noted that "Melchett is an amalgam of Haig and [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|John French]] and the other generals", so Haig effectively "appears twice".<ref name="Rohrer">{{cite web|last=Rohrer|first=Finlo|title=How accurately does Blackadder reflect history?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22887110|work=BBC News Magazine|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=15 June 2013|access-date=3 September 2013|archive-date=21 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821061340/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22887110|url-status=live}}</ref> The series, especially the storyline of "Goodbyeee", often depicts the "[[lions led by donkeys]]" perception of the War, an element of ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' that has been criticised by historians.<ref name="newhistories" /><ref name="badsey">{{cite journal |last1=Badsey|first1=Stephen|year=2002|title=The Great War Since ''The Great War'' |journal= Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|publisher=Routledge|volume=22|issue=1|page=41|doi=10.1080/01439680220120273|s2cid=194075512}}</ref>

In his book ''The Great War'', Ian F. W. Beckett also cited Sheffield: the latter commented that ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' was successful because "the characters and situations needed no explanation, so familiar was the audience with the received version of the war". Beckett noted the popularity of the episode's final scene, and compared it to a similarly popular scene from ''[[Dad's Army]]''. He said that this comparison demonstrates the observation made by historian [[A. J. P. Taylor]] that the Second World War has been regarded as a "good war" in comparison to the first; he opined that "television producers...have much to answer for in the perpetuation of the image of the Great War as one in which a generation of 'lions' were needlessly sacrificed by the 'donkeys'".<ref name="Beckett2007">{{cite book|last=Beckett|first=Ian F. W.|title=The Great War, 1914–1918|year=2007|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-1-4058-1252-8|pages=642–643}}</ref>

[[File:Blackadder Goodbyeee poppies.jpg|thumb|The ending shows a field of poppies to reflect on the deaths of soldiers; it was inspired by [[John McCrae]]'s poem "[[In Flanders Fields]]".<ref name="sfaustin">{{cite web|last=Baker |first=Sara |title=Blackadder Goes Forth |url=http://clioseye.sfasu.edu/Archives/Student%20Reviews%20Archives/BlackadderGoesForth.htm |work=Clio's Eye |publisher=[[Stephen F. Austin State University]] |access-date=29 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901051202/http://clioseye.sfasu.edu/Archives/Student%20Reviews%20Archives/BlackadderGoesForth.htm |archive-date=1 September 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>|alt=A tranquil field of red poppies, and the text "Blackadder" with a copyright notice]]

Producer John Lloyd cited the episode's lack of another major character as the reason they had time to "explore the relationships of the five principal people".<ref name="dvd-lloyd" /> Atkinson said that the scene involving Darling's "ghastly realisation" of his commission was "very sad";<ref name="dvd-atkinson" /> Lloyd commented "I love the fact that Captain Darling does have some compassion; he's not just a bureaucrat".<ref name="dvd-lloyd" /> They noted that "all the comedy just goes away" upon Darling's arrival in the trench,<ref name="dvd-lloyd" /> and that "there are still funny moments, but dramatically, there is no comic content, it is just leading inexorably to the end."<ref name="dvd-atkinson" />

Comparing the ending scene to those of previous series of ''Blackadder'', in which the main characters were also killed, writer Curtis commented: "I think it was by chance that [previous series] ended with Blackadder being killed...but series four, we did do it very much on purpose." He said that he and Elton felt they could use the First World War as a setting if the characters died, considering "if we did do that...it would not be too disrespectful, and would actually represent some of the tragedy of the First World War".<ref name="sfaustin" />

==Reception==
Following its original broadcast on [[BBC One|BBC1]] at 9:30 pm on 2 November 1989,<ref name="Lewisohn" /> "Goodbyeee" was praised for its powerful and memorable ending.<ref name="bbccomedy">{{cite web|title=Blackadder Goes Forth|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackaddergoesforth/|work=Comedy|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=23 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803103331/http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackaddergoesforth/|archive-date=3 August 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> One journalist called the scene "a classy ending to a television classic",{{sfn|Hanna|2009|pp=133–134}} and the ''[[The Sunday Times|Sunday Times]]'' said that it was "brave" and "properly responsible" of the writers to end the series poignantly, especially when the episode aired close to [[Remembrance Day]].{{sfn|Hanna|2009|pp=133–134}}

"Goodbyeee" has also been the subject of more recent reviews: Rob Cromwell of ''[[The Guardian]]'' listed the final scene among six "perfect [[Series finale|end-of-show finales]]", saying of ''Blackadder'': "It was brilliantly funny throughout, right up until the last 60 seconds", and praising the writers and producer Lloyd for "deliver[ing] a perfectly pitched, poignant ending".<ref>{{cite news|last=Cromwell|first=Rob|title=Six to watch: perfect end-of-show finales|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/oct/06/six-to-watch-show-finales|access-date=28 September 2012|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=6 October 2011|archive-date=11 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111023744/http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/oct/06/six-to-watch-show-finales|url-status=live}}</ref> Comparing ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' to the 2012 war serial ''[[Birdsong (TV serial)|Birdsong]]'', Alison Graham of the ''[[Radio Times]]'' commented that "Nothing...evokes the terror of those unspeakable battlefields or leaves such an overwhelming sense of loss as [its characters] going over the top to their certain death".<ref>{{cite web|last=Graham|first=Alison|title=Blackadder Goes Forth was more powerful than Birdsong|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2012-02-05/blackadder-goes-forth-was-more-powerful-than-birdsong|work=[[Radio Times]]|date=5 February 2012|access-date=4 October 2012|archive-date=24 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524112827/http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2012-02-05/blackadder-goes-forth-was-more-powerful-than-birdsong|url-status=live}}</ref> Den of Geek's Carley Tauchert placed the episode second on her list of "top 10 TV show endings", calling it "one of the greatest interpretations of the madness of war that has ever been put on film".<ref>{{cite web|last=Tauchert|first=Carley|title=The top 10 TV show endings|url=http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/20750/the-top-10-tv-show-endings|publisher=Den of Geek|access-date=4 October 2012|date=7 March 2011|archive-date=6 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106061308/http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/20750/the-top-10-tv-show-endings|url-status=live}}</ref> Reviewing the episode for ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', Kate Kulzick described it as "...a masterpiece, a hilarious and painful crystallization of everything Blackadder does well. It is without a doubt the best episode of the series and more than that, it is one of the best series finales in television history". She particularly praised it for "...its masterful balancing of comedy and tragedy. Both are interspersed throughout, with each character given moments of laugh out loud brilliance and poignant reflection", concluding that "...there is no such thing as a perfect television show or episode, but 'Goodbyeee' comes dang close".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/blackadder-general-hospitalback-forthgoodbyeee-208910 |title=Blackadder: "General Hospital"/"Back & Forth"/"Goodbyeee" |last=Kulzick |first=Kate |date=5 September 2014 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=6 February 2017 |archive-date=7 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207113950/http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/blackadder-general-hospitalback-forthgoodbyeee-208910 |url-status=live }}</ref> The academic and theatre director Mary Luckhurst contrasted the regular British comedic treatment of the Second World War with the absence of comedies set in the First World War, until the ''Blackadder'' series, which she considered "an important British dramatic treatment" of the War. Of the final episode Luckhurst wrote:
<blockquote>"Goodbyeee" went a good deal further than any other sitcom or comedy, by terminally sending pretty much the entire cast over the top in 1917, into a silence that has...endured ever since. Many millions of viewers were shocked, and almost all taken aback by the abrupt realization of tragedy amid much-loved national television and after riotous laughter to that sudden and bitter end ...<ref>{{cite book|last=Luckhurst|first=Mary|title=A Companion to Modern British and Irish Drama: 1880–2005|editor=Mary Luckhurst|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2006|pages=313|chapter=A wounded stage: drama and World War I|isbn=978-1-4051-2228-3}}</ref></blockquote>

In a poll conducted by [[Channel 4]] and ''[[The Observer]]'' to determine television's one hundred most memorable moments, the final scene of "Goodbyeee" came ninth; it was one of only two entries in the top ten that was not news coverage (the other being a scene from ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'').{{sfn|Hanna|2009|pp=133–134}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=ignored_one|date=2003-09-13|title=The Observer 100 Greatest (UK) TV Moments|url=https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/58608/observer-100-greatest-uk-tv-moments|access-date=2020-11-10|website=www.jehovahs-witness.com|language=en|archive-date=10 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110204831/https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/58608/observer-100-greatest-uk-tv-moments|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2001, ''Radio Times'' asked a panel of comedians, writers and producers to pick their ‘50 favourite sitcom moments’; "Goodbyeee" was the only episode of ''Blackadder'' that was included, where it ranked eleventh.<ref>{{cite news|title=Divine Comedy|last=Courtis|first=Brian|date=7 June 2001|work=The Age|pages=8}}</ref> The [[British Film Institute]]'s [[Screenonline]] called the episode's ending "unexpectedly moving", and noted that, unusually for a comedy programme, it was repeated as part of a serious commemoration of Armistice Day:<ref>{{cite web|last=Brooke|first=Michael|title=Blackadder|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/500473/|work=[[Screenonline]]|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=30 September 2012|archive-date=28 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928202828/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/500473/|url-status=live}}</ref> for its 80th anniversary in 1998.{{sfn|Hanna|2009|pp=23}} The series' overview from the website of [[UKTV]]'s channel [[Gold (UK TV channel)|Gold]], which airs repeats of ''Blackadder'', calls the final episode "a seamless blend of gallows humour and rich poignancy" and "a fitting end to an iconic series".<ref name="uktvs4" /> In his segment advocating for ''Blackadder'' to be voted ''[[Britain's Best Sitcom]]'', broadcaster and journalist [[John Sergeant (journalist)|John Sergeant]] called the final sequence "the one sitcom moment with claims to immortality".<ref name="britainsbestsitcom" />

Some historians of the First World War have taken a different view. William Philpott referred to the series, by name, as "[[wikt:bathetic|bathetic]]" and felt it part of a "post-facto generalisation of the nature of their war" that "sucked in" even veterans of the conflict; in other words, the First World War soldier had become a "victim" in the public consciousness, a circumstance at odds with the historical record.<ref>{{cite book|last=Philpott|first=William|title=Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme|publisher=Abacus Press|year=2009|pages=613|chapter=Memory Fades|isbn=978-0-349-12004-1}}</ref> The impact of ''Blackadder'' on the public consciousness was so pervasive that [[Gordon Corrigan]] referenced it in his book cover copy when he published ''Mud, Blood, and Poppycock'', which was an attempt to "dispel various myths" about the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Mud_Blood_and_Poppycock.html?id=SykBHAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y google books website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228135410/https://books.google.com/books/about/Mud_Blood_and_Poppycock.html?id=SykBHAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y |date=28 December 2016 }} The copy noted that "Corrigan's brilliant, witty history reveals how out of touch we have become with the soldiers of 1914–18. They simply would not recognize the way their generation is depicted on television..."</ref>

==See also==
* [[1989 in British television]]
* [[List of Blackadder episodes|List of ''Blackadder'' episodes]]
{{Clear}}

==Notes==

===Footnotes===
{{reflist|group=nb}}

===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book|title=The Great War on the Small Screen: Representing the First World War in Contemporary Britain|last=Hanna|first=Emma|year=2009|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-3389-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=J. F.|title=The True History of the Black Adder: The Unadulterated Tale of the Creation of a Comedy Legend|year=2012|publisher=Preface Publishing|isbn=978-1-84809-346-1}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Blackadder#Plan F: Goodbyeee...|"Goodbyeee"}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078nnr "Goodbyeee"] at [[BBC Online|BBC Programmes]]
* {{IMDb episode|0526712}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM The final scene] on [[YouTube]]

{{Blackadder}}
{{Portal bar|Comedy|Television|United Kingdom|World War I}}

[[Category:1989 British television episodes]]
[[Category:Blackadder episodes]]
[[Category:Television shows written by Ben Elton]]
[[Category:British television series finales]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1917]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig]]
[[Category:Television shows written by Richard Curtis]]

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Goodbyeee - Revision history

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	==External links==		==External links==
	* ~~[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/~~b0078nnr "Goodbyeee~~"] at [[BBC Online\|BBC Programmes]]~~		* {{BBC programme\|b0078nnr\|Plan F - Goodbyeee}}
	* {{IMDb episode\|0526712}}		* {{IMDb episode\|0526712}}
	* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM The final scene] on [[YouTube]]<!--Official BBC Worldwide upload-->		* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3-Gt7mgyM The final scene] on [[YouTube]]<!--Official BBC Worldwide upload-->

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	==See also==		==See also==
	* [[1989 in British television]]
	* [[List of Blackadder episodes\|List of ''Blackadder'' episodes]]		* [[List of Blackadder episodes\|List of ''Blackadder'' episodes]]
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	==External links==		==External links==
	~~{{Wikiquote\|Blackadder#Plan F: Goodbyeee...\|"Goodbyeee"}}~~
	* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078nnr "Goodbyeee"] at [[BBC Online\|BBC Programmes]]		* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078nnr "Goodbyeee"] at [[BBC Online\|BBC Programmes]]
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