Blackadder: The Cavalier Years
by Richard Curtis & Ben Elton; dir. Mandie Fletcher (BBC, 1988)
This 15-minute Comic Relief special is by far the best of the Blackadder one-offs. Though Stephen Fry’s King Charles is a bit laboured, Rowan Atkinson plays Blackadder Version 2.5 with sardonic, simile-prone precision, ably supported by Tony Robinson as the dogsbody Baldrick.
Maigret, Series 2
by Stewart Harcourt (ITV, 2017)
Unfortunately, the two feature-length murder investigations of this series constitute the end of Rowan Atkinson’s run as French commissaire Jules Maigret. This is a shame, because the production values are high and Atkinson himself is excellent. Presumably TV audiences prefer rampant melodrama.
Maigret, Series 1
by Stewart Harcourt (ITV, 2016)
Rowan Atkinson stars in two feature-length murder investigations as legendary French commissaire (commissioner of police) Jules Maigret. Set in France in the 1950s, the stories are refreshingly lowkey. Atkinson, whose minimalist approach works so well in comedy, walks a fine dramatic line.