Tony Robinson

TREVOR HEATON, EDP Whats On Editor

> Norwich Playhouse

This show was billed as a “cunning night out” – an inevitable reference to Tony Robinson's most famous role.

For despite being one of Channel 4's most popular presenters (Time Team, Worst Job in History), actor and talented author, it's the long shadow of his role as Blackadder's sidekick Baldrick which continues to dominate his career.

Quite how the one-time Essex schoolboy ended up playing the “stupidest and smelliest” character in history was explored in entertaining fashion for a full-house audience.

The actor kept an appreciative audience amused with a succession of behind-the-scenes tales, family stories and quirky historical excerpts – aided by his bubbly personality and his trademark can't-keep-still presenting style.

So we took in his first flush of fame – as the Artful Dodger in the original production of Oliver! (“I was brilliant… for about four minutes”), unrepeatable tales of Henry V's knights, filming with John Wayne, an excruciating 1960s public information film on dental health… and the Blackadder line which even Rowan Atkinson didn't dare say.