in 1982, prior to the first "black adder" series, a pilot episode was filmed which featured a number of characters who were later included in the first series. the episode, which was never televised, included an early version of the baldrick character, played by philip fox, who is portrayed as slightly stupid in contrast to the intelligent, scheming prince edmund. following this pilot, the writers decided to reverse this relationship when the first televised series was produced, so that baldrick was the clever foil to the idiotic edmund. in 2010, "the guardian" reflected on this change in characterisation, suggesting that it had been a poor decision and commenting that it was "an interesting example of getting it right first time".