Kevin Darling

"This article is about the fictional character. For the football player, see Kevin Darling "

Blackadder character


img_capt =
name = Captain Kevin Darling
nationality = British
occupation = Captain
first appearance = "Captain Cook"
last appearance = "Goodbyeee..."
episode count = 6 +1 special
portrayer = Tim McInnerny

Captain Kevin Darling was a fictional character played by Tim McInnerny in the British sitcom "Blackadder Goes Forth".

The character was originally named 'Captain Cartwright', as writers Ben Elton and Richard Curtis were unable to think of a more amusing name for him. Eventually however, Stephen Fry suggested 'Darling' would be a more comedic alternative. [cite web| url=http://www.bbcprograms.com/pbs/insider/archives/SEPT_2005_FINAL.pdf| title=The Insider|] It was at this point that Captain Darling developed his trademark eye-twitch.

McInnerny had appeared in series one and two as Blackadder's dimwitted right-hand man Lord Percy, however he had declined to reprise the role in the third series, fearing he would become typecast. He had made a guest appearance in the series three episode "Nob and Nobility" as Le Comte de Frou Frou/Topper.

Character

Darling, whose surname is a constant embarrassment to him, is a Captain in the British Army in World War I. He is a pencil-pushing staff officer (hence the red tabs on his collar and the red band around his cap, both of which were later only worn by officers of the rank of Colonel or above) and aide to General Melchett. Despite (or perhaps because of) his constant toadying, Melchett views Darling with a great deal of contempt, and although claiming to regard him as a son, takes pains to point out that he's certainly not a favourite, but rather a "sort of spotty, illegitimate sprog that no one really likes". Darling's main duties at GHQ include unloading and assigning truck loads of paper clips, sending orders to charge and helping Melchett with his dickie-bows and his dicky bladder. Darling is portrayed as rival and intelletual equal to the character of Blackadder (most of the other characters are usually comic foils), and one who usually triumphs over him. However, Blackadder often gets some sort of revenge, for example getting Darling to eat Baldrick's "Charlie Chaplin" Moustache (in reality a slug) or watching as Lord Flashheart headbutts him out cold.

Character development

"Blackadder Goes Forth"

Much like Lord Melchett in series 2, Darling and Captain Blackadder share a mutual enmity, and are constantly embroiled in a game of one-upmanship. Both are clever men of equal rank who, seemingly alone among everyone else around them, recognize the absurdity and pointlessness of their surroundings. However, while Blackadder is trapped outside the high command and dependent on the good will of those within it for his survival, Darling (like the earlier Melchett) is on the inside, and takes great pleasure in that fact that his life is much more secure than that of Blackadder, who is constantly trying to dodge certain death. However, the two men finally achieve a form of empathy in "Goodbyeee", when Darling is sent to join Blackadder and his men at the front line for the 'final push' (Darling was given his orders by General Melchett who believes it to be something of a treat rather than a death sentence). In the final scene both captains reluctantly go forward, side by side, into the machine gun fire that will almost certainly kill them.

At home in England, Darling worked for 'Pratt and Sons' (Pratts was a real department store in Streatham, south London), kept wicket for the Croydon Gentlemen and had a girlfriend called Doris, who, had it not been for his untimely death, he intended to marry. He kept a diary, the final entry in which, written shortly after being ordered to the front line, simply read 'Bugger'.

He is constantly tortured by his embarrassing surname, a trait that manifests itself in the nervous twitching of his left eye (a trait which McInnerny claims it took three months to shake off after completing the series). This tormented quality is the greatest similarity between McInnerny's two "Blackadder" characters, as the idiot Percy (from series 1 and 2) who also had something of a tormented air during acts of most supreme idiocy (such as his appearance in drag as a prostitute at the end of the series 2 episode "Money").

"Blackadder: Back and Forth"

Three other Darlings appear in the millennium special "Blackadder: Back and Forth". In the modern day setting McInnerny plays Archdeacon Darling, the assistant of Bishop Flavius Melchett. When Blackadder visits the Napoleonic Wars, we learn that the Duke of Wellington (played, as in "Blackadder the Third" by actor Stephen Fry) was aided by the Duke of Darling, whereas Napoleon's aide was the Duc de Darling.It is also noted that when Blackadder asks them if they've known him to play practical jokes, Darling remarks that Blackadder had at one point pretended to be dying of kidney failure. Darling had donated one of his kidneys to save his life, at which he revealed it to be a practical joke and had to throw the kidney away, at which point the other characters burst out laughing.

References