Sir Tony Robinson has claimed the Blackadder cast will not be following in the footsteps of Monty Python by reuniting because “we don’t need the money as much as they do”.
Producer John Lloyd sparked excitement in the summer when he revealed he had met star Rowan Atkinson to discuss a new series which would see Edmund Blackadder as a Second World War prisoner in Colditz.
Robinson, 67, who played downtrodden Baldrick in the show, poked fun at the Pythons. “We don’t have to pay for that amount of alimony or rehab so I’m not sure we have the same motivation,” he said.
The surviving members of Monty Python — John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones — will perform in a six-date reunion show at The O2 arena next July.
Robinson said: “Good luck to them. It’s high risk, but if it comes off it will be great. To my generation they were the gods.”
The former Time Team host was speaking after making his return to the West End stage after 16 years to star as narrator Kenneth Grahame in the Royal Opera House’s production of The Wind in the Willows at the Duchess Theatre.
He said the role had rekindled his love of theatre, and he was considering a number of “challenging” West End parts.
The Wind in the Willows runs at the Duchess Theatre until 1 February.
