Merlin BBC Series One – Preview
Camelot Stars Anthony Head, John Hurt, Richard Wilson, Michelle Ryan
Sep 11, 2008
Merlin is a 13-part series coming to BBC1 on Saturday 20th September in the all-important early evening slot (7.30pm on launch night), in which it has had big successes with Doctor Who and Robin Hood. The epic has been sold round the world to Australia's Network Ten, CTV in Canada and NBC in the US.
It stars acclaimed British actors Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as King Uther Pendragon and Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave) as Gaius. Heroes star Santiago Cabrera is Lancelot and Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan plays the sorceress Nimueh.
John Hurt provides the voice of the Great Dragon, and also narrates the cinema trailer the Beeb is running to build anticipation for this huge drama.
New Stars and the Power of Doctor Who
The three lead characters – the young Merlin, Arthur and Guinevere – are played by newcomers.
Colin Morgan, aged 22, portrays the Wizard; Bradley James, 24, is arrogant, brave Prince Arthur years before he encounters the sword in the stone; and rising star Angel Coulby is Guinevere.
Julie Gardner, the head of drama beloved by Doctor Who fans for reinvigorating the show in tandem with Russell T Davies, says, 'I learnt so much about the seven o'clock slot from Russell T Davies's Doctor Who scripts and from his approach as an executive producer to that slot.
'Russell's been a huge supporter of Merlin. He immediately saw its potential and proved invaluable in early discussions about how to shape the series for Saturday night,' she explains.
Merlin as He's Never Been Seen
The drama begins when the young magician arrives in Camelot, sent there by his mother to be kept out of mischief by Court Physician Gaius. And protection is what he needs because King Uther has made the use of magic a capital offence and Merlin is quick to attract enemies.
He even manages to clash with Prince Arthur when he sees the young royal humiliating a manservant, earning himself a spell in the stocks.
'Just as in Smallville, we wanted to subvert expectations,' says Johnny Capps, the man who has recast this legend with producing partner Julian Murphy.
'Merlin, rather than being an unbelievably old and wise wizard is a young boy who works as Arthur's manservant and has to hide his abilities. He saves Arthur on a regular basis but has to keep his magic a secret,' explains Capps.
'We also wanted to subvert the expectations of Arthur. He is not the heroic king of legend. He is a young man, rather like Prince Harry, who likes to party, enjoys his status but who also shows kingly qualities,' he adds.
Finding Camelot
The team worked on the scripts for over a year before plunging into a hectic production schedule. Having lined up the cast they then had to find Camelot.
'We didn't want a location where we would need to add CGI all the time,' says Julian Murphy. 'We wanted something that looked photogenic and vast already.'
The Chateau de Pierrefonds, north of Paris, was eventually chosen. 'It's not easy to secure a French national monument,' says Murphy. 'But they have let us do all sorts of things. The other day we rode a horse into one of the great halls.'
There's a lot riding on the series for the BBC, which can cleanup on Saturday nights if Merlin wins a big following. Short of putting a hex on rival channels, they seem to have sprinkled as much budget on Merlin as they can to create some primetime enchantment.
- FOR A PREVIEW OF MERLIN SEASON 2, CLICK HERE
