Merlin Cast Discuss Filming Hit BBC Series
Colin Morgan, Bradley James and Co-stars on Making Merlin Series 2
Sep 8, 2009
Merlin's stars and creators talk about the international success of the BBC series and the challenges of filming it.
At a special screening for the opening episode of Merlin’s second series, entitled The Curse of Cornelius Sigan, at London’s British Film Institute in September 09, the cast and creators of BBC1’s hit series answered questions about its success and how it’s made.
How Merlin's International Success Has Affected the Cast
- Colin Morgan (Merlin) It’s bizarre. I was on holiday [in New York] recently and someone came up and said, ‘Are you Colin Morgan?’ It suddenly hits you.
- Bradley James (Arthur) The biggest difference is people send loads of letters and presents to say well done. There are not too many jobs where people who don’t know you write to you to show their appreciation.
- Angel Coulby (Gwen) It’s great fun to do this job but you don’t really notice that it’s such a huge thing. But someone did bow to me in the kebab shop the other day.
- Katie McGrath (Morgana): I’ve only been recognised once – when I was standing next to Colin.
The Commitment Required to Shoot Such a Long Series
- Richard Wilson (Gaius): "It is a long shoot. The interesting thing about Merlin is that the audience for One Foot in the Grave was very young as well, so I am used to that."
- Anthony Head (Uther): "Cardiff is just up the road from where I live, so the commute is easy. Where in the UK do you normally get a gig that’s 13 episodes long? It’s a fantastic commitment on behalf of the BBC. It’s a great show to do. Every time we get the scripts, we get excited."
Sneak Preview or What's Coming Up on Merlin
- Julian Murphy (Co-producer and creator): "I think you can probably guess from this episode [Cornelius Sigan] that some time in the future the dragon will be released."
The Hardest Part of Filming
- Katie McGrath: "For me there was one point in France when we were filming about six episodes at once and I found it very difficult to keep track of what it is I’m actually doing. So you can be running between episode one to seven to six to five, all back to back, different scenes, so it is difficult to remember. They seem to schedule all Colin’s running between scenes on the same day, so he spends four hours just running."
- Colin Morgan: "And I’m learning my spells in between."
- Bradley James: "I was going to say the most difficult thing to do while we’re filming is to sleep, because our schedule lasts four months, and at the end of 12 hours’ filming you’ve got lines to learn at night. But you get into a rhythm with it."
On Acting with Invisible CGI Monsters
- Bradley James: "The key is to have a very vivid imagination and be prepared to make a fool of yourself. Friday night, myself and Colin were running around a field pretending to be on a horse. While we were running a stuntman had a very large blue stick and hit us to the ground with it. If I were at any point to take a step back from that and look at my life, I would perhaps feel that something had taken me down a wrong turn. The thing is, you have to commit to being an idiot."
Merlin: The Curse of Cornelius Sigan. Series Two starts on BBC1 late September
- John Hurt Voice of The Great Dragon
- Colin Morgan Merlin
- Bradley James Arthur
- Richard Wilson Gaius
- Anthony Head Uther Pendragon
- Angel Coulby Gwen
- Katie McGrath Morgana
- Mackenzie Crook Cedric
- Luke Neal Sir Geraint
- Julian Murphy, Johnny Capps Producers/Co-creators
- David Moore Director
- Julian Jones Writer
- Shine Productions
The copyright of the article Merlin Cast Discuss Filming Hit BBC Series in British TV is owned by Robin Jarossi. Permission to republish Merlin Cast Discuss Filming Hit BBC Series in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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