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Merlin
Title sequence to Merlin
Genre	Family drama Medieval fantasy
Created by	Julian Jones Jake Michie Johnny Capps Julian Murphy
Starring	Colin Morgan Angel Coulby Bradley James Katie McGrath Anthony Head Richard Wilson John Hurt
Composer(s)	Rob Lane Rohan Stevenson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Julie Gardner Bethan Jones[1]
Location(s)	Wales, France
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	Shine Television
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Picture format	576i (PAL)
Original run	20 September 2008 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Merlin: Secrets and Magic
External links
Official website

Merlin is a British television drama series that began in 2008. It is loosely based on the Arthurian legends of the mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur, but differs significantly from traditional versions of the legend. Produced by independent production company Shine Limited for BBC One, the programme was designed to run in the same Saturday evening family drama slot as other UK series such as Doctor Who and Robin Hood. The second series began airing on 19 September 2009.^[2] On The Paul O'Grady Show, Colin Morgan announced the third series will be made.^[3] The BBC confirmed this in a press release on 3 December 2009.^[4]

Production

The idea for the programme was conceived by Shine producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Caps, who had previously worked together on Hex, a fantasy series produced by Shine for Sky One.^[5] The BBC had been keen on showing a drama based on the character of Merlin for some time; a little over a year before the Shine series was initiated, writer and producer Chris Chibnall had been developing a project aimed at a BBC One Sunday night slot, but this was ultimately not commissioned.^[6] The Shine version of the project was put into development in late 2006, commissioned by Controller of BBC One Peter Fincham and BBC Head of Fiction Jane Tranter, with Fincham keen on having more series on his channel which embodied "three generation TV – that's TV you can watch with your grandparents and children. There's not enough of that about."^[6]

Merlin was also influenced by the US show Smallville, about the early years of Superman, according to Shine producers, Julian Murphy and Johnny Caps, who said that Smallville helped provide the idea that Merlin would see a "Camelot that existed before its golden age". Caps said:

"Just as in Smallville we wanted to subvert expectations. Camelot is a land where magic is banned [and] Merlin ... is a young boy who works as Arthur's manservant and has to hide his abilities."^[5]

This influence was apparent throughout the first series as the storyline forced Merlin to hide his abilities and make excuses for the supernatural acts he was responsible for, just as Clark Kent was made to for the first 3–5 seasons of Smallville. Critics have pointed to this repetitive and awkward plot device as a weakness of both series.^{[citation needed]}

The series went into production in March 2008,^[7] with filming taking place in Wales and France (at the Château de Pierrefonds).^[5] The series was produced by Shine in association with BBC Wales, whose Head of Drama Julie Gardner served as executive producer for the BBC.^[5] Gardner had extensive experience of working on the BBC's Doctor Who, and said that show's chief writer Russell T Davies had been an important influence on the tone and style of Merlin.^[5] CGI special effects for the series were provided by The Mill, which had also worked on Doctor Who and its spin-offs.^[1] Consisting of an initial series of 13 episodes, Merlin began transmission in the UK on 20 September 2008. In advance of this, a special trailer was prepared for release on television, in cinemas and on line.^[5]

On 13 December 2008, the BBC announced that it had re-commissioned Merlin for a second series, which began filming in Spring 2009 and ended Autumn 2009.^[8]

A short promotional video for the second series on Amazon^[9] reveals that "series 3 [is] coming soon". On 2 December 2009 on the Channel 4 Paul o Grady Show, Colin Morgan announced that there would be a third series of the hit show in 2010. Also, in "A Family Affair", an episode of Merlin: Secrets and Magic, Anthony Head stated that we would see themes introduced in "The Sins of the Father" explored in greater detail in season 3. The third series of Merlin is expected to be available in high-definition in line with the BBC's stated policy of moving all television production to HD by 2010.^[10]

Cast

Main cast

• Colin Morgan as Merlin: The series protagonist is a young, remarkably talented magician (and a Dragonlord, a gift passed down from his late father Balinor) who attempts to keep his powers secret and will one day become the greatest wizard in the world. He is also Arthur's servant and friend, despite the initial animosity between the two.

• Angel Coulby as Guinevere (Gwen): Morgana's humble maid servant, and her friend. She has an open, friendly personality, and is secretly in love with Arthur, but is forced to hide it by her rank in society.

• Bradley James as Prince Arthur: The headstrong, arrogant and reckless but kind and good hearted son of King Uther, and future King of Camelot. Merlin must protect him from harm to fulfill this legend. Arthur becomes friends with Merlin, despite being his master, and the pair have saved one anothers lives on numerous occasions. He is in love with Guinevere, but, being a prince, he can not show it the way he wishes to.

• Katie McGrath as Morgana: King Uther's former ward and the daughter of his late best friend. Morgana is best friends with Gwen despite their class differences and is also secretly a "seer" - a person who has prophetic powers. She eventually turned traitor and wanted to be rid of Uther. She will be returning in series 3

• Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon: Arthur's father and current king of Camelot. Uther is depicted as a ruthless and sometimes cruel man, but he cares deeply about his subjects and friends. However, he is frequently blinded by his hatred of all forms of magic.

• Richard Wilson as Gaius: Camelot's court physician, Merlin's Uncle and one of the few who know Merlin's secret. Gaius used to be a sorcerer himself, and is something of an alchemist and magical scholar. He has a dry sense of humour and sees Merlin as the son he never had.

• John Hurt as the voice of Kilgharrah: Merlin often visits the Dragon when in a predicament, because the Dragon claims he knows Merlin's destiny. The Dragon is also one of the few who know Merlin's secret. The Dragon appears omniscient at times, and his motivations are unknown beyond his desire to be released from the dungeons of Camelot. Merlin releases the Dragon (who is called Kilgharrah) at the end of Series 2, but Kilgharrah attacks Camelot and kills many people. This ended when Merlin banished him from Camelot, however, he speculated that their paths would cross again, hinting at a possible return in the future.

Guest Appearances

Recurring characters

• Michelle Ryan as Nimueh (Series 1: "The Mark of Nimueh", "The Poisoned Chalice", "Excalibur", "Le Morte d'Arthur")
• Caroline Faber as Hunith (Series 1: "The Dragon's Call", "The Moment of Truth", "Le Morte d'Arthur")
• Asa Butterfield as Mordred (Series 1: "The Beginning of the End"; Series 2: "The Nightmare Begins", "The Witch's Quickening")
• Santiago Cabrera as Lancelot (Series 1: "Lancelot"; Series 2: "Lancelot and Guinevere"^[11])
• Rupert Young as Sir Leon (Series 2: "The Once and Future Queen", "The Nightmare Begins", "Beauty and the Beast: Part Two", "The Witchfinder", "The Sins of the Father", "The Fires of Idirsholas")
• Michael Cronin as Geoffrey of Monmouth (Series 1: "Lancelot", "A Remedy to Cure All Ills", "Excalibur"; Series 2: "Beauty and the Beast: Part One", "Beauty and the Beast: Part Two", "The Sins of the Father")
• Emilia Fox as Morgause (Series 2: "The Sins of the Father", "The Fires Of Idirsholas")

Series 1

• Eve Myles as Lady Helen / Mary Collins ("The Dragon's Call")
• Will Mellor as Valiant ("Valiant")
• Julian Rhind-Tutt as Edwin Muirden ("A Remedy to Cure All Ills")
• Kyle Redmond-Jones as Sir Owain ("Excalibur")
• Alexander Siddig as Kanan ("The Moment of Truth")
• Joe Dempsie as William ("The Moment of Truth")
• Holliday Grainger as Sophia ("The Gates of Avalon")
• Kenneth Cranham as Aulfric ("The Gates of Avalon")

Series 2

• Mackenzie Crook as Cedric ("The Curse of Cornelius Sigan")
• Adrian Lester as Myror ("The Once and Future Queen")
• Alex Price as Sir William ("The Once and Future Queen")
• Colin Salmon as Aglain ("The Nightmare Begins")
• Beth Cordingly as Forridel ("The Nightmare Begins")
• James Cosmo as Hengist ("Lancelot and Guinevere")
• Michael Nardone as Kendrick ("Lancelot and Guinevere")
• Sarah Parish as Lady Catrina ("Beauty and the Beast": Parts One and Two)
• Adam Godley as Jonas ("Beauty and the Beast": Parts One and Two)
• Charles Dance as Aredian ("The Witchfinder")
• Alice Patten as Ygraine ("The Sins of the Father")
• Laura Donnelly as Freya ("The Lady of the Lake")
• Richard Ridings as Halig ("The Lady of the Lake")
• Georgia Moffett as Vivian ("Sweet Dreams")
• David Schofield as King Alined ("Sweet Dreams")
• Mark Lewis Jones as King Olaf ("Sweet Dreams")
• Kevin Eldon as Trickler ("Sweet Dreams")
• Joseph Mawle as Alvarr ("The Witch's Quickening")
• Emily Beecham as Emmyria ("The Witch's Quickening")
• John Lynch as Balinor ("The Last Dragonlord")

Crew

Directors working on the first series include James Hawes, Ed Fraiman, Jeremy Webb, David Moore, and Stuart Orme from which Moore and Webb have officially returned for series two. Directors working on the second series include Metin Huseyin & Alice Troughton. Further directors are yet to be announced. Writers working on the first series include Julian Jones, Howard Overman, Ben Vanstone, and Jake Michie, for which all have returned for series two. Writers working on the second series include Lucy Watkins. Further writers are yet to be announced.

Plot

Merlin has magical powers and arrives at the city of Camelot, after his mother arranges for him to become an apprentice of Gaius. He discovers that the king, Uther Pendragon, has outlawed magic and has imprisoned the last dragon deep under the city. The dragon informs him that Merlin has an important destiny to protect Uther's son, Arthur, who will bring forth a great Kingdom. When he meets Arthur for the first time he discovers that he is arrogant and a bully, but after he saves Arthur's life, he is rewarded with a job in the Royal Household as Arthur's manservant, and they become close friends. Arthur is unaware of Merlin's magical ability, as Merlin has to keep it a secret or face execution at the hands of Uther.

Morgana is Uther's ward with the power of prophetic foresight, which frightens her and which she keeps secret. Gwen is her maid servant and close friend.

The first series focused on the development of Merlin and his friendship with Arthur. The second series focuses more on development of the other cast members. Some of the central themes of the series are the budding romance between Arthur and Gwen and Morgana's struggle to control her powers.

Other characters from Arthurian legend have appeared. Lancelot longed to become a knight, but unable to do so because of his birth as a commoner. Mordred has appeared as a Druid boy who formed a bond with Morgana (in some legends he is Morgause's son, as she is Mordred's mother) and it has been predicted by the dragon that Mordred will be the cause of death of Arthur (in the legend this occurred at the Battle of Camlann). Mordred and the Great Dragon refer to Merlin by his Druidic name, Emrys (the Welsh form of Ambrosius); Ambrosius Aurelianus was a historical figure whom Geoffrey of Monmouth partially merged with Merlin^{[citation needed]}). Excalibur is an ordinary sword that becomes enchanted by the Great Dragon.

Broadcast

In April 2008, American broadcast rights were purchased by NBC,^[12] where it was shown on Sundays at 20:00 (ET), starting 21 June 2009.^[13] This makes it the first British drama in over thirty years to be shown on US network television, as opposed to PBS or cable.^[14] In January 2010, American broadcaster SyFy purchased the rights for Merlin. The first series will run as a marathon on Sunday, March 28, and the second series will premiere on Friday, April 2.^[15] The distributor, FremantleMedia Enterprises, also sold broadcast rights to CTV in Canada, Network Ten in Australia,^[16][17][18] RTL in Germany, Canal+ in France, M-Net in South Africa, CNBC-e in Turkey and MICO in Japan.^[19] The series also airs in Italy,^[19] Malaysia, Norway, Portugal, and in Sweden, as on demand through the web.

American, Canadian and Turkish broadcasts generally coincided during the first series, with NBC, CTV and CNBC-e occasionally showing two episodes back-to-back.

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule (local time)
Australia	Channel Ten	26 April 2009 (December 2009,replays)	Sundays, 12:00 (replays), 18:30
Austria	ORF1	17 October 2009	Saturdays, 15:15
Belgium	vtm	6 December 2009	Sundays, 16:45
Bulgaria	bTV	26 September 2009	Saturdays, 14:00
Canada	CTV	21 June 2009	Sundays, 20:00
Denmark	DR 1	20 June 2009	Saturdays, 20:00
France	Canal+ Family Canal+ (replays) Syfy (replays) NRJ 12 (replays)	11 April 2009 15 July 2009 Spring 2010 September 2010	Saturdays, 20:45 Wednesday and then Sundays 08:00
Hong Kong	ATV World	26 December 2009	Saturdays, 21:00
Israel	HOT Summer HOT Zone	10 July 2009	Friday, 10:00 Saturdays, 10:00
Germany	RTL	17 October 2009	Saturdays, 15:55
Greece	ANT1	2010
Italy	Italia 1	15 December 2008	Saturdays, 21:10
Malaysia	TV3	1 March 2009	Sunday, 21:00
Netherlands	Nederland 3	28 March 2009	Saturdays, 19:20
Norway	TV2	18 January 2009	Sundays, 20:00
Philippines	Hallmark	15 December 2009	Tuesdays, 22:00
Poland	Polsat	7 March 2009	Saturdays, 17:15
Portugal	SIC Radical	28 June 2009	Sundays, 20:00
Romania	Pro TV	13 June 2009	Saturdays, 18:00
Russia	TV3 Russia	23 October 2009	Fridays, 20:00
Spain	Antena Neox Antena 3 (replays)	22 May 2009 27 June 2009	Fridays, 22:30 Saturdays, 21:30 Saturdays & Sundays 10:00
South Africa	M-Net	2 January 2010	Saturdays, 19:00
Sweden	SVT1 SVT2 (replays)	18 January 2009	Sundays, 18:45 Mondays, 22:30
Taiwan	PTS	21 January 2009	Everyday, 17:00
Turkey	CNBC-e	6 September 2009	Sundays, 20:00
Ukraine	1+1	6 June 2009	Saturdays, 12:45
United Kingdom	BBC One	19 September 2008	Saturdays, various times
United States	NBC (Series 1) Syfy (Series 2)	21 June 2009	Sundays, 20:00
Vietnam	HTV7	12 July 2009	everyday, 17:00
Japan	NHK BS2	5 October 2009	Mondays, 20:00

Ratings

The series première drew an overnight average of 6.65m (30%) viewers in the 19:00 slot (and a final consolidated figure of 7.15 million) despite being scheduled against popular ITV series The X Factor.^[20] The series as a whole had an average of 6.32 million viewers,^[21] which is fewer than Doctor Who attracted during its first series, and slightly more than those received by Robin Hood.^[22] Merlin was the fifth most watched programme on BBC iPlayer in 2008.^[23] In Australia the show premiered on the Ten Network. The show became Ten's 3rd highest rated program for its first week with 1.406 million. Ratings had stabilized for its second and third airings with 1.306 and 1.372, respectively. In its fourth airing, the show rose to its highest viewership of 1.500 million and was the 10th most watched program of the week. Despite the ratings rise, the show was Ten's fourth most watched program behind MasterChef Australia, Talkin' 'bout your Generation, and NCIS.

Series 1

^a Rank is for BBC One and not for all television.

^b Rank is for all television.

Series 2

References

External links

• Merlin at BBC Online
• Merlin at the Internet Movie Database
• Merlin at TV.com