The BBC's Merlin, a fantasy series that delivers the promised magic

04 May 2010

Gerard Wood

Based on long experience and observation, it seems to me that SF and fantasy both produce roughly the same trickle of quality material for our book shelves and the big screen. Why then is it so different on the small screen? Why is the made-for-television fantasy series so often the drooling idiot brother of its science fiction counterpart?

Just think of the outstanding SF series we’ve been treated to in recent years: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Primeval to name just a few. And yet I’m hard pressed to recall more than one fantasy series that compares favourably with any of these.

I should clarify that I’m not talking about those outstanding dramas such as Life on Mars which use elements of fantasy to tell their story, although strictly speaking they do qualify as fantasy. No, what I’m referring to are those family-oriented fantasies based on legend and mythology, swords and sorcery, few of which are memorable for being anything other than the retarded offspring of uninspired imagination and god-awful writing. You know the shows I'm referring to.

The exception I’ve been alluding to with all the subtlety of a rampaging barbarian in a loin cloth is the BBC’s Merlin. Now filming its third season, this re-imagining of the Arthurian legends took me completely by surprise. It’s charming, funny, thrilling, extremely well written for the most part, and always delightfully acted. Conceived by producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Caps, Merlin was inspired by the Warner Bros. series Smallville, which chronicled Superman’s early years and coming-of-age. In its turn, Merlin gives us a back story and coming-of-age of those familiar characters of Arthurian legend - Merlin, Arthur, Morgana and Guinevere - in a "Camelot that existed before its golden age". "Just as in Smallville," Johnny Caps explains, "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."

Imagining a childhood for the key players in Arthurian legend, and one in which they grow to adulthood together, clearly requires dramatic departures from the material we're familiar with from legend and some purists no doubt find the show unpalatable. It does work however because the producers and their team of writers have identified the core features of the characters and then plotted a trajectory (the events, relationships and circumstances) along which the young adults might have travelled on their way to becoming the figures we know from legend: so it is that Merlin (a charming Colin Morgan) was not always a competent wizard; Arthur (Bradley James) was not always the great and powerful King but could be "a prat", to quote Merlin; Morgana (Katie McGrath) was not always the enemy of Arthur and Guinevere, but circumstances place her on the path to becoming so.

Of course, it remains to be seen if the writers can lead their young charges through early adulthood to becoming the familiar stuff of legend, but for once I’m optimistic that there is a team of writers able to deliver on their promise.

Camelot before its golden age is ruled by the tyrannical Uther Pendragon (Anthony Head). Blaming magic for the death of his wife during childbirth Uther has stamped out the practice of magic with an iron boot, making it punishable by death. There could be no more dangerous place for a young man of magic, but Merlin is drawn to Camelot in search of an explanation and purpose for his inexplicable powers. He quickly finds himself at odds with the arrogant prince Arthur but Fate conspires against him and before he knows it his powers are put to use saving the prince. He discovers purpose, and his reward is the dubious honour of becoming Arthur’s man servant. Friendship is inevitable, but it’s a rocky road and along the way Merlin must learn to harness his power and keep it hidden, a tricky task given his youthful indiscretion. Through the guidance of his uncle Gaius (Richard Wilson), a man of science now but once also a sorcerer, and the great Dragon Kilgharrah (voiced by John Hurt), Merlin comes to understand that his destiny and Arthur's are inextricably linked.

Of all the departures from legend, the greatest is perhaps with the character of Guinevere (Angel Coulby), re-imagined as the daughter of a blacksmith who enters the story as Morgana’s maid servant. How convincingly Arthur and Guinevere find love remains to be seen and it will be a true test of the writers’ skill.

The series is not without its flaws. The special effects and CGI are patchy, at least in series one: sometimes very good (notably the creature effects), sometimes less convincing (notably the creature effects!). At first glance the show also suffers from a peculiar blend of historical periods. The sets, costumes, armour and weaponry seem to be drawn from any time between the Dark Ages through to the Middle Ages, and the language and attitudes of the young cast have a modern twist. When I stumbled across an episode last year these anachronisms discouraged me but as I’ve since come to appreciate Merlin is not a series to be dipped into and it pays to watch from the start as the writers carefully construct a world with its own logical integrity episode by episode. By drawing on the full range of Arthurian material from Dark Age legend through to Medieval Romance they create a setting that is at once outside of history and yet belongs to all periods, which is fitting for Arthurian legend. As for modernising the language and attitudes of the young cast, it's done far less self-consciously than in the BBC’s recent Robin Hood starring Jonas Armstrong, and after a while it generally goes unnoticed.

Series One of Merlin aired in the UK in 2008 and has been sold to 52 broadcasters in over 180 countries; Series Two aired in 2009 and has already been sold to more than 40 broadcasters in 165 countries; a third Series was commissioned in December and went into production in March this year. The Complete Series One, which first aired in the US last year, is now available in the US on DVD and includes two making-of documentaries, video diaries, a photo gallery, and wallpaper. For those of you, like me, who tend to avoid fantasy series on television (through disappointment rather than natural inclination), I'd recommend giving Merlin a go.

Like me, you may be pleasantly surprised.

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