TV Review: Merlin
BBC family series finally hits it’s stride.
It’s taken a few weeks for the BBC TV series ‘Merlin’ to hit it’s stride and get out the shadow of the other two shows to previously fill this slot (”Doctor Who” and “Robin Hood”). Partly that’s down to the young actors getting a grip of their characters, partly it’s down to the opening of a number of ongoing story lines starting to come to prominence, but mainly I think it’s because this felt like the first week where one of the major characters had not been poisoned.
While the idea of an Arthurian legend set before Arthur becomes King might have raised some eyebrows when it was announced, its allowed a mix of sword and sorcery to happen with Harry Pottter style camaraderie and high jinks from the cast, with the rather deformable love triangles between Merlin, Guinevere, Arthur and Morgana. Or should that be a square?
There’s also a gentle playing with expectations. We’ve had Lancelot appear as a guest role in a previous episode (and now all set to ride back to the rescue in a suitably dramatic season closer if required), and this Saturdays episode title – The Gates of Avalon – continued that tradition. Setting up the landscape that Arthur will be famous for as a place of evil spirits sets in motion another thread to sit alongside the banning of magic from the kingdom of Camelot, and I’m sure this will come up again.
And I’m looking forward to it.
Merlin, BBC1, roughly 7pm each Saturday evening.
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