\u201cWhen we made Merlin, we made 13 episodes every year, for five years \u2013 we were working round the clock, we never stopped,\u201d recalls Johnny Capps, co-creator of the BBC fantasy series originally aired from 2008 to 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe show was commissioned at the beginning of the year and we had to deliver it in September. We were like, \u2018Yeah, we can do it\u2019 \u2013 because you\u2019re not gonna say you can\u2019t do it, but <\/span>we got to a point where Merlin was transmitting, and we were still filming it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cJulian [Murphy, series co-creator] and I are going, \u2018My God, do we have to apologise to the nation if we can\u2019t get this episode ready in time?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere was one time where episode 13 failed a technical test. We had to take it back on the Friday evening, sort out the technical problems, and it was almost literally me on a motorbike, holding the tape, rushing into the BBC and putting it into the machine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Though it might have included the odd stressful moment, Capps tells RadioTimes.com<\/a> that he has \u201chugely fond memories\u201d of his time spent working on Merlin<\/a>, which premiered 15 years ago today, transmitting its first episode on BBC One on Saturday, 20th September 2008.<\/p>\n Along with Julian Murphy, Capps had previously founded Shine Drama to develop series for television \u2013 the pair, along with writer Jake Michie, were big fans of Smallville<\/a>, the US drama charting Superman\u2019s teenage years, and decided to try developing a fantasy show with a similar slant for a family slot.<\/p>\n Delving into the various Arthurian legends, Capps says he and his co-writers were \u201clike magpies\u201d, picking their favourite parts from Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and Irish traditions. \u201cThe myth is\u00a0so<\/span> fascinating and so rich, <\/span>so we looked at all of those things and it was always about subverting expectations, twisting all of those legends.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Though Smallville was very much \u201cthe blueprint\u201d for the series, another more unlikely source of inspiration also shaped the style and tone of Merlin. \u201cFor us, humour was really important, The cheekiness of it. W<\/span>e talked a lot about Shrek and how Shrek worked on lots of different levels, so parents loved it and young people loved it. It was about finding that slightly knowing humour, playing with the legend and having a little bit of fun with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n With a draft script in hand, following a teenage Merlin who resides in a kingdom where magic is outlawed, the team began conversations with Julie Gardner, then Head of Drama for BBC Wales, who in turn encouraged them to speak with Russell T Davies, the once and future showrunner of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n \u201cJulie Gardner and Russell T Davies really helped us be bold with our vision of making it [like] Smallville and doing the origin story of not only Merlin, but Arthur, Guinevere and Morgana and all of those legends,\u201d Capps recalls. \u201cThey really helped us massively to hone the format of the show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The success of Davies\u2019s revived Doctor Who also had a significant impact in securing Merlin the green light, Capps believes. \u201cI think it had a huge effect, Russell had turned around the fortunes of Doctor Who, it was doing unbelievably well. At that time, <\/span>family viewing really worked, something that wrapped round Strictly, and so absolutely the huge success of those two shows g<\/span>ave the BBC the confidence to go for another family show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n With the series commissioned, the next major challenge was casting the show\u2019s four young leads \u2013 a process that Capps describes as \u201creally, really hard but really, really good fun\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe worked with Jill Trevellick, <\/span>who is the most brilliant casting director. I remember in the first weeks, Jill would say, \u2018Johnny, I just don\u2019t think I can do this. I don\u2019t know if I can find these people,\u2019 because we had such a specific idea in our head of what we wanted. But, you know, testament to Jill, she found us brilliant people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bradley James was first choice to play Prince Arthur, having previously worked with Capps and Murphy on the 2008 BBC TV movie Dis\/Connected. \u201cHe had all the qualities that we wanted in Arthur \u2013 Brad is a fantastic actor, but also he\u2019s brilliant at comedy, and we wanted a <\/span>Jeeves and Wooster feel, where Arthur is \u2018a hero\u2019, but he\u2019s not really the hero, the hero is the underdog, Merlin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMagic was banned, so Merlin was the secret hero, and Arthur is the Once and Future King, but he\u2019s a bit of an idiot. From that, and the fun of that, hundreds of stories came into our minds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Colin Morgan \u2013 a relative newcomer who\u2019d memorably guest-starred in the Doctor Who episode Midnight<\/a> \u2013 was hired to play Merlin, with Angel Coulby cast as Guinevere (\u201cGwen\u201d to her friends) and Katie McGrath rounding out the regular cast as Morgana. <\/span><\/p>\n Matt Smith, two years prior to his Doctor Who debut, was also \u201chugely high up\u201d the list of potential names to play the show\u2019s title character<\/a>, while his future companion Karen Gillan was in the running to play Guinevere. \u201cW<\/span>e met lots of actors \u2013 and lots of them are doing unbelievably well now,\u201d says Capps.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe were really lucky because we got a fantastic cast. All of them were utterly brilliant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Alongside its fresh talent, Merlin also recruited more seasoned players, including Richard Wilson as Merlin\u2019s mentor Gaius and Anthony Head \u2013 already a beloved figure in fantasy TV circles after his run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer \u2013 as Arthur\u2019s ruthless father, King Uther Pendragon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going on a Saturday night with high expectations and we wanted an unknown cast in the leads \u2013 the BBC took a massive leap of faith,\u201d says Capps. \u201cS<\/span>o it was important to cast them [Wilson and Head], because I think it gave the show gravitas.\u201d<\/span><\/p> The BBC\u2019s faith in Merlin was well-placed \u2013 the series was a significant success, scoring solid audience figures and generally positive reviews, as well as developing a hugely passionate fan following. Its tales of magical creatures, supernatural threats, action, romance and derring-do also evolved across its five seasons, with a frothier tone in early outings gradually maturing as the show continued.<\/p>\n \u201cSeries one was quite sweet and innocent in the stories we told, but by the last couple of seasons, we were really telling quite dark stories between Merlin and Arthur \u2013 quite complex emotional stories, which they [actors Morgan and James] could do,\u201d Capps says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cColin and Bradley\u00a0had fantastic on-screen chemistry \u2013 they just lit the screen up with their fun and their humour and their brotherly love for each other, so that made us able to write really intense emotional stories between the two of them, as the characters got older and as the stakes of the story got higher in each season. B<\/span>ecause they were so good, we could write much richer stories for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fans latched on to the close bond between Merlin and Arthur, with some calling for the relationship to evolve and go down a romantic route \u2013 with the benefit of hindsight, knowing the strength of the reaction to the pairing, does Capps think the series should have explored that dynamic?<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so. It was a beautiful friendship and there was a huge amount of love with them, but I don\u2019t think you\u2019d want to take that any further. <\/span>I think there\u2019s something very beautiful about a really intense friendship between two people that is non-sexual \u2013\u00a0<\/span>that to us was the beauty of it, this extraordinary friendship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The series hinged on Arthur remaining oblivious to Merlin\u2019s magic \u2013 though other characters would learn the young wizard\u2019s secret across the span of the series, the now-King Arthur would not learn the truth about his friend until the very final episode and there was never any discussion about an earlier reveal.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as Arthur knows that Merlin has magic, we felt the format of the show was over,\u201d Capps explains. \u201cBecause the format of the show was that he had to hide it. <\/span>It\u2019s the end of the story \u2013 or the end of this version of the story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Broadcast on Christmas Eve 2012, the final episode of Merlin saw Arthur sustain a fatal wound in battle, the King of Camelot dying in Merlin\u2019s arms. But the story of Merlin and Arthur is not quite done \u2013 the Great Dragon (voiced by the late John Hurt) tells Merlin that Arthur will rise again in Albion\u2019s greatest hour of need.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s final scenes see a surprise leap into the present day, with\u00a0an immortal Merlin still waiting for the Once and Future King to rise again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d run out of legend, so you couldn\u2019t really take it any further,\u201d Capps says of the show\u2019s final arc. \u201cI<\/span>t just kind of came to us \u2013 there was just something really lovely about\u2026 he\u2019s waiting for the next incarnation of Arthur, there\u2019s something sort of sadly beautiful about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There was no serious discussion about a sixth season of Merlin \u2013 Capps says there was a \u201croadmap\u201d for the show with the fifth season as its endpoint, while the cast were also only contracted for five years. \u201cSpinning Merlin into modern times was our way of [opening it up]\u00a0<\/span>if people after us wanted to do something with it, but for Julian and I and the writers and the actors, we all thought that five series was really good and we were going out on a high note.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There were, however, \u201cquite advanced talks\u201d about a series of Merlin movies<\/a>, planned to be produced after the drama had wrapped but to feature stories set within the timeline of the television show. \u201cBut it all got a bit complicated and then, you know, with these things, they fall apart, but we did very seriously talk about it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe idea was to have a\u00a0 trilogy of movies, and the movies were going to happen in-between the series \u2013 that was the idea, in those kinds of timelines. <\/span>It would have been really good fun to do them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Instead, Capps and Murphy turned their attentions to another fantasy myth \u2013 airing in the old Merlin slot, Atlantis<\/a> was inspired by Greek mythology and lasted for two seasons on BBC One, ending in 2015. It was something of an end of an era, with many other shows produced as part of a post-Doctor Who boom of Saturday night fantasy drama \u2013 including the BBC\u2019s Robin Hood<\/a> and ITV\u2019s Primeval<\/a> \u2013 having already departed screens.<\/p>\n \u201cMerlin ran for five years, Atlantis ran for two years\u2026 that\u2019s seven years and audiences change,\u201d says Capps. \u201cNetflix came in, and people\u2019s viewing habits changed. B<\/span>ut would we make more shows for that slot? Absolutely. We talk about it a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Could one of those shows be a Merlin revival? Never say never, according to Capps. \u201cAll of that mythology is utterly superb.\u00a0<\/span>Julian and I talk a lot about exploring the legend again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But if we never return to Camelot, or see Merlin and Arthur reunited in the present-day, Capps is satisfied with the show as it stands \u2013 though the visual effects might have dated, he believes Merlin\u2019s magic has otherwise stood the test of time.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we did it again, we would be able to do the effects far better. T<\/span>he dragon at the time was really pushing the boundaries of what you could do on television time and money. You\u2019d be able to do that really differently now.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut I genuinely don\u2019t think we could have cast it better and I\u2019m very proud of the scripts and what we did. W<\/span>e could make it better now, because technology is much better, but in regards to anything else, I don\u2019t think I would change it at all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Merlin is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer<\/a> <\/strong>and is also on BritBox \u2013 sign up for a 7-day free trial here<\/a>. The series is also streaming on Sky<\/a> and Disney Plus<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Check out more of our\u00a0Fantasy<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310, PLUS a \u00a310 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>.\u00a0For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Johnny Capps reflects on the creation of the BBC’s popular fantasy hit, its final episodes and whether a revival could be in the offing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":37064,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/merlin-co-creator-looks-back-15-years-on-we-talk-a-lot-about-exploring-the-legend-again.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Johnny Capps reflects on the creation of the BBC's popular fantasy hit, its final episodes and whether a revival could be in the offing.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/37063"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Morgana](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/09\/merlin-morgana-gwen-67c3315.jpg?quality=90&crop=76px%2C0px%2C824px%2C549px&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"merlin-morgana-gwen\\"\/")
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