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News article: Western Daily Press, 19 0ctober 1972
Thursday, 19 October 1972 06:00 pmThis article appeared in the Western Daily Press on 19 October 1972, as part of "Mr West's Diary". It definitively dates the filming of the episode "The Prize", and also tells us where the river scenes were filmed.
King Arthur's men push out ... then switch on their motor
A 40-FOOT LONGBOAT is an elegant craft. But it's hard work to row, as King Arthur's men found yesterday.
So they added a crafty unauthentic touch while shooting television scenes on the River Avon, in Freshford, near Bath.
They installed an out-board motor.
"I'm sure the real characters would have given their right arms, swords and shields for a motor," one film man told me triumphantly.
Village
The scenes are part of a series on the life of King Arthur being made by HTV.
The 24 half-hour episodes are costing more than £500,000 to make and they are due to be net-worked on ITV early next year.
But HTV will be getting back at least some of that money. The series has been sld to America.
It stars Oliver Tobias, who had the lead part in the London production of the hippy musical, Hair, as King Arthur, and Brian Blessed, better known for his role in the television series Z-Cars.
HTV has built a Saxon village in Compton Dando, near Bristol, for the series.
No wake from the motor is obvious in any of the film - perhaps the motor was just used the motor to move the boat around between takes.
The photo caption reads, "Afloat:Oliver Tobias and Brian Blessed filming the life of King Arthur yesterday."
King Arthur's men push out ... then switch on their motor
A 40-FOOT LONGBOAT is an elegant craft. But it's hard work to row, as King Arthur's men found yesterday.
So they added a crafty unauthentic touch while shooting television scenes on the River Avon, in Freshford, near Bath.
They installed an out-board motor.
"I'm sure the real characters would have given their right arms, swords and shields for a motor," one film man told me triumphantly.
Village
The scenes are part of a series on the life of King Arthur being made by HTV.
The 24 half-hour episodes are costing more than £500,000 to make and they are due to be net-worked on ITV early next year.
But HTV will be getting back at least some of that money. The series has been sld to America.
It stars Oliver Tobias, who had the lead part in the London production of the hippy musical, Hair, as King Arthur, and Brian Blessed, better known for his role in the television series Z-Cars.
HTV has built a Saxon village in Compton Dando, near Bristol, for the series.
No wake from the motor is obvious in any of the film - perhaps the motor was just used the motor to move the boat around between takes.
The photo caption reads, "Afloat:Oliver Tobias and Brian Blessed filming the life of King Arthur yesterday."