Review: The Sun, 6 December 1972
Wednesday, 6 December 1972 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arthur_of_the_britonsThis review by Philip Phillips appeared in The Sun, on 6 December 1972.
WAS THIS RUFFIAN THE REAL ARTHUR?
King Arthur rides on to our screen today in a new series, Arthur of the Britons (ITV, times vary).
Ostensibly, it is a children’s series, but HTV, who made it, hope it will be a hit with adults, too.
For the TV company has spent £500,000 on the 24 episodes and hope to recoup some of the money by selling it abroad.
Shift-workers, housewives, children and others who are at home early enough to watch it are in for a shock. This Arthur, played by Oliver Tobias, is not the romantic figure we learnt about at school.
He is a fierce, cunning warlord who lived around about the year 450AD. And the lovely Guinevere, the noble sword Excalibur, Sir Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table are all conspicuous by their absence.
For the truth is that Arthur and his band of cut-throats were about as chivalrous as Genghis Khan and his mates.
Peter Miller, the producer, said: “We have done a lot of research, and our series is as accurate as any historian could make it. Arthur and his exploits were glamorised by medieval writers and romantic Victorians. There were no knighthoods, or other noble titles as we know them today, until after the Normans arrived in 1066.”
Nasty
Two stockaded encampments, one Saxon and one Celtic, have been built by ITV at a cost of £20,000.
I had a preview of some episodes yesterday. It was as exciting as any good Western. But, in place of the cowboys and Indians, we see the Celtic Arthur and his men fighting Saxons, savage Picts, and some equally nasty types from Ireland.
Mr Phillips seems to take a fairly dim view of our re-imagined heroes! He isn’t entirely wrong about the lack of chivalry, but comparing Arthur to “Genghis Khan and his mates” seems a bit harsh!
It is interesting to see a cost of £20,000 given for building the camps at Woodchester and Woollard, but the writer is incorrect in suggesting they were both stockaded; there was no stockade at Woodchester. In any case, by the time this article was published, no scenes had been filmed at Woodchester for many months.
The writers’ opinion that the show was “as exciting as any good Western” must have gained a few viewers who might otherwise have ignored a historical drama.
It is not immediately obvious who he was thinking of when listing, “some equally nasty types from Ireland” among Arthur’s enemies, but perhaps he assumed that the tribe led by Hoxel (Tim Condren), who imprisoned Kai and Llud in “The Prize”, were Irish; Tim Condren was of Irish descent, and Hoxel has a slight Irish accent.
The photo is captioned, "OLIVER TOBIAS, as the rough-neck King Arthur rides into adventure on ITV today".
WAS THIS RUFFIAN THE REAL ARTHUR?
King Arthur rides on to our screen today in a new series, Arthur of the Britons (ITV, times vary).
Ostensibly, it is a children’s series, but HTV, who made it, hope it will be a hit with adults, too.
For the TV company has spent £500,000 on the 24 episodes and hope to recoup some of the money by selling it abroad.
Shift-workers, housewives, children and others who are at home early enough to watch it are in for a shock. This Arthur, played by Oliver Tobias, is not the romantic figure we learnt about at school.
He is a fierce, cunning warlord who lived around about the year 450AD. And the lovely Guinevere, the noble sword Excalibur, Sir Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table are all conspicuous by their absence.
For the truth is that Arthur and his band of cut-throats were about as chivalrous as Genghis Khan and his mates.
Peter Miller, the producer, said: “We have done a lot of research, and our series is as accurate as any historian could make it. Arthur and his exploits were glamorised by medieval writers and romantic Victorians. There were no knighthoods, or other noble titles as we know them today, until after the Normans arrived in 1066.”
Nasty
Two stockaded encampments, one Saxon and one Celtic, have been built by ITV at a cost of £20,000.
I had a preview of some episodes yesterday. It was as exciting as any good Western. But, in place of the cowboys and Indians, we see the Celtic Arthur and his men fighting Saxons, savage Picts, and some equally nasty types from Ireland.
Mr Phillips seems to take a fairly dim view of our re-imagined heroes! He isn’t entirely wrong about the lack of chivalry, but comparing Arthur to “Genghis Khan and his mates” seems a bit harsh!
It is interesting to see a cost of £20,000 given for building the camps at Woodchester and Woollard, but the writer is incorrect in suggesting they were both stockaded; there was no stockade at Woodchester. In any case, by the time this article was published, no scenes had been filmed at Woodchester for many months.
The writers’ opinion that the show was “as exciting as any good Western” must have gained a few viewers who might otherwise have ignored a historical drama.
It is not immediately obvious who he was thinking of when listing, “some equally nasty types from Ireland” among Arthur’s enemies, but perhaps he assumed that the tribe led by Hoxel (Tim Condren), who imprisoned Kai and Llud in “The Prize”, were Irish; Tim Condren was of Irish descent, and Hoxel has a slight Irish accent.
The photo is captioned, "OLIVER TOBIAS, as the rough-neck King Arthur rides into adventure on ITV today".