arthur_of_the_britons | Entries tagged with jack watson

This call sheet was kindly donated to this archive by Peter Thornton, who was employed as Clapper/Loader – a role now known as 2nd Camera Assistant – for much of the series. The episode concerned is “The Slaves.”

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The episodes were given alphabetical designations, and “The Slaves” was episode ‘F’, which indicates that it was the sixth episode to be filmed.

The call sheet is No.29, and is dated 1st August 1972, which was a Tuesday, so this would have been the second day of filming.

The scenes scheduled for this date were to be filmed at Black Rock, Cheddar, which at this most definitely “on location.”

Oliver Tobias (Arthur), Michael Gothard (Kai), and Jack Watson (Llud) were required in Make-up/Wardrobe at 07:30, to begin filming at 08:30. At 6:30, Oliver was picked up from Ben Ford’s stables in Stroud, where he was staying; Michael and Jack made their own arrangements.

They were to shoot scenes 11, 12, 15 and 16. In scenes 11 and 12, Arthur, Kai and Llud search for the trail left by the Saxons who kidnapped the group of Celts, including Arthur’s friend Col, the blacksmith, from the village where they lived. In scenes 15 and 16, we see them track the group to a quarry, and discuss what they see there – Celts being used as slaves.

At 07:00, a car collected David Prowse (Col) and Anthony Bailey (Rodolf) from the Unicorn Hotel ¹, where guest stars were commonly billeted. They were required in Make-up/Wardrobe at 08:15, to be ready to film at 09:15, along with the three principals.

A crowd of 45 was required, to represent Saxon guards and Celtic slaves. Some of these were also collected from the Unicorn Hotel, but by the Z Car bus, and more came from the HTV studios on the Unit Bus, all to be there by 07:30.

The scenes to be filmed from 09:15 were 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22. These must logically have been the scenes where Kai – pretending to be an agent sent by Cerdig – brings “runaway slaves”, Arthur and Llud, to the slave master, Rodolf, and Arthur is taken up to the rock face and shackled there near to where Col is already working.

No “weather cover” scenes are listed, but there are only two scenes filmed in or near a small shed, so the day’s schedule was dependent on the weather remaining reasonably fine.

Catering for the cast and crew – about 110 people - was laid on, by George Cook (or Cooke) on location.

Among the props required are listed “grave to be set up and dressed plus twig cross.” This item is not seen in the episode. Perhaps it was realised that Rodolf wouldn’t have allowed the slaves time to bury or mourn their dead. Also listed are, “whip, hammer” and, rather hilariously, given the quarry location, “rocks”!

¹ Possibly The Unicorn Hotel, West Street, Somerton TA11 7PR England – this would have been about an hour away by car.

A still from "Daughter of the King", featuring Jack Watson as Llud, and Iain Cuthbertson as Bavick.

This call sheet for the episode, “Daughter of the King” was kindly donated to this archive by Peter Thornton, who was employed as Clapper/Loader – a role now known as 2nd Camera Assistant – for much of the series.

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The episodes had been given alphabetical designations, and “Daughter of the King” was episode ‘B’, which, as had previously been assumed, and is confirmed by this designation, was the second episode to be filmed.

The call sheet is No.7, and is dated 3rd July 1972, which was a Monday. From this, we can reason that there were 6 call sheets relating to the first episode, “Arthur is Dead” – which presumably took 6 days to film.

The scenes scheduled for this date were to be filmed outside Arthur’s camp, but still in Woodchester Park, and set-up began at 6:30 am!

Tony Steedman (Tugram) and Madeleine Hinde (Eithna) were collected by car at 6:30, from the Unicorn Hotel ¹, where guest stars were commonly billeted. Oliver Tobias (Arthur) was then picked up from Ben Ford’s stables in Stroud, where he was staying. Michael Gothard (Kai) and Jack Watson (Llud) made their own arrangements. All were required in Make-up/Wardrobe at 7:45, to be ready to film at 9 am.

It appears that doubles were used: Peter Brayham the fight arranger doubling for Llud, and Ray Ford – presumably a relative of Ben Ford – for Arthur. It seems likely that the short scene in which Llud, while mounted, grabs Eithna from her horse and carries her back to Arthur, was the occasion when Peter would have doubled for Jack. The scene where Arthur rides alongside a straying horse and jumps from the back of his own mount to that of the other horse would seem to be the occasion where Ray might have doubled for Oliver, especially given that he would probably be familiar with both horses.

Peter Brayham, Ray Ford and Del Baker are listed as being involved as “stuntmen and special action.” Del Baker's role is unclear.

Twelve men on foot and twelve horses are said to be required – however, in the scene as broadcast, there appear to be somewhat more “extras” among the men on foot.

According to Peter Thornton, “a scene can have an infinite number of cuts, if you are the editor, or shots as they are usually called when shooting. The director determines how many shots to shoot in each scene. But quite often not all shots are used in the final edit. Some scenes do only have one shot, but more often than not, close ups will be inserted into the master shot of each scene.”

The scenes listed to be filmed in the morning are 1 – 7 inclusive. As we know that the prologue to this episode was filmed many months later, we can assume that this refers to the scenes immediately following the opening credits. In these scenes, Arthur, Kai, and some of their men are out riding when they spot a party of armed Celts, whom Arthur mistakes for a party of the marauder Bavick’s men. Before joining battle, Arthur and Kai chase down a riderless horse they have spotted. They are then almost attacked by another local leader, Tugram, who himself mistakes them for Bavick’s men. They spot Bavick’s daughter, Eithna, jumping out of a tree, and Arthur sends Kai to capture her – a task he sets about with gusto.

Meanwhile, Iain Cuthbertson, who played Bavick, was to be collected from the Unicorn Hotel at 10:00, arrive in make-up/wardrobe at 11:30, and be ready to shoot at 1 pm. The scenes scheduled for the afternoon were 21 – 26. These must have been the scenes in which Arthur and his men arrive at the same location as before, to exchange their prisoner, Eithna, for Llud. As Llud crosses paths with Eithna, he snatches her from her horse, and once again takes her prisoner.

Listed under “weather cover” are some of the scenes which took place indoors – 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 28, 29, 30, 32 and 33. These must be most of the scenes that took place in the Longhouse, in which Arthur talks to Eithna, his people and Tugram’s discuss what to do, before the prisoner “swap” and then later celebrate Bavick’s capitulation; Eithna tries to manipulate first Arthur and then Kai.

It is not known whether or not the conditions were right for filming outdoors, but if they were, then these last scenes would have been filmed on Thursday and Friday, 6th and 7th July.

It is good to see that sustenance for the cast and crew – about 80 people - was laid on, by George Cook. Morning and afternoon breaks were taken on location, and this must have been close enough to the main base for everyone to return there for lunch.

Colin Holloway recalled: “Food is supplied via a professional location caterers which is very good overall, with the highlight being the fresh sandwiches and cakes just before we all go home for the day, exhausted, with only a few hours before our early morning alarm call - and off we go!”

¹ Possibly The Unicorn Hotel, West Street, Somerton TA11 7PR England – this would have been about an hour away by car.

This fascinating glimpse into the early planning stages of "Arthur of the Britons" was kindly supplied by Paul Lewis, who preserved the article.

HTV to spend £1/2 m on King Arthur series

HTV West is to spend more than £500,000 one a new adventure series, a 24-part saga devoted to the exploits of King Arthur.

The story of the West Country’s own legendary hero will be filmed on the locations actually associated with Arthur, among them Cadbury Camp, the reputed site of Camelot, and holy Glastonbury.

Filming will begin in June.

“This is a very exciting project by any standards and reflects our confidence in the production team, led by Patrick Dromgoole, we have created at Bristol,” said managing director Tony Gorard last week.

The series will be done by the same team who produced the 13-part series, Pretenders, and the play Thick as Thieves, which was the winner of the Royal Television Society’s “Pye Oscar” as the best regional production of the year.

HTV has found an American distributor, Heritage Enterprises, for the new series. Mr Arthur Steloff, of Heritage, said, “There is enormous interest in a programme based on King Arthur and I am confident we can achieve world-wide sales.”

Lord Harlech, Chairman of HTV said, “The series will be as historically authentic as we can make it. Arthur was a young and powerful fighter who fought savagely and successfully to defend the remnants of Roman Britain against the invading Saxons.”

“We are tearing up the cosy Victorian water-colour picture of Arthur and showing instead the hard tough cavalry leader he must really have been,” he added.

The series will show how Arthur moulded the splintered British tribes into the force that repelled barbarian invaders bent on conquest, and moulded still more – the shape of a kingdom to come.

The role of Arthur will be played by Oliver Tobias, star of the London production of Hair. Michael Gothard, well-known for his appearance in The Last Valley and in Ken Russell’s The Devils plays Kai, a loyal follower of the King.

Jack Watson who starred in Pretenders is cast as Ludd The Silver Handed, a powerful Celtic warrior who rides as Arthur’s right hand. Merlin will be played by Maurice Evans.

Peter Miller is the producer and his team includes Roy Baird, the executive producer for Women In Love, Henry VIII and If.

Writers engaged include Terence Feely, Robert Banks Stewart, Jack Seddon, David Purcell, Stuart Douglas and Bob Baker and Dave Martin the Bristol playwrights responsible for both Pretender and Thick As Thieves.

It is interesting that at this stage, they were still referring to Arthur as "King Arthur", though he is never referred to as such in the series. Also interesting is the fact that nowhere is it stated that the series is for children, though in the UK, it was shown late afternoon, when children would be watching after school.

Early plans to film at sites connected with the little we know, or think we know, of the historical Arthur - including Cadbury Camp and Glastonbury - must have been abandoned at an early stage.

Also abandoned was Merlin, whom the article says was to be played by Maurice Evans - Dr Zaius in "Planet of the Apes"(1968). As Patrick Dromgoole has said: "It was difficult to stick to a realistic theme of an available gang of pro-British professional soldiers available where needed, without losing the mystical aspects of Merlin."

£500,000 was a great deal of money to spend on such a series at the time, so it isn't surprising that selling it to foreign networks was a high priority. This plan came to fruition, with "Arthur of the Britons" being shown, in various forms, sometimes under a different name, and either dubbed or subtitled, in France ("Arthur, Roi des Celtes"), Germany ("Konig Arthur"), Spain ("Arturo de Bretaña"), many Eastern European countries, Australia, the USA ("King Arthur") and South America ("El Rey de los Guerreros").

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This early piece of artwork was preserved by the series' composer, Paul Lewis. It appears to have been produced before filming began, though clearly the main characters had been cast. Also, it had already been decided that Arthur should ride a white horse, and the font used in the series had been designed.

Arthur is seen carrying a shield of a type he only uses in the first episode - a round shield with a boss, which he later identifies as being of Saxon design. Also, we never see a Saxon longboat as shown in the poster - in full sail - in the series.

The picture of Kai - with a stubbly beard, which he doesn't wear in "Arthur of the Britons" - must have been drawn from stills of Michael Gothard playing Hansen in "The Last Valley", with which the producers were familiar.

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Michael Gothard as Hansen

The artwork also appears to have been used as a cover for a publicity folder. These are the folded over edges, with the details they evidently considered most important at the time.