arthur_of_the_britons | Entries tagged with brian blessed

At the Firefly Café, Jersey, on Sunday 23 October 2011, Brian Blessed spoke about his time on “Arthur of the Britons.”

He said the atmosphere on set was great fun. He mentioned that when someone had done something horrible, like killing someone in a nasty way, Director Sidney Hayers used to say, “Aw, what did you have to go and do that for?”

We talked a bit about “The Prisoner”, in which Brian, as Mark of Cornwall, killed Kai’s friend Roland, played by Michael Gambon. He said that since then, he has joked with Michael Gambon that if he’d known how famous he’d be, he would have run him through for real!

He said that while filming a particular episode, Sid Hayers offered one of the extras fifty quid, to let Brian throw him in the river. Of course, the extra – a student – agreed. Brian threw him in; the extra’s furs and sheepskins instantly became waterlogged, and he sunk like a stone, and had to be rescued!

On seeing some pictures of fans dedicating a tree to the late Michael Gothard, Brian revealed that he didn’t even know he’d died. He became serious, and said that he was sorry, and that Michael was depressed when he knew him.

Meeting with Brian Blessed

'Grinding his teeth and axe is the brutish Mark of Cornwall (Brian Blessed) who appears in ARTHUR OF THE BRITONS (HTV, 6.30-other regions 4.50). There is a lot of ironmongery in "Arthur," but in this excellent series there are no scenes which would upset the children.'

This photo and short paragraph was to publicise the episode, "The Duel", in which Mark of Cornwall spends most of his time bullying Llud, a battlefield is left strewn with corpses, and Llud and Mark have a big fight. Clearly children were expected to be made of sterner stuff in 1973.

Daily Mirror 10 Jan 1973

Arthur
Warlord of the Britons

words by Peter Escourt
pictures by Stuart Sadd

The figure of King Arthur strides across the pages of British history like a giant, but it is the romantic figure of the Age of Chivalry, the figure that has inspired the songs of medieval troubadours and modern poets alike. In HTV’s new 24-part series, Arthur of the Britons, which begins this week, Arthur is brought from the world of legend to the world of reality and pictured, below, as he really was – a desperate sixth-century warlord struggling to hold off the English invaders leading small forays into their territory from a grubby little stronghold that became known, in later times, as the romantic Camelot.

Finding an actual location for Camelot was to the Middle Ages what Unidentified Flying Objects have been to this century. The riddle was romantic and happily unanswerable. Was it Winchester, Caerleon, Carlisle – or where? It was the one thing which, as a modern scholar has remarked, held them spellbound for three centuries.

But, since this summer, there have been no such doubts at HTV in Bristol: Camelot is about six miles from Stroud, Gloucestershire, a half-mile off the main road to Bath. They should know: their set-designers built it there for Arthur of the Britons.

It is small and rather grimy. A collection of small wooden huts, thatched with straw, insulated with mud, straggles along the lake shore. There are a few skins left out to dry, and a skin coracle pulled up out of the water.

Certainly it isn't what scholars of the Middle Ages, or Alfred, Lord Tennyson, or any Hollywood mogul would recognise as Camelot. Ironically, Arthur himself might recognise it.

The series brings to television the most mysterious figure in our history, not as legend or romance would have him, but as he really must have been. It is the first time the historical Arthur has been presented dramatically on film.

It will be a great shock to viewers who see him as a great and cultivated king of the Middle Ages, all-wise and quite legendary. This was the Arthur of romance and legend: a golden figure whose empire of great palaces and towns stretched to Rome and beyond.

But the archaeological research of the 20th century suggests that there must have been someone there, a real man where the legends all begin. Drawing on this, the series seeks to show him as he was: a desperate guerrilla fighter trying to unite the rag-tag armies of Britain in the collapse which followed the Roman evacuation.

Arthur is doing this to fight off the barbarian invasions - which will prove a further shock to national susceptibilities: these barbarians are the English, coming from their ancestral lands in Germany, and the men in the white hats in Britain in the early sixth century were the Welsh. Arthur was a Welshman.

But he was not a king. Modern historical theories portray him as a professional soldier who, by strength of personality, held together a mounted force drawn from the petty kings of Britain. This force managed to inflict a series of defeats on the Saxons, who fought on foot. It eventually broke up when internal discord led to the civil war in which Arthur was killed.

No Guineveres,
Lancelots, Galahads
or Merlins. No
armour, no romance.
Just grime.

The gradual emergence of an historical Arthur, pieced together by scholars from recent excavations, old Welsh poetry, traditions and Dark Age chronicles, is one of the most romantic achievements of recent historical research. But it has meant that Arthur's world has shrunk from a great European stage, with thousands locked in
battle and besieging huge castles, to the forests of Dark Age Britain, where armies of a few hundred waged desperate little battles into which chivalry never came.

The historical Arthur is ideal for a television production. There are no elaborate sets to be built, no army to be hired, no plate armour to be assembled. There is just wood and straw and skins, everything small and grubby - but in the sixth century, anything can happen.

HTV are proud of their historical research. Their first big attempt to struggle out of the anonymity which can afflict regional TV companies was Pretenders, an historical series networked earlier this year. It was an account of the Monmouth rebellion in 1685 and the cameras went where the events actually took place. The Battle of Sedgemoor was filmed on Sedgemoor in Somerset and wandering bands of players got up to their mummeries in old West Country inns. The series was a success, and has been sold abroad.

With Arthur of the Britons the company feels it is on to another winner. The same production team is involved. Networking is guaranteed and an American distributor has been acquired. At HTV they enthusiastically talk about the few names that have come down to us from the murk of the sixth century as though they were in yesterday's newspapers.

The set-designers have been doing their homework. In his office, Douglas James, art director for the series, is surrounded by drawings of log-huts and of the wooden tools that have come down through lrish history and would have been used in Celtic Britain. There are sketches of breast-ploughs, wooden spades, and a ponderous wooden-wheeled cart.

"We knew filming would last six months so we had to build something which would last that time. We had to use the building materials they would have used: larch poles, roofed with turf, thatch and bracken. The building rook 16 men about l0 days. In addition to the small huts, we have a long-hut which is sound-proofed to act as a studio.

"We built it by a lake with a stockade and a jetty, so it is defensible. We had to clear the bracken and the conifers around the lake. Conifers aren't indigenous to Britain, and there would have been none here in Arthur's time. Inside the huts we put things like wooden platters and bronze grease lamps."

The TV Camelot was built in a steeply-wooded valley near Stroud owned by the Forestry Commission, where no pylon or concrete wall can drag the viewer back sharply into the 20th century. For a moment, disregarding the odd glass-fibre boulder and a rival encampment of canteens and car parks 200 yards up the track, this really could be the Dark Ages.

But enough wiring for a pop festival or a small country town trails out of the long-hut. Inside are lights, clapper-boards and cameramen, and the inevitable young man in tight trousers calling like a wild prophet for silence. Beyond all this, stark in lighting that would have terrified the Dark Ages, are skins, straw - and Arthur.

Arthur is played by Oliver Tobias, 24. Suitably rugged and unsmiling, he is about to begin the great task of uniting the kingdoms under one military command. Tobias is a former leading man of Hair.

His Arthur is a complex figure. Between takes he sits on the steps of the long-hut playing with his broad sword.

"Arthur would have had to be rugged. He would have had to be prepared to back up with fact everything he said. It was a small world. If you travelled three miles you were in danger: it would have been like travelling 3,000 miles today," said Tobias.

He points towards the top of the track leading away from the huts. “Look up there. In his day, at any time, a horde might be coming over to rape and kill. I think he would have been a sad man. He would have been slightly higher than everybody else, a thinker, but he would always have been having to reach for his dagger."

Arthur is unmarried in the series. There are no Guineveres, Lancelots or Galahads. Instead, Arthur operates in a kind of Three Musketeers act, with a grizzled veteran called Lud the Silver-Handed, a pagan, and a Saxon foundling called Kai.

Sadly, HTV jettisoned some of their more interesting ideas. At first it was suggested that scenes be filmed in places with traditional links with Arthur, like Cadbury un Devon and Glastonbury, Somerset, where tradition has it he was buried. Peter Miller, the producer, explained: “These places are now just relics. We decided to film Arthur as a young man in his encampment and in woods.”

It was also intended to bring in Merlin as an historical figure, a man who had travelled the known world, had studied medicine under the Arabs, mathematics under the Moors, all of which would have made him a god-like person in Dark Age Britain. But he was thrown out with the rest of the Round Table.

He would have been a hangover from the knights in shining armour and HTV wanted to sever the last link with the legends.

But the earlier episodes do succeed in giving a picture of sixth-century Britain. In one episode all the rag-tag elements of petty royalties assemble. There is Ambrose, still aping Roman ways, dressed in the tatty remnants of Roman armour, Mark of Cornwall, a great bull of a man, played by Brian Blessed, and Hereward, a religious maniac calling for help to his old Celtic gods.

Such eccentric figures might well have emerged from the wilds once the Romans went. Ambrose is a fairly accurate figure: Celtic and barbarian warlords probably did attempt a form of Roman parade dress, as shown by some of the Sutton Hoo archaeological finds.

The form of the series, with self-contained episodes, makes it necessary that something happens every week, and so Arthur quarrels constantly with Kai, or the Saxons, or the odd Celtic king to heighten the drama in individual episodes.

Feminine interest is provided in one episode by giving him a Celtic wild-cat to tame, whom he has captured from her father, a hostile princeling. The girl, played by Madeleine Hinde, has to be persuaded to eat. Wild-eyed and furious, she spits chicken pieces all over Arthur. The shot is done and re-done. A chicken carcass off-stage is carved until it almost disappears. At last the director is satisfied.

"A lot of my friends,” said Oliver Tobias seriously, brushing bits of chicken off his jerkin, “believe that Arthur will come back some day.”

They, and the viewing public, are in for a surprise.

NEXT WEEK: our Star of the Month double-page pull-out portrait is Oliver Tobias as he appears in Arthur of the Britons.

Maria and a friend of hers were extras on the series when they were 17 or 18. They long blond hair at the time, and often got work through an extras agency. They got £20 per day, and had early starts – setting out from Bristol at around 6 am – and late finishes. Their costumes were like sacks!

Their favourite actor was Brian Blessed; he was lovely. They sat in his car once, when it was raining. Michael Gothard asked her out, but she had seen him in “The Devils” the week before, so she declined his offer!

Once, some of the cast had their lunch on the set, and left a box of matches on the table – the scene had to be re-shot!

She and her friend were in a scene filmed in Redcliffe Caves in Bristol, which appears in “Six Measures of Silver.” They were warned not to wander off because there were so many tunnels, they might never be found.

The caves – Redcliffe Sand Mines – are artificial sandstone caverns, from which red sandstone was excavated to be converted to sand for the glass and pottery trades.

This 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."

Arthur's longboat 19 Oct 1972 WDP

Gerry Cullen, an American, already working in TV production, who took the opportunity to work as an extra on "Arthur of the Britons", offered these insights to the filming of the series.

By a series of total coincidences, I was running low on money in Bristol when I heard that Harlech TV was having open casting sessions, to find extras for "Arthur of the Britons." I was hired, and worked until the end of the series. I remember often being there six days a week.

Extras were only used when they need villagers to “fill in” of course, but I was very lucky; I seemed to get most work, probably because I looked the most scruffy. Each morning I would ask the make-up lady to put more of the dirt makeup on me because it was obvious that this series wanted a more authentic look for that time period. So, I got many days of work in the morning calls while many of the other male extras got less work because they came in with nice hairdos.

I always thought the Brits were the best filmmakers. Having already worked in TV in production in New York and had a degree in film-making this was a great gift to watch and learn from them.

When I came in, I was told they were making some changes (I don’t know what they were) and the series was half done. When I watched the DVDs, I saw that I was in some of “Season Two” and not in any of “Season One.”

Gerry centre

In this scene from "Rowena", Gerry is the person in the middle, standing next to Arthur.

For me, it was paid graduate school. The demanding schedule called for rotating directors, so I was able to observe their different styles and methods, and how they interacted with the actors. Most of the talk that I had access to was about blocking, director/DP discussions on camera placement, and lighting. I also got to see some of the very good character actors who bolstered the roster. That experience gave me solid confidence throughout my modest career as a camera production person.

The set was always very calm and orderly; very professional. It seemed to me that they were trying to keep to filming one episode per week, so there was a lot of pressure to hit the short deadlines for a quick turn-around; the actors and crew had a lot to do to make a half hour weekly action show. We worked long days; the extras would meet early, often about dawn, or before, at HTV Bristol, and usually come back late in the day, sometimes in the dark. The filming was extremely well organized and all the crew and actors created a friendly, but always moving forward, atmosphere.

Shooting wasn’t always in sequence; there was definitely some overlap between one episode and another. I remember hearing sometimes that a B crew was shooting cutaways and other footage at different locations, to help keep things moving.

Since it was all 16 mm film back then, all the good takes would have to be developed, and the dailies would have to be looked over. Film editing was very time consuming back then; the editor was dealing with many, many, short clips of film that would need to be physically spliced together, then the music mixed in the audio department, and titles added in the lab. I would guess a month at least from shoot week to air. If I remember rightly, it was airing during production, but I didn’t have a TV, and I only saw one broadcast episode while I was there.

Back then it was a big deal to have Arthur in the more primitive environment, rather than the glossy concept of shining armour and big gleaming castles and such.

I remember two main buildings, and some smaller ones to make the village for the Celts. The make-up area was in a tent; wardrobe was in there too. The Celts main building was often converted back and forth between sleeping quarters and also used for inside banquets. The series won some awards for the location set designs and costumes. The food was real, but no alcohol; the wine was grape juice. As I recall the boars were real but don't remember anyone eating them. I was a strict vegetarian for the about 5 years back then so I didn't pay to much attention to them even though I sat right near them in some scenes!

Speaking of the dining tent, the food was great but what I found intriguing was the afternoon tea break, where everyone had banana sandwiches; I had never heard of such a thing but they were very good.

With regard to stunts – from what I observed it was always Oliver and Michael doing everything; I don't recall any stuntmen standing in for either of them. When there was a group of riders I believe some of those were stuntmen. Oliver and Michael always did their own riding, and they both were very good at it.

Extras would get an additional £2 per day if they were involved in any stunts, or got pummelled. They probably don’t allow that today – too many lawyers – but it was fun then. In one episode, “The Marriage Feast”, a scene called for Mark of Cornwall (Brian Blessed) to storm off, mad because Arthur had just embarrassed him. It must have been my turn that day, as the director picked me to be thrown over Brian Blessed’s shoulder as he rampaged through the village, knocking people out of his way. We did at least 5 takes where Blessed literally threw me over his shoulder and into the air; he was a strong guy. Lucky for me, I studied jiu-jitsu in high school, so I knew how to land in hard falls, but it was still somewhat rough. I was disappointed when I watched the DVD; the take they used was the only one where he did not do that; instead, they used the one take where he just throws me down.

The Fight (143)

I was involved in inside banquet scenes in two different shows. One was “The Marriage Feast”; I am sitting next to Brian Blessed, on his right. You can only see me in a quick wide shot at 14:45, and some back and forth over the shoulder shots in that scene, one is at 16:15.

The Feast (18)

In the other, I sit next to Arthur in a scene where Arthur and an opposing group, I cannot remember which one, decided to make a treaty and be peaceful with each other, so they hold a feast to celebrate.¹

While Arthur and the leaders of the opposing group are inside at the banquet, some of the villagers from both sides have a knife throwing contest at a target. There is an accidental death when a knife misses the target and kills one of the villagers, and things get tense. A messenger rushes into the banquet to tell everyone, and things get tense. I remember that one well. It was shot of course out of sequence. In the filming of it, first the outdoor scene was shot, in that shot I am standing near the target when the man next to me gets killed by the stray knife. Later the banquet scene is shot and the messenger comes in and tells Arthur what happened, when he does everyone gets tense and I was told by the director to slowly start pulling out my knife as if a fight was about to happen. Normally I wouldn’t say anything to the director but I thought I better tell him I was in the previous outside shot and he might have a continuity problem if I was noticeable. But he wasn’t worried so he probably had plenty of coverage. ²

At an outside feast in “Rowena” at 19:48 I am sitting down in front of the table and throw wine at a villager, who falls down.

Look at her (14)

In "Some Saxon Women" I am in quite a few shots but more interestingly there are good shots of the young woman that Michael Gothard was seeing. She is most easily seen in the scene starting at 7:00 where the two men look over the Saxon women who are chained up. In the shot where the two men stop and shake hands “to make the deal” was Michael’s girlfriend; she was German, and had a young child.

On set, Oliver was always the quietest of the three main actors, and was always very courteous to everyone. He was the youngest, and – as the lead – he had the biggest responsibility. While waiting, he seemed to keep it very serious. He was perfect for the role of Arthur, and he did a great job, even though he was not that experienced.

Jack Watson was the most laid back. Having previously worked on TV productions in New York, I already knew never to bother the actors; always wait until spoken to, and stay on business unless someone else brings up a topic, because they need their space to think about their lines, and get into the character, but while waiting for his part, Jack would often stand on the side among the extras, chatting amiably. He usually had fewer lines to deliver than the others, so I would think that made it easier to be relaxed, plus he had the most experience.

The most serious I ever saw him was on the occasion when, in a nice manner, he scolded me. It was very cold on some of the early mornings, so I had gone to a second-hand shop and bought the warmest overcoat I could find: a long dark blue wool coat, that only cost three pounds.

While we were watching a scene being prepared, Jack, who was standing next to me, said, “Are you a medic?” I answered, “No. What makes you think I would be?”

He explained that I was wearing a Navy medic’s coat; it still had the patch on it.

I told him I didn’t know what it meant, I just bought it because I was trying to keep warm.

He wasn’t mad or anything; he was just very worried that if there was an emergency, it would cause confusion. I couldn’t imagine anyone would think I was a medic, since – other than the coat – my clothes were those of an impoverished medieval Celt, but I realized later that he was a WW2 Navy man, so I could understand his concern.

Michael Gothard was probably the most physical actor. Even standing still, the man seemed to be moving. I noticed that whenever he was in a scene that was being shot, the energy on the set went up; I think he was the sort of actor who made everyone rise up without their even realizing it. Somehow, Michael began talking with me, and found out I had just been travelling about Europe, much as he did some years earlier. During that period, we hit the pubs a few times.

Whoever cast this series really knew what they were doing. The contrast between Oliver and Michael made for good interplay between the two. Oliver was sturdy, emanated inner strength, and kept his cards close, while Michael was lanky, had his energy “out there”, and was often edgy.

It was my impression that the three lead actors liked each other very much.

It is amazing how popular and long-lasting Arthur of the Britons has been. Many of the Brits and Aussies that I have known here in the US remember the show very fondly and vividly. It is an incredible testament to everyone involved.

¹ “The Treaty.”

² This indoor scene, where a messenger comes in to tell the assembled chiefs about the death, does not appear in the episode as shown on TV; the footage must have been discarded.

HTV film King Arthur epic

Saxon and Celt are again locked in combat in the West Country woods that once rang to the clash of sword and shield.

Cooking fires burn in Celtic and Saxon settlements, and even the cattle are the breeds that browsed 1500 years ago on British pastures.

KTV created the settlements in realistic detail, for the £500,000 series now being filmed on the exploits of the fabled King Arthur. The 24 episodes, produced by Peter Miller, will be completed later this year. Worldwide sales are expected.

Oliver Tobias, the 24-year-old star from the London production of “Hair” is finding his role as “Arthur,” the fighter, a more rugged proposition. In one desperate battle sequence a flying spear glanced from his raised shield and put him in hospital for a day with a head wound.

Also in the thick of the fighting are Michael Gothard, as Kai, a warrior second in stature only to Arthur, and Jack Watson, who plays Ludd (sic), the King’s loyal right arm.

Rupert Davies, Brian Blessed, Ian Cuthbertson and Cive Revill are among other actors who feature in the series.

Cheddar Valley Gazette 8 Aug 1972

The text under the photo, featuring a scene from "Enemies and Lovers", reads: Warriors Mark Eden (left) and Michael Gothard (right) fight it out watched by King Arthur, Oliver Tobias (centre) and his men. A scene from HTV’s 24-part series on the exploits of the hero King.

Meic Stevens is an acclaimed Welsh folk singer. This is a photo from 1972.

Stevens, Meic

He appears in “Arthur is Dead”, playing a Celt named Cabot, who is also Arthur’s Minstrel; in "The Gift of Life" as Ulrich's minstrel; in "Enemies and Lovers", as the minstrel who accompanies Goda, and at the end of "The Penitent Invader", when he sings for Arthur once more.

Arthur is Dead (64)

He was kind enough to set down a few memories.

Thanks for the letter and pictures. I’d almost forgot all that stuff, long time ago.

HTV had built an ancient village in the Forest of Dean. It was brilliantly built and the hall (Arthur’s) was real, thatched roofs etc, stockade.

It was a beautiful spot, but very muddy! The production had started off trying to look authentic, of the period (Dark Ages), but the weather wasn’t kind, so we rejected the original shoes, which were not waterproof because they were made of hessian-like cloth. We finally got leather boots which were modern. We could have done with wellies!

My hair was long and dark brown then, and they wouldn’t let us shave.

Patrick Dromgoole was the producer, and they hired actors who were quite well known like Hillary Dwyer, Brian Blessed etc. We all stayed in the Unicorn Hotel, Bristol. ¹

Anyway, Oliver Tobias was an up and coming actor; good-looking. Some of the others had been members of the Old Vic, Royal Shakespeare Company, RADA, etc.

It was a bit of a soap really – a historical soap!

The instrument I played was a mandolin, disguised as a Welsh crwth. I remember quite well, I did it myself. I also wrote the lyrics of the songs.

Aftermath (8)

In one of the pictures, I am playing a Saxon, and the instrument is a dud, just a board with ordinary ‘strings strings.’ I recorded the musical bits (songs) in a studio in Bristol, and mimed.

Celebration (11)

It was a wig I was wearing as Athel’s minstrel.²

Magic (3)

Anyway, can’t remember much more, it’s pretty boring on a film set in the middle of nowhere! Sometimes we’d walk (me and some of the actors) down this earthen track about a mile or two to the road, where lay a country pub.³ We were in there one afternoon, playing darts, when some American tourists came in to find half a dozen Celtic warriors playing darts and a pile of swords and spears in the corner. They didn’t make any comment, but left rather hurriedly.

¹ Call sheets 35 and 36 show Clive Revill being collected from the Unicorn.
² This instrument seems to be the one Meic Stevens described as a dud. The one he plays as Ulrich’s Saxon minstrel looks like the same one he uses when working for Arthur, with a bit of added fur!
³ The Compton Inn is in the right location.

Plot

The episode – and the series – starts with a race, between five Celts: Arthur, Kai, and three others. Arthur is in the lead when he is knocked from his horse by a tree branch, and Kai is immediately at his side. When the other riders catch up, Kai tells them to: “… tell the world, Arthur is dead.”

It seems that “Arthur of the Britons” is over before it has really begun. Arthur lies on a bier, covered in flowers, and surrounded by his people.

Meanwhile, four rival chiefs, Mark of Cornwall, Herward the Holy, Dirk the Crafty, and Ambrose, all start making their own preparations to try to take over Arthur’s territory, before Arthur is even cold.

Each man makes his move. But they are expected; one by one, they are caught by Arthur’s people and imprisoned in the longhouse, with a sombre-looking Kai guarding the door. They all think Kai has taken over from Arthur, and is going to kill them.

Then Arthur appears. The reason he has trapped them is not to kill them, but to try to form an alliance. He challenges them all to get a sword out from under a big boulder; whoever succeeds will be their leader. But it’s only when Arthur gets them all to push together, that the sword can be got out – and Arthur snatches it.

He wants them to join forces against the main threat to the Celts – the Saxon leader, Cerdig, who is taking over their lands, and cutting down the forests where they hunt. Arthur asks for half of each leader’s army to join him, and help push Cerdig out.

While they are arguing about it, a Celt sneaks out of Arthur’s camp, and goes to Cerdig, to tell the Saxons what Arthur is planning; Cerdig sets out to take on the new alliance before it can get started.

While Mark is fighting Arthur over the leadership, Cerdig’s forces show up, and – against Arthur’s advice – Mark and the others go to fight him. They are routed, and forced to fall back to Arthur’s village.

Only then does Arthur manage to get them to go along with his plan. He leads a small group of his men to confront Cerdig, but – after a short skirmish – he pretends he has been forced to retreat. Cerdig gives chase, and Arthur leads the Saxons into a swamp. Cerdig’s men don’t know the way through, and when they get bogged down, the Celts work together, and manage to kill most of them with spears. But Cerdig gets away, assuring Arthur that he will be back.

Having seen the wisdom of working with Arthur, both Ambrose and Herward agree to send him a quarter of their armies; Dirk refuses, and Mark just rides away with a look of disgust.

Then Arthur shows himself a bit of a spoilsport, by breaking up the victory feast early, in spite of Kai urging him to let the men enjoy themselves.

Finally, Arthur and Kai race again, for real this time, and once again Arthur gets what he wants by trickery.

Timeline

This episode – at least, the main part of it – was the first to be filmed; recording began at the end of June, 1972. However, judging purely by the colour of the leaves on the trees in the horse-racing scenes which bookend the episode, these particular scenes were filmed in autumn. In a letter Michael Gothard wrote to the daughter of one of his friends, he mentioned spending a lot of time in the saddle during the second half of November. Given that the few episodes which remained to be filmed by that time don't include much riding for Kai, Michael can only have been referring to these two scenes from "Arthur is Dead."

Dates first aired

UK: 6 December 1972
Germany: 29 July 1974

Viewing figures

On 11 January 1973, in a letter to "The Stage" from R.J. Simmons, Press Officer for HTV West, Simmons states that “Arthur is Dead” and “A Gift of Life” achieved no. 4 place in HTV’s top ten programmes.

Locations

The version of Arthur’s village seen in this episode had recently been built at Woodchester Park, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, which belongs to the National Trust. More details of this location can be found here.

The ‘swamp’ where the Saxons were drowned was on land owned by the Neville family in the village of Frampton Mansell. According to Martin Neville, they dammed two streams, and then had to wait three days for the field to flood. Diggers were brought in to make the holes in which the Saxons drowned.

field at Frampton Mansell

Picture courtesy of Sophie Neville

Cerdig’s camp is thought to have been in the Mendips.

Inside information

Of the filming, Director, Peter Sasdy says:

I was engaged to direct the opening episode of the series, with the understanding that, waiting for me there, was Arthur’s ‘village set’ already built. However, on arriving in Bristol and being taken to see this village set, all I’ve seen in the middle of the forest were a great number of trees with big chalk marks and numbers on them. "That’s where the village WILL BE BUILT!" I was informed. Not a good start...

After some panic, and bringing in outside crews – as always in the film industry, under pressure, working day and night for 7 days a week – more or less everything was ready to start the production on schedule.

I know I had very little time during pre-production, but I was happy with the casting of the main characters, and with the costumes; also I had a very good local Director of Photography Brian Morgan, and from London I brought my camera operator Anthony Richmond (for HTV to have a freelance operator working on a project was very unusual) – who is now a well established DOP in Hollywood.

Perhaps the fact that Arthur’s village wasn’t ready explains why filming did not begin until the end of June.

Oliver Tobias took pride in doing his own stunts; he sports a “Worldwide British Equity Registered Stuntman” sticker on the windshield of his Ducati. The scene where Arthur was shown being hit by a tree branch was one of very few where a stuntman was used instead. By the time the scene was filmed, Oliver had already suffered a serious head injury, while filming “The Challenge.” Presumably, the production team felt they couldn’t afford to take any more risks with the star, as the difficult stunt, known as a ‘flick-back’, was a particularly dangerous one.

According to cameraman Roger Pearce, the rock with which all the chiefs had such difficulty was made of painted cloth stretched over a wooden frame.

Cast notes

Michael Gothard had worked with Brian Blessed on two previous occasions: on the TV series, “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers” in 1967, and in the film, “The Last Valley” in 1971.

Cabot the Crafty, who hits Herward on the head, is played by folk singer Meic Stevens; near the end of the episode, he appears as Arthur’s minstrel.

Roger Forbes makes his first of two appearances, as a Celt Sentry.

Reworking the legend

The sword under the stone is a clear reference to the sword in the stone in Arthurian tradition. Arthur’s return from the ‘dead’ could also be seen as a reference to his expected return from Avalon.

Kai is modelled on the Sir Kay of Arthurian myth, “King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table.” According to Val Joyce, in Welsh poetry, Kai is known as "Kai Gwyn", meaning Kai the Fair, or White, so making him a blond Saxon was a stroke of genius. The legendary Sir Kay was exceptionally tall, and older than Arthur, so the casting of Michael Gothard, who was 6 foot three inches, and Oliver Tobias' senior by eight years, fits in well.

Llud is loosely based on Lludd Llaw Eraint, a legendary hero from Welsh mythology, and the source of king Lud from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. He doesn't seem to have had any Arthurian connections.

'By the Gods!'

To help him move the stone, Herward, who appears to be a Druid, or at least to follow those teachings, invokes the Celtic gods, Maponos, a god of youth, Nodens, a deity associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs, and Barli – possibly a god of crops. Ambrose ridicules him, believing that Mithras, a Roman deity, and god of the legions, is the true god.

Herward claims the gods were against them when they failed to defeat Cerdig at their first try, and agrees to join together against Cerdig because “It is counselled by the gods.” Arthur ironically replies, “The gods are wiser than I thought.”

Arthur doesn’t mention his own religious beliefs, but he has a large book in his room – probably a Bible - and his banner, near the entrance to the village, is a red cross on a white background. We learn later on that Arthur was raised by the Romans, and that he knows how to read and write – two separate skills at the time, probably learned from a monk. As later seen, in “The Penitent Invader”, he has enough knowledge of the Christian faith to compare Mark of Cornwall to John the Baptist!

Dark Age Men

There are no female characters of interest at all in the first episode, and most of the men in this series are – not surprisingly – quite sexist. Many of their insults involve unfavourable comparisons with women. In this episode alone, we see the following:

Ambrose: [to his men] … We don’t want to slouch in like a lot of old half-women. March like the legions of Rome!

Mark: [to Kai] What are you waiting for? Kill us! We’re not women, that we have to prepare.

Mark: [to Dirk] … Let’s see how you get on! The muscles of a girl-child!

Mark: [to Arthur] Where were you when the battle was at its hottest? Skulking in the camp like a handmaiden!

Even Arthur resorts to this kind of name-calling, to aggravate Cerdig, asking him: “Have you come to fight, or talk all day like an old woman?”

For Arthur, brute force is a last resort. “I am trying to build an alliance based on sense and reason. If I fight now to prove myself, reason will have flown. I won’t be a leader, just a fighting stag.”

But both his friend, Kai, and his mentor, Llud are in agreement that – when challenged by Mark of Cornwall – he will have to fight, because, as Llud says, “there’s a time to fight with the mind, and a time to fight with the belly. And these men understand only the belly.”

The best laid plans …

Arthur’s ploy to trick the chiefs into thinking he is dead, and his camp vulnerable, as well as his plan to lead Cerdig’s men into a swamp, work well – but he’s disappointed to have made an enemy of the powerful chief, Mark of Cornwall.

The other chiefs’ plans all fail spectacularly. Even Dirk, who has the brains to use a lever, can’t shift the rock – but it was a good idea!

Great moments

The iconic scene at Arthur's "funeral", and Arthur’s miraculous recovery.

Arthur and Kai’s face-off over tactics.

Kai’s smile at the end of the episode, when he sees that Arthur has tricked him.

Quote/unquote

Cerdig talks Arthur up, setting the tone for the series: “Dangerous man, Arthur of the West. He thinks before he fights!”

Arthur’s wisdom

Arthur is a trickster. He doesn’t lie, but he’s not above stretching the truth or letting people believe what they want to, in order to manipulate them. When the chiefs complain, he tells them: “You tricked yourselves.” When Mark protests that Arthur got the sword with their help, Arthur turns this into a lesson: “And that’s how I’ll beat Cerdig. With your help. None of us can do it alone."

The burden and loneliness of command

They have a feast, to celebrate their victory over Cerdig, but Arthur feels he has to break it up early, saying: “Great victories are as dangerous as great defeats. Men get soft and sleepy. Our danger remains as great as ever it was.” These are violent times, and any respite is brief.

In the penultimate scene, Arthur goes to sit alone in his room, looking sombre. A lonely man, he relies on his lieutenants, Llud and Kai for advice, but the burden rests heavy upon his shoulders.

The hot-headed side-kick

In this first episode, Kai is depicted as hot-headed, and perhaps too ready to do violence, which fits in with how Sir Kay is shown in later interpretation of the Arthurian legend: as a bullying boor.

Kai resembles the Saxon enemy more than he does his fellow Celts, but no explanation is given for this, and his ties with Llud are not explained.

'A man on a horse is worth ten on foot.'

Right from the beginning, it is clear that both Oliver Tobias and Michael Gothard can really ride. According to Oliver Tobias, he and Michael Gothard had a joint audition, which consisted of nothing more than riding four different horses to the top of the hill, and back down again, together, and as fast as possible.

According to the writers of "Arthur of the Britons", or the historians consulting on the show, the Celts had a great advantage over the Saxons, in that the Saxons don't use horses, in battle or otherwise.¹ Cavalry fighting is one of the Romans’ warfare tactics: a legacy of which Arthur makes full use in some of the later episodes. But in “Arthur is Dead”, most of the riding seems to be for fun.

Arthur mainly rides one of two white (or “grey”) horses, whose real names were "Bernie", and "Skyline." During both races in this episode, he is seen riding Bernie.

At the start of each race, Kai is sitting on a black horse with a star, short strip and snip, who was given the name "Merlin" by the stable-master, and who was his main mount for the series. However, during the actual races, he is riding a bay horse with a star, "Blackstar"², while one of the other Celts is mounted on Merlin. Presumably, Merlin was too slow to lead the race, or else Blackstar preferred to be out in front.

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There are also two very white horses in the race, "Arctic" and "Acrobat". “Acrobat” has a very fancy bridle, and appears to have been specially trained for stunts. Halfway through the race, when the stunt rider jiggles the reins, the horse rears on cue, and the stunt rider falls off, before re-mounting to continue the race.

Neither Acrobat nor Arctic are seen again in the series. These race scenes were filmed much later than the rest of the episode, possibly in the Blackdown Hills. Perhaps these particular horses were stabled nearby.

Mark of Cornwall rides a big dapple grey, whose real name was "Jim", and Dirk rides a small flaxen chestnut, "Blondie."

Also seen in this episode, in Arthur's village, are a bald-faced bay, "Outlander", and Llud's chestnut, "Curly."

See also: The Equine Stars of "Arthur of the Britons" and The horses of "Arthur of the Britons": quick reference ID pictures.

'That is bloody dangerous!'³

There is a lot of very fast riding in this episode. During the first race, one stuntman comes off a horse after it rears, and another rider comes off when his horse falls. This second rider is not shown getting up, or afterwards, so he may have been injured.

A stuntman performs the flick-back stunt, in which Arthur hits his head on a tree, comes off the horse backwards, and lands on the ground flat, on his back. When someone has to fall from a horse, a pit is dug and re-filled, so that the ground where they are supposed to fall is softer to land on.

There are a lot of weapons used in the episode. When the Celt leaders refuse to discuss an alliance without their weapons, Kai is all for killing them, but Arthur says “If you need swords to feel like men …” and insists that Kai return them.

The “sword under the boulder” is the weapon Arthur uses throughout the series. In this episode, he also fights Mark with a club.

Llud uses what we later learn is his metal hand to block Mark, but no mention is made of this ‘handicap.’

We see Kai holding his trademark axe, though he doesn’t fight with it; he and the other Celts kill the Saxons with spears.

Cerdig and the other Saxons usually fight with axes – but theirs are smaller than Kai’s! Some of them also have swords.

Dressed to kill?

Arthur wears something known as ‘ring armour’, but the design seems to have been a too-literal interpretation of medieval artwork; such armour would not have provided much protection.

While lying in state, Arthur is wears a facial mask like the one found at Sutton Hoo: a Saxon artefact - based on Roman predecessors. Wealthy Celts may have used them too.

Kai is wearing the same tunic as when he played Hansen in “The Last Valley” in 1971. This tunic re-appears in Tenpole Tudor's video for "Wunderbar"!

You can usually tell the Saxons from everyone else, because they wear sheepskins, but Cerdig's lady friend has a nice Sixties dress.

Fighting Cerdig (38)

Ambrose dresses as a Roman; Herward as a holy man.

Arthur is Dead (62)

On the table

Mark of Cornwall tears a strip off a roasting pig, while his followers bring him a dead stag for later.

A single spring onion graces the table, while Arthur wrangles the chiefs. No wonder they're not very co-operative, if that's all they've been offered to eat!

Cerdig shares what appears to be meat with a female companion. He also has some loaves, and a bowl of apples and strawberries.

The Celts’ feast after the battle doesn’t look very impressive – bread and meat. Mead is the drink of choice.

Extra! Extra!

Students from Bristol University feature strongly in this episode.

Honourable mention

This goes to the goat who chews impassively throughout Arthur and Mark of Cornwall's posturing. Also, to the villagers who can be seen getting on with their lives in the background while their leaders bicker.

Goat

What’s going on here?

For most of the first race, Arthur is wearing a tan tunic over his ring armour jacket, but there is a short period when he is seen only wearing the ring armour, which he wears throughout the second race.

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During the race, one of the white horses, Arctic, falls, unseating its rider, who is all in brown. But we do not see either this horse or the rider get up. Instead, we see the stunt rider with the blue scarf, mounting Acrobat.

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Perhaps this fall was unscheduled, and the horse or rider hurt, because neither of them appear at Arthur's "death" scene under the tree.

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At the beginning of the causeway to Arthur's village, two gruesome heads stand sentinel - what looks like a ram, and possibly a horse or dragon.

Arthur is Dead (38)

Dr Carole Biggam says, “it's clear that someone thought they were Celtic superstitions. … it looks as if someone was thinking of the Celtic head cult but that was all about human heads and is mostly evidenced from the Iron Age and Roman period. I suspect someone just thought it looked grim and mysterious. Below the heads, there seems to be some textiles which imply little bodies, which is even more imaginative.” … a Celtic “Sooty and Sweep”!

Lynn Davy observes, “The one on the right has always put me in mind of the Oseberg Viking longship figurehead.

Arthur is seen on a funeral pyre, but no one sets light to it. Was the whole village in on the scheme?

What was that big heavy rock doing in the middle of Arthur’s village in the first place? Also, the hilt of the sword initially seems to be pointing away from Arthur, yet he manages to reach it quite easily.

Arthur tells the chiefs, “Cerdig was at Ilchester last night, not a day’s march from here.” It seems he is quite a bit less than a day’s march away, because the spy manages to make the journey there, and Cerdig then makes the return trip to Arthur’s territory, in the time it takes for the Celtic chiefs to compare the size of their weapons.

Despite the fact that Saxons are not supposed to be horsemen, three or four horses can be seen milling around behind Cerdig at his encampment. Possibly the same horses that were also at Mark of Cornwall's earlier!

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For someone who lives by the sword, Arthur doesn't treat his weapon with much respect, often holding it by the blade, and even putting it back in its sheath while it is still covered in blood.

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Arthur and Kai agree to run their second race on the same route as the first - but we don't see them going up the muddy bank on the second run.

Music

As Arthur’s minstrel, folk artist Meic Stevens sings:

Then strode bold Arthur up to Cerdig …
... The Saxons fell upon us, like the rain upon the ground;
But the great Lord of the Forest bade the quagmire suck them down.
When Arthur fought the foe.

He is playing a mandolin, made to look like a crwth.

Victory (14)

The 34 tracks of incidental music, beautifully written and orchestrated for the series by Paul Lewis, were used judiciously throughout the series; the soundtrack was never obtrusive, but always a subtle enhancement to any scene where it was used. The whole suite of music is now available on CD.

Some of the music tracks used in this episode were:
Track 3, Celtic Horns: after Kai has said “tell the world – Arthur is dead."
Elmer Bernstein’s theme
Track 5, To Battle: when Ambrose is marching on Arthur’s village.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: when Arthur’s man goes off to instigate Cerdig’s attack.
Track 12, Duel: used during battle scenes.
Track 14, Chase! and track 8, Skirmish and Rout: when Arthur and Kai race at the end.

Cast

Arthur ……………... Oliver Tobias
Kai .….….….….…... Michael Gothard
Llud ………………... Jack Watson
Cerdig ……………... Rupert Davies
Mark of Cornwall ….. Brian Blessed
Dirk the Crafty …….. Donald Burton
Herward the Holy….. Michael Graham Cox
Ambrose …………... Norman Bird
Cabot, Minstrel ……. Meic Stevens
Spy ………………... Tom Chadbon
Sentry ….….….….… Roger Forbes

Crew

Director ……………. Peter Sasdy
Writer ……………… Terence Feely
Executive Producer .... Patrick Dromgoole
Producer ………….… Peter Miller
Associate Producer … John Peverall
Production Manager ... Keith Evans
Post-production ……. Barry Peters
Incidental music ……. Paul Lewis
Theme music ………. Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography ….... Bob Edwards
Camera Operator …... Roger Pearce
Film Editing ………... Don Llewellyn
Sound recordist ……. Mike Davey
Dubbing Mixer …….. John Cross
Art Direction ….…… Doug James
Assistant Director ….. Simon Hinkley
Production Assistant .. Ann Rees
Costume Design …… Audrey MacLeod
Make-up ….….…….. Christine Penwarden
Fight Arranger ……... Peter Brayham

¹ According to Dr Carole Biggam, it used to be believed by historians that the Anglo-Saxons didn’t use horses in battle – they always fought on foot, but this is not now the prevailing view. This belief gave rise to the extended view that horses and Saxons didn’t go together but that isn’t true as is shown by (many) words for horses, place-names indicating stud-farms, wills, and laws.

² For ease of reference, most of the horses seen in the series have been given names for the purpose of this archive.

³ One of Director, Sid Hayers’ catch-phrases.

Patrick Dromgoole, the Executive Producer of "Arthur of the Britons", was kind enough to answer some questions about the show. Here is what he remembered.

Arthur: a fresh take on the legend

You ask where the idea to do a realistic series about Arthur came from – I think probably Geoffrey Ashe the historian was one of our main influences. I read his books before we set about putting it together and although I was working with an American co-producer who wanted shining armour and galloping horses along with the Malory version, I stuck to my guns and insisted we would have something more original if we set it where it belonged – in the 5th century with Arthur, as a Dux Bellorum but not as an actual king. That's actually why we called it "Arthur of the Britons" – when it went out in America they renamed it "King Arthur", despite the fact none of the stories bore the title out.

We tried to take a lot of the main incidents from the romantic history of Arthur and turn them into realistic occurrences that could have created a myth. You may remember that the myth of Arthur being the only person who could pull a sword from a stone was re-interpreted in our version as his inviting all the competing and disputing chiefs and kings to pull a sword from under a huge rock and then persuading them all to push the rock while he pulled it out himself – neatly emphasising his point that they must all band together to keep the Saxons at bay. Corin was an echo of the evil Mordred, underlined by the choice of his father’s name. The jealousy of Arthur and Kai over Eithna is a common dramatic triangle, as in the original Malory.

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.

Scripting

Putting the brief together for the writers would have been done by myself and Peter Miller the producer, after a great deal of discussion. Ideas grow in lengthy conversations with authors.

The scripts were not written before filming started. We had enough to start filming, but made a lot of changes according to the performances of the actors and what seemed to make a successful episode as we went along.

Characterisation would have been maintained by the editing of the series in Peter Miller’s office and in mine, and I think most of the episodes fitted in pretty well. Any leader at any time will be likely to rival President Bush in his use of the phrase "for the greater good" and this might well have been Arthur’s justification when putting Kai at risk. [In the episode, "In Common Cause."]

The Actors

Oliver was a good friend, and a splendid star to work with.¹ I had seen Michael in "The Last Valley"; he was an artist of high standards. Jack Watson was the most cooperative man you could ever wish to work with. Brian Blessed I knew well.

Practicalities

Most of our costumes were made by our own wardrobe department, and although some were hired, probably from Berman’s most of them were made to our requirements; nearly all our photographs were taken by a staff photographer.

Most of the accommodation found for the actors would have been in Bristol. They would have stayed in hotels or indeed apartments leased for them for the duration. I don’t think anyone has ever spent the night in the location caravan. Not officially anyway.

Filming

We shot the episodes out of sequence, and the B unit would have been working on any filming or re-filming necessary from previous or future episodes as well as on the episode currently being filmed by the A unit.

Filming all the episodes of Rowena and Yorath would probably have been "bunched", as a result of the artists’ availability. Gila [von Weitershausen] was only available for a limited time, as far as I can remember; that may well have influenced our looking elsewhere. [for new love interest: Catherine Schell as Benedicta in "A Girl from Rome.”]

I think any of those directing could have handled any of the episodes – I don’t think we chose directors on any grounds other than availability once we had settled on our teams.

As far as I can remember there was a break between the two series, and certainly the long house that we built and used was adapted for a number of different episodes.

[In the episodes filmed later on] the village was the same, but in deference to their architectural taste we shot it from two different points of view in long shot according to whether it was Jute, Saxon etc. or Brit – the Germans favoured, as far as I can remember, a rather longer roof than the Brits did. I believe Brandreth’s camp [in "Go Warily"] was in the Blackdown Hills.

Incidents

Funny stories – well. I don't remember many. Oliver's spear injury terrified the life out of us, and might have been quite serious although he tended to play it down and got out of hospital and back to work as fast as he possibly could. One particularly touching scene I remember was where Gila von Weitershausen was emphasising her maidenhood in a love scene when we had to stop shooting because her baby started squalling in the background.

At the risk of sounding cruel, one of my happiest memories is of a particularly pompous German actor who was taking part² (mainly because of the co-production arrangements) who usually spent an incredibly long time in make up and one occasion after keeping us waiting a long while, arrived looking quite splendid and fell flat on his face in the mud. We lost even more time as a result while his costume, make up and persona were repaired, but it was worth it.

Dubbing

When the series was sold to a new market the dubbing would be left to them – or indeed, the subtitling, if that was what they preferred. The German market was a slightly different situation as we were working in co-production with them, and some moments were actually filmed in German as well as English.

Tales not told

In the manner of our kind we probably hoped for another series – and of course we were in a good position to proceed from where we left off. But there was never a third, fourth, fifth series made simply because the competitive difficulty of scheduling one drove the series out of existence. Dozens of scenes must have ended up on the cutting room floor, but I gravely doubt if any record of them remains.

~~

¹ In a magazine interview, Patrick was to say of Oliver: "He has about him an atmosphere of brooding power. He is dangerously quick in his movements, an expert horseman and sword fighter, with the added qualities of charm, humour and wit. If we'd searched the world we couldn't have found a better actor to play King Arthur."

² This was presumably either have been Georg Marischka, who played Yorath the Jute in a number of epsiodes, or Ferdie Mayne, who played the Greek trader in "Some Saxon Women."