PlotKai rides into the village, and reveals that Rowena is to marry Mark of Cornwall. Arthur tries to pretend he doesn’t care, but Kai and Llud don’t believe him.
Arthur goes on the rampage, inspecting the warning system, the store of kindling wood, the thatch on a hut, and the state of awareness of a sentry, and finding them all wanting. This amuses Llud and Kai.
A Messenger then brings the news that Garet and Gawain, are feuding again, and that some Saxons have slipped in from the coast, through Yorath’s territory.
Arthur sets off at top speed to visit Rowena’s father, supposedly to discuss the gap in his defences. Yorath is annoyed about the betrothal. He wants to stop Mark from getting hold of some land he gave to Rowena, so he obligingly begs Arthur to stop the wedding, in exchange for which he will shore up his defences.
Llud tries in vain to get Arthur to admit his true motivation. Arthur is confident that he can change Rowena’s mind, simply by getting Mark to reveal his oafish side.
When Arthur and Llud arrive at Mark’s village, they are greeted warmly by Mark and Rowena, who are both pretending to be in love.
Arthur gets Rowena alone, and tries to persuade her of the folly of marrying Mark, but without making any counter-offer. Mark lurks outside the longhouse, listening to their conversation. Rowena believes she can change Mark, by showing him affection. She fails in her attempt to get Arthur to admit he is jealous. Arthur tells her that Mark is only after her land, and explains the deal he made with her father; she angrily throws him out.
Arthur then goes nose to nose with Mark, who vows to remain sweet and civilised until he has married Rowena.
The wedding celebrations start, with a tug-of-war, in which Mark of Cornwall pulls three of his villagers over. Arthur then challenges Mark to a contest. They pull against each other, and when Mark seems to be winning easily, Arthur, without warning, lets go of the rope, and Mark topples backwards into the river.
Mark is hauled out, marches up to Arthur, soaking wet and ferocious, then suddenly smiles, and pretends that he enjoyed the joke.
That evening, they meet again at the wedding feast. Mark and Rowena are sitting together at the head of the table, making overt displays of affection. Mark invites Arthur to sit next to Rowena, but he refuses, and Llud sits there instead.
Rowena discusses further changes she can make to Mark’s appearance, and Mark strives to hide his irritation. Arthur then makes insinuations designed to ruin Rowena’s reputation. Though this makes Mark furious, it fails to dent his resolve to marry her.
Later that evening, Arthur and Llud have a heart-to-heart. Llud thinks Arthur should tell Rowena he loves her, but Arthur doesn’t want to get married under pressure; he is determined to continue with his plan to pick a fight with Mark.
Next morning, Mark appears resplendent for the wedding; he and Rowena stand looking at their two thrones, set in an artificial grove, surrounded with flowers. Mark then jauntily approaches Arthur and Llud, to gloat about his success. As he starts to walk away, Arthur deliberately trips him, and boots his behind, so that Mark lands with his face in some mud.
His wedding finery ruined, Mark gets to his feet, and he and Arthur draw their swords, and fight. When Arthur seems to be losing, Llud starts to draw his sword, then notices that Rowena is watching the fight with great anxiety, and realises what Arthur is doing.
Mark drives Arthur to his knees, and raises his sword to finish him off, but Rowena leaps between them, slides her arm around Arthur’s shoulders, and the two of them smile at each other. Mark sends them both on their way, then takes out his frustrations on his villagers in his usual fashion.
As Arthur escorts Rowena back to Yorath’s, Llud goes home, where he and Kai share a laugh at Arthur’s expense.
Timeline"The Marriage Feast" is one of the few episodes to refer to specific events that occurred in other episodes - which must therefore have preceded it. Arthur mentions the time - during “Rowena” - when Rowena saved his life, after they were attacked by Saxons, and Mark responds, “We could have done with her at Modred’s field, eh, Llud?” - a reference to “The Duel”. In another reference to that episode, Mark calls Llud the “only man ever to defeat Mark of Cornwall in single combat”.
As Arthur and Rowena appear to have certain expectations of each other in “The Marriage Feast”, it makes sense for it to come after their conciliatory hug in “Some Saxon Women.” Filming is thought to have taken place in early to mid-October, between “Some Saxon Women” and “The Prize.” Seasonal cues support this: the trees and vegetation are still quite green, and Rowena wears a coronet of fruiting Old Man’s Beard (Clematis) in her hair. There are also some autumn leaves (Field Maple just on the turn) in the coronet.
Patrick Dromgoole
1 confirmed that “Gila [von Weitershausen] was only available for a limited time”, so filming of episodes featuring Rowena and Yorath would have been “bunched” as much as possible.
Suggested shooting order so farArthur is Dead
Daughter of the King
The Challenge
The Gift of Life
Enemies and Lovers
In Common Cause
The Penitent Invader
The Slaves
People of the Plough
Go Warily
The Prisoner
The Duel
Rowena
Some Saxon Women
The Marriage Feast
LocationsFor the opening scene - as in “Some Saxon Women” - the area to the south west of the longhouse serves as Arthur’s village, with the warnings system on the rise to the west of it.
Arthur’s meeting with Yorath is filmed inside one of the huts.
Skilful filming and set-dressing allows the northeast side - where Yorath's village was set last week, in "Some Saxon Women" - to be used for Mark of Cornwall’s people. Mark and Rowena come out of the north east door of the longhouse to greet their guests.
In “Some Saxon Women”, you can even see the beginnings of the circular shelter that - this week - became Mark and Rowena’s marriage bower.
Inside InformationMichael's adopted sister, Wendy, recalls: “Near the beginning of ‘The Marriage Feast’, Michael is sitting with Jack Watson and teasing Arthur. He says ‘Ooooooo!’ That was Michael … He would use ‘Ooooooo’ if he was teasing …”
The rest of the memories she has shared can be found
here.Cast NotesThe biggest claim to fame for Martin Read, who played the cheeky messenger, appears to be a few appearances as DC Jimmy Thorpe, in “The Sweeney”.
The Great PretendersThis episode is all about pretence. Arthur pretends he doesn’t care that Rowena and Mark are to be wed, then goes on a hilarious rampage, which makes it clear to everyone, with the possible exception of Arthur himself, that he is upset. At Yorath’s, he pretends to know nothing about the wedding, then pretends he doesn’t want to interfere.
Llud calls Arthur on his deception of both others and himself: “You two-faced fox. You don’t give a rotten apple about the gap. You just want to stop the marriage. And you want to make it look like you’re doing it as a favour to someone else.”
When he visits Rowena, Arthur pretends that he isn’t jealous, and that his main concern is her welfare: “The man’s a pig … He’ll use you as a skivvy, Woman … I just don’t like to see you making a fool of yourself.”
Rowena is also pretending; she doesn’t really want to marry Mark, as can be seen from a look she gives Arthur; it seems to say, “see what you’ve driven me to?”
At times, she even appears to be conniving with Arthur, to give Mark an excuse to erupt, and herself, an excuse to back out of the wedding. The way she keeps calling Mark back for trivial reasons when they are outside the longhouse is clearly designed to annoy, as is her behaviour at the feast, when making suggestions about how Mark should change his appearance.
After the feast, it is clear that Arthur has completely forgotten about his stated reason for attending the wedding; Llud reminds him that his failure will mean that “Yorath will refuse to close the gap”, and Arthur replies, “The what?” He then brazenly reasserts his determination to have it closed!
But when Llud says, “Now you love the girl. Go and tell her so”, Arthur at least has the grace not to deny it, though he refuses to go and admit it to her, on the grounds that, “She’d expect me to marry her, then.”
Of course, the biggest and most magnificent pretence of all is Mark of Cornwall’s transformation – inspired by his desire for land and power - from his usual blustering, arse-kicking self, to a polite and genteel bridegroom, with “so many arrangements”!
A Fine Romance“Why should I do anything about it? Nothing to do with me … If she can’t see what a pig the man is ... It’s their choice. If she wants to ruin her life, that’s her funeral.” Words to melt any young girl’s heart! It is truly pitiful that Rowena has to throw herself at Mark of Cornwall, just to get Arthur’s attention.
But if she wants romance, she isn’t going to get it from Arthur. One might think, from his attitude - “What sort of a game is this you’re playing?” – that she were already betrothed to him!
Rowena is desperately hoping that Arthur will become the man she wants him to be. When Arthur says that Mark of Cornwall “can no more change than a wild bear”, and Rowena replies, “Love can do strange things, even to wild bears”, it is Arthur - whose name means “The Bear” - and not Mark, that she is referring to.
2 But Arthur remains incurably insensitive: “Love? He’s after your land, Woman.” Rowena is understandably upset that Arthur seems unable to imagine Mark wanting her for any other reason.
Sure that Arthur has feelings for her, she begs him, “Tell me. Tell me the truth.” His bloodless response - “I made a deal with your father” - is enough to make anyone want to slap him!
His behaviour at the feast is even worse. In modern terms, he becomes a classic slut-shaming jerk, who can’t stand to see his ex-girlfriend with another man. “To the time you ripped off your dress to bind my wounds”; “Do you remember when I had to tie you to your horse, chase you into the woods for half a mile, and how you thanked me, afterwards?”; “You’re a lucky man, Mark! Believe me. I know. To the long days, and the long, long nights we had together!”
Llud thoroughly disapproves of Arthur’s games, telling him, “I’ve always had the idea that if people loved each other, they did get married.” But Arthur won’t give an inch: “I’m not so sure I want to get married. Anyway when I do, it won’t be under pressure.”
The matter is only resolved when Arthur lets Mark get within a whisker of killing him. When Rowena leaps between them, Arthur is happy - verging on smug - that he has forced Rowena reveal her true feelings first; Rowena, by now, is just relieved that she has got out of marrying Mark, and that Arthur hasn’t been killed.
She even seems fairly sanguine about the fact that her reputation is in tatters: “I suppose you know, you have ruined my life. What now?”
Arthur’s promise to “discuss it on the way” still leaves her hanging.
“It is I! Mark of Cornwall!”Arthur implies that Mark only wins a tug of war against three villagers because they are all scared of him, but Mark shows remarkable restraint in this episode, resisting the urge to do violence even after Arthur deliberately dumps him in the stream.
Later, at the marriage feast, his invitation to Arthur - to sit next to Rowena at the head of the table - looks like a genuine attempt to make friends: “Ahh, come now. We’ve had our differences, but on my wedding-eve I want all to be friendship.”
The fact that Mark’s interest in Rowena has nothing to do with romance must have made Arthur’s insults to Mark’s betrothed easier to bear. But it is a bit of a surprise that he doesn’t try to kill them both, when Rowena saves Arthur’s life, making it obvious that she has just been using Mark to further her own agenda.
Somehow, Arthur and Rowena get away with making a fool of Mark of Cornwall, in front of his whole village. They were lucky this was a teatime show!
Dark Age MenRowena is little more than a pawn in a game played by the men. Even Llud, who seems to be the only one with any interest in her welfare, implies that while she “could never stomach” a man like Mark, a more important factor would be her father’s disapproval. Arthur speaks of Yorath delivering his daughter into Mark’s hands, as if she were a package.
Yorath assumes that his daughter is only marrying Mark to annoy
him: “She knows I can’t stand the fellow”, and Arthur dryly agrees that it’s very irritating, for him!
The only reason that Mark is interested in Rowena is her land, which Yorath only gave her because she had made an unusual (for her) womanly effort: “For once she had cooked a half-decent meal”!
Yorath then gets on his high horse because Rowena’s land - which he still regards as his - will go to Mark, making him more powerful than Yorath.
Arthur promises to show Rowena “what a swaggering hulk” Mark is, but his own behaviour towards his host is extremely oafish, while Mark manages to contain the worst of his customary bullishness. In a wonderful play on words, he tells Arthur: “Until she gets the bridle on, I’m going to be as sweet as hazelnuts”.
At the marriage feast, when Arthur refuses Mark’s offer to sit beside Rowena, his real motive in sitting at the opposite end of the table is to set himself up against Mark, and get Mark’s men to laugh at him. This way he also gets to see Mark’s reaction to his slights on Rowena’s honour.
In the end, Arthur cleverly subverts the macho contest he engineered; by losing a fight, he makes Rowena choose him, over Mark.
Celts and SaxonsThe Messenger seems remarkably sanguine about Saxon incursion: “Oh, nothing. Five or six of them”, and Kai laughs at Arthur’s concern about a few Saxons. While Llud mentions the “scores who come in from the east”, he doesn’t seem too troubled about
them, either.
Though Arthur still seems concerned about the fifty or sixty Saxons a longboat could hold, he is more worried about Rowena’s impending marriage; the Saxons are actually doing him a favour, by giving him an excuse to interfere with it!
So what has changed since “the battle that decides” in “The Duel” – at which no more than thirty Saxons showed up?
It is Kai’s attitude that has changed most dramatically of all. In “The Gift of Life”, he wanted nothing to do with the two Saxon orphans, and at Ulrich’s camp, he accused their people: “You despoil our forests. You cut down our trees. You drive out the wild boar which is the food of life to us … You raid our villages.”
Clearly his experiences since he faced the Saxon’s council – the fact that they let him live, and the children helped him escape, his rustic interlude with Freya, the help Thuna gave the Celts at the slave camp, his brief reunion with his childhood friend Roland, and the rescue of the Saxon women from Yorath - have all influenced his attitude. Now he calls them, “harmless cattle traders.”
At the end of the episode, Arthur has all but forgotten about his precious gap, and Llud and Kai are able to joke at Arthur’s expense, about the threat of “Saxon cattle herders, pouring in … Three or four at a time … Running amok in our meadows … Terrifying the buttercups.”
The best laid plans …Rowena’s plan to make Arthur jealous works magnificently, but she still fails to extract a marriage proposal from him.
Arthur’s plan to stop the wedding succeeds, in the end, though Mark isn’t as dumb as Arthur takes him for.
Mark is the only one facing complete failure.
"By the Gods!"Yorath refers to Rowena as being “hell-bent” on marrying Mark. He also mentions that she used the services of some monks to have his gift of land to her documented, “with their pens and parchments, getting everything down in writing.”
But on the day of the wedding, there is no sign of a priest waiting to perform the ceremony for Mark and Rowena.
At the end, Kai drily thanks heaven for Arthur’s wisdom, in taking care of the gap.
Great momentsArthur’s rampage.
Arthur, pretending he doesn’t care about Rowena’s impending marriage, while Kai and Llud don’t even try to contain their amusement.
Yorath calling Mark a “filthy barbarian”, then snorting, and flicking the resulting snot onto the floor, with his fingers.
Mark, speaking and behaving as a gentle, polite, parody of his usual self.
Rowena playing the psychologist, and blaming Marks’ temper on the fact that he’s “never had any affection in his life” - and his amusement at the very idea.
Arthur and Mark facing up to each other.
Mark, turning on a sixpence, from jovial to raging mad and back again.
Arthur and Rowena’s smiles, when Rowena has saved Arthur’s life.
The final deadpan exchange between Kai and Llud, where - once again - they make fun of their glorious leader.
Quote/unquoteKai: The whole balance of what?
Mark: A bridegroom has so many arrangements.
Mark: Where would we all be, if we can’t laugh now and again?
Mark: Nobody must leave the table while they can still stand straight!
Llud: You love the girl. Go and tell her so.
Llud: I’ve always had the idea that if people loved each other, they did get married.
Llud: It’s very hard to pick a quarrel with a man who’s determined to avoid a fight at all costs.
Arthur’s wisdom …… seems to have taken a holiday.
Extra! Extra! Gerry Cullen recalls: “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.”
“That is bloody dangerous!”Plenty of extras must have got a few extra pounds in their pockets as a result of being thrown around by Mark of Cornwall.
Gerry Cullen recalls: “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 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.”
More of Gerry’s memories can be found
here.“Night-night, Kiddies!”Arthur’s comments about Rowena would probably not feature on children’s TV these days: “Here’s to the Queen of the South. And the times we had together … To the time you ripped off your dress to bind my wounds.” “Do you remember when I had to tie you to your horse, chase you into the woods for half a mile, and how you thanked me, afterwards?” “You’re a lucky man, Mark! Believe me. I know.” “To the long days, and the long, long nights we had together!”
Dressed to kill? Arthur spends the whole episode wearing a brown suede lace-up shirt. He also has a white cloak with a hood.
Kai rides in wearing his “Last Valley” tunic, and the big shaggy white coat. In the scene at the end, the tunic he is wearing is very similar to the one he wore in “Rowena”: perhaps it is the same one, with the addition of some leather trim.
At the start of the episode, Llud is wearing his usual old white shirt, but he puts on a decent tunic to go visiting.
Rowena must have bought a trousseau; she is seen in three different dresses, a blue V-necked dress, a more formal-looking blue dress, and yet another wedding gown in which she doesn’t get married.
Mark of Cornwall is more lavishly attired than usual, though his cloak has been used before, by the Celt Watchman in “The Prisoner.”
His wedding finery looks lovely until Arthur gets started; no wonder he was upset about the mess!
In Arthur and Rowena’s last scene, the colours of their outfits are nicely inverted.
“A man on a horse is worth ten on foot”Kai rides into the village, on Merlin. The Messenger arrives on Flame. On the way to see Yorath, and from Mark of Cornwall’s village, Arthur rides Bernie, and Llud rides Curly. Rowena is on her usual mount, Blackstar.
On the tableAs so often, Arthur shows his lack of respect – this time, for Yorath - by eating an apple while discussing matters of importance. Mark’s feast may be the most lavish seen yet.
Mark drinks from a ludicrously huge goblet, “a man-size cup”, and insists Llud do the same!
Honourable mentionFor the “Celt Warrior” - who, for the benefit of the audience, gives a homespun running commentary on Arthur’s fight with Mark: “What’s the matter with Arthur? He’s got Mark so mad he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Arthur could have killed him three times b’now … If he’s not careful, he’s gonna lose.”
He is credited as David Hyde, but the
information on IMDB is clearly incorrect, as this particular David Hyde would have been 2 years old at the time of filming.
What’s going on here? Soon after “Enemies and Lovers”, when King Athel’s tribe learned the secret of Arthur’s famed warnings system, Arthur’s people moved to the – albeit rather patchily - palisaded village. Since then, we haven't seen the system, in which balls in a basket are supposed to make a rumbling noise, “loud enough to warn of danger … But soft enough for the sound not to carry … through the natural rustlings of the forest.” Arthur is angry about the slackness of the ropes holding the basket, but the system won’t be of much use on an open hillside, in full view of any approaching enemies!
When Arthur storms past, Kai is doing some maintenance on his axe; but what is Llud playing at? Hasn’t he got any work to do?
The Messenger brings two bits of news, but Arthur only seems interested in the Saxons slipping through Yorath’s territory. He doesn’t trouble himself one jot about Garet and Gawain’s feuding, even though, in “The Challenge”, he paid them a special visit, to sort them out!
Kai doesn’t seem to have been invited to Mark and Rowena’s wedding. Perhaps Mark is still angry with him, for trying to save Roland from him, in "The Prisoner."
Arthur expresses surprise and annoyance at Yorath, for delivering his daughter into the hands of a man like Mark. He has conveniently forgotten that, not long ago, at her father’s behest, and in the face of strong protests from Rowena, he himself delivered her to the abhorrent Hecla to be wed.
In the scene at Yorath’s, Arthur appears to be shamelessly manipulating his host - but is it the other way round? Perhaps Yorath deliberately left a gap in his defences, to use as leverage to persuade Arthur to stop the wedding.
Yorath says he gave Rowena some land because “she had cooked a half-decent meal”. As King of the Jutes, one might think he’d have servants to cook for him.
Llud is unexpectedly mean, to suggest that Yorath could take his gift of land back from Rowena! And Arthur is quite arrogant in the way he speaks to Yorath, in his own kingdom.
Everyone laughs when Arthur suggests that Mark should have “Little curls … Coming down over his forehead”, but that’s what Mark already has! Mark also appears to have big white wings – perhaps this was what inspired his casting as Prince Vultan in “Flash Gordon”!
While needling Mark, Arthur asks Rowena, “Do you remember the time you saved my life?” Arthur didn’t see it that way at the time - in fact, he accused her of nearly getting him killed.
Another thing he seems to have forgotten is his usual - inconvenient - insistence that his word must be unquestionable. His second toast strongly implies that Rowena once ripped off her dress to bind his wounds: something we never see this in the series. Neither did we hear Rowena thank him for tying her to her horse – she objected quite strongly at the time!
The fact that Rowena doesn’t call him a liar to his face seems to show that she is prepared to sacrifice her reputation, if only it will convince Mark not to marry her. Or perhaps those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor!
Mark’s sword can’t be very sharp, if he can hold it by the blade.
Arthur has a puzzling piece of dialogue just before his fight with Mark. “You know what they call a man that marries for land, don’t you?” Mark replies by shouting, “Rat!” but this seems to be an insult, rather than a reply. So what word did the writers have in mind, that would so enrage Mark, just by implication? “Fortune-hunter”? “Gold-digger”? Neither seems terribly cutting.
Perhaps Mark was annoyed by the suggestion that he was playing a feminine role, in social ladder climbing, and marrying for what he can get out of it. Even then, Arthur’s taunt doesn’t make much sense in the historical context, where most rulers' marriages were contracted for strategic or political reasons.
What happened to Rowena’s attendants? When she left Mark's village unwed, she seems to have left them behind.
Of course, the burning question of the episode is, why does Arthur treat Rowena so dishonestly? Is he afraid to admit to love, after seeing how badly Kai’s affairs of the heart have gone? He doesn’t seem to have had many of his own. Perhaps he thinks it’s too soon to commit himself to one woman. Or is he just too busy for love?
And is anyone else as worried as I am, to see Kai, drinking alone, in the middle of the day?
MusicSome of the music tracks used in this episode were:
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: Arthur gets bad news.
Track 14, Chase! Arthur and Llud set off to see Yorath.
Track 17, Pensive Moment: Llud questions Arthur’s motives.
Track 20, The Fair Rowena: Rowena tries to get through to Arthur.
Track 4, Sentinels: Mark refuses to lose his temper.
Track 15, At Dead of Night: Arthur insults Rowena.
Track 24, Carousal: Mark and Rowena survey their thrones.
Track 15, At Dead of Night: Arthur trips Mark in his wedding finery.
Track 26, Evil Stirs: Arthur seems to be losing the fight.
Track 29, Pastoral Episode: Arthur decides to escort Rowena home.
The whole suite of music, beautifully written and orchestrated for the series by
Paul Lewis, is now available on
CD.Cast Arthur …………….... Oliver Tobias
Kai ……………….… Michael Gothard
Llud ………………... Jack Watson
Yorath …………….... Georg Marischka
Rowena …………..… Gila von Weitershausen
Mark ……………….. Brian Blessed
Messenger …………. Martin Read
Celt Warrior ……...... David Hyde
CrewDirector ………….…. Sidney Hayers
Writer ………………. Terence Feely
Executive Producer … Patrick Dromgoole
Producer ……………. Peter Miller
Associate Producer …. John Peverall
Production Manager ... Keith Evans
Post-production …….. Barry Peters
Fight Arranger ……… Peter Brayham
Cameraman ………… Bob Edwards
Camera Operators ..… Brian Morgan, Mike Haftie
Editor ……………….. Terry Maisey
Sound recordist ……... Mike Davey
Set Dresser ………….. Ken Bridgeman
Art Director ………… Doug James
Assistant Director …... Keith Knott
Production Assistant ... Maggie Hayes
Costume Design .…… Audrey MacLeod
Make-up ……………. Christine Penwarden
Incidental music ……. Paul Lewis
Theme music ……….. Elmer Bernstein
1 More of Patrick Dromgoole’s memories can be found
here.2 In “The Penitent Invader”, another episode written by Terence Feely, Rolf refers to Arthur as “The Bear.”
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