Arthur of the Britons

Plot

The episode begins with Mark of Cornwall, practising his wrestling skills, for some Games, to be held in Arthur’s village. Between bouts, one of Mark’s advisors, Herrick, suggests that these Games will enhance Arthur’s reputation with the Celtic tribes, at Mark’s expense. They agree to try to stop Arthur’s alliance from becoming too powerful and united, too quickly.

In Arthur’s village, preparations for the Games are in full swing. As Arthur and Llud suggest changes to the long jump course, Mark, Herrick, and three other Cornishmen arrive, and Mark indulges in some banter with Arthur and Llud, who then privately mock his boastfulness.

Noticing Yorath and the Jutish party approaching, Mark greets them with a few gratuitous insults. Herrick and Mark discuss whether Arthur and his people will be as easy to provoke as Yorath.

Kai overhears them, and tells Arthur and Llud that Mark intends to cause trouble.

That night, Arthur meets up with Rowena, who is hoping for a romantic interlude on the torch-lit bridge. But Arthur – between kissing her – asks her to spy on Mark and Herrick, and she goes off in a huff.

While Yorath and some other visiting chiefs are dicing and drinking, one of the chiefs brings up a past dispute. They nearly come to blows, but another chief gets between them, and they make friends again.

Rowena interrupts the game, to tell Yorath what Arthur has asked of her.  She wants to go home, and threatens to ask Yorath’s champion wrestler, Trederne to take her.  Yorath urges her to help Arthur; everyone will benefit, if the alliance stays strong.

Next morning, Rowena approaches Mark, and offers to help him against Arthur. But when Mark tests her resolve, she admits that she doesn’t have the stomach to hurt Arthur.

Then Rowena talks to one of Mark’s young Cornishmen – Barth – whom she finds by the river, training for the foot-race. Barth reveals that Mark’s plan is to provoke Arthur and his men into drawing their weapons, thus spoiling the Games.

When she passes the information to Arthur, he pretends to be jealous over her conversation with Barth.

The Games begin with the long jump. An old man tells tall tales of past feats of athletic prowess, and everyone seems in a good mood.

While watching some men compete at catching piglets, Arthur, Kai and Llud discuss what to do when Mark's provocation begins.

Kai and Barth line up with some other young men, and the foot-race begins. Kai is in the lead, but as they turn back, Barth trips him, and he falls. He gets up and finishes the race, but Barth wins. Kai congratulates Barth on his victory, and when Mark accuses Kai of fouling Barth, Kai apologises.

Next, Arthur takes part in a riding event, where each competitor has to retrieve a piece of cloth from the ground, while riding at speed. Arthur succeeds, but as he holds his target aloft, one of Herrick’s henchmen flourishes a cloak in front of Arthur’s horse, and Arthur falls off. He manages to keep his temper, and pretends to blame his horse for being too easily startled.

Llud then competes in a race, hauling a sled full of rocks. One of Mark’s men appears to knock Llud over. Llud gets up and finishes the race, coming in third. He congratulates the winner, then apologises to Mark’s man, for obstructing him.

Last is the wrestling contest. As Mark gets ready, Herrick tells him they have failed to provoke Llud. Mark realises that Arthur must have known of their plan. Herrick tries to persuade Mark to provoke Yorath to violence, by cheating during his championship bout with Yorath’s wrestler. An outraged Mark almost strangles Herrick.

Yorath’s party arrives, and the contest between Mark and Trederne begins. They seem fairly well matched, but Mark - without cheating – comes out on top, and the two embrace.

Arthur publicly congratulates Mark, suggests that he hosts next year’s games, and offers the Cornish party hospitality for the night. Mark accepts. Herrick tries to persuade Mark to make trouble at the banquet; Mark throws him into the pig pen, and announces that next year’s Games will be in Cornwall.

That night, Arthur approaches Rowena, who is - once again - hoping for romance on the torch-lit bridge. But Kai calls, and Arthur asks Rowena to wait, while he teaches Mark’s men a lesson. Rowena looks resentful.

Arthur joins Kai, Llud, and four more of his men, and they rush into the longhouse, where a ruckus ensues. Rowena turns her back. Arthur and his men swagger out of the longhouse, laughing and play-fighting, evidently pleased with themselves.


Timeline

"The Games" appears after "Six Measures of Silver" on the "Konig Arthur" DVDs, and in the "Konig Arthur" book. Seasonal cues also support this order.

Suggested shooting order so far

Arthur 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
The Prize
Six Measures of Silver/Rolf the Preacher
The Games


Locations

This episode was filmed in the village at Woollard.  For the opening scene, set in Mark’s village, some large sheets of cloth have been hung from poles, to hide the fact that Mark was practising his wrestling moves in Arthur’s village!



The scene where Mark and Yorath arrive is filmed on the north east side of the village, and the scene where Rowena tries to join Mark’s plot is on the south west side of the longhouse.



Most of the contests take place outside the palisade, to the east of the site. In the scene at the end, Arthur and his men enter the longhouse through the door at the south east end, and one of the brawlers is subsequently thrown out of the south west door.




Cast notes

In real life, Drew Henley must have been considerably more charismatic than his character, Herrick. Before his final marriage to Linda Lee Henley, he was married to Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan from “Blake’s Seven”) for four years, and to Felicity Kendall (Barbara from “The Good Life”) for eleven.



In 1977, shortly before he gave up show business, he appeared in “Star Wars - A New Hope” as X-Wing Squadron Red Leader Garven Dreis.

Christopher Mitchell, who played Barth, later appeared in “It Ain't Half Hot Mum”, as Gunner Nigel 'Parky' Parkin.



Rollo Gamble was a writer, director and producer as well as an actor. His role as peacemaker Erwith was one of his last; he died in 1973.

The fellow who waved his cloak at Arthur’s horse, credited as “Celt”, was played by Terence Woodfield.

The wrestler Trederne features quite prominently, but - despite having a line in the scene where he was dicing with Yorath and some other chiefs - he was uncredited. It seems likely that he was one of Peter Brayham’s stunt team.  Some wrestling afficionados have suggested that he might be “Jumping” Jim Hussey¹, who would have been about 48 at the time, but this is disputed by someone who knew him.






Author note

Though “The Games” was perhaps the least political of David Osborn’s three credited scripts, Mark’s relationship with the other Celtic chiefs, and his attitude to the alliance, may have had more obvious significance when it was written.

Herrick argues that the alliance weakens Mark’s position, but Mark wisely argues, “I am part of that alliance … The alliance is, in itself, a good thing … To join forces against our common enemy the Saxons must be a sensible plan.” And in the end - though tempted by Herrick’s isolationist arguments, and happy to try to cause Arthur some embarrassment, if he can do it covertly - Mark decides that his status within the organisation matters more than an individualist agenda.

The episode was filmed just a few weeks before Britain joined the Common Market, on 1 January 1973.


Filming

In Arthur’s first scene on the bridge with Rowena, the flaming torches suggest that their quarrel was supposed to take place at night, but appears to have been filmed late afternoon, while the final scene on the bridge was filmed at night.

 


Re-working the legend

If this series had been set in Camelot, one might have expected jousting, spear-throwing, and sword-fighting to be part of any formal games. Arthur’s event is more like a cross between a country fair and the Olympic Games.

Competitors participate in the long jump, a foot race, shot-putt, sled-pull, catch-a-pig, picking up scarf from horseback, and wrestling. Mark also mentions “the hand-to-hand” - though how this differs from Mark’s wrestling contest is not explained - and “the tournament”: presumably a quarterstaff contest, as staves were used.

Of course, if edged weapons had been part of the official games, it would have been harder to make an issue of the drawing of swords in anger, and in any case, an Arthurian tournament in microcosm had already been acted out by Arthur and Kai, in an earlier episode, “The Challenge.”


The elephant and the flea

Herrick has styled himself as Mark's advisor, and Mark seems content to listen, and to let Herrick stroke his ego: “Who is the most powerful king in The West? … You”. But when Herrick asks what Mark has to lose by participating in the Games, Mark’s reply - “You, I suspect, are about to tell me”- shows a healthy cynicism.

Llud neatly sums up the relationship at the heart of the episode: “Mark doesn’t care if Herrick exists or not. They’re the elephant and the flea.” But Herrick is a flea who doesn’t know when to stop biting.

Even after an incredulous Mark has almost strangled him for suggesting that he cheat in the wrestling final, Herrick persists, suggesting that they start trouble during the celebration feast; he gets thrown in with the pigs, for his trouble.


A fine romance

Since Arthur and Rowena met, their relationship has followed a pattern: Rowena makes an approach, and Arthur rebuffs her, but eventually helps solve her problem. In “Rowena”, he took her to be married to Hecla, but eventually gave the “butterfly” back her wings. In “Some Saxon Women”, he refused to interfere when Yorath wanted to sell the women into slavery, but then shamed Yorath into dropping his plan, and was reconciled with Rowena. In “The Marriage Feast”, Rowena’s impending marriage to Mark of Cornwall forced Arthur to intervene, and at the end, Arthur hinted that they would spend the journey to her father’s village discussing wedding plans of their own.

But in “Six Measures of Silver”, Rowena's hopeful enquiry about Arthur suggested that if any such plans were made, they had came to nothing; it looked as though Rowena had not seen Arthur for some time.

"The Games" gives Arthur ample opportunities to frustrate and disappoint poor Rowena even more - and he takes every one of them.

First, he turns what Rowena hoped would be a tryst, into an attempt to recruit her as a spy. To add insult to injury, he prefaces this with sweet talk: “sleep will not come to a man whose thoughts are as troubled as mine. Thoughts of you.”

She can hardly be blamed for saying she hopes that Mark and Herrick’s plan is to break Arthur’s neck!

To make matters worse, her father – who didn’t witness the sledgehammer manipulation which ruined his daughter’s romantic evening - doesn’t understand why she is hurt.  He sides with Arthur, and calls it, “one of your usual stupid quarrels” - leaving us to wonder how many of these quarrels we haven’t seen, and what they were about.

Rowena asks, “Am I Arthur’s slave, to be ordered to do this or that whenever he snaps his fingers?” She is genuinely upset, which makes her decision to help Arthur all the more laudable.

It must be hurtful to realise that everyone thinks Arthur is leading her on. Even Mark of Cornwall knows enough about the state of their relationship to make a crude joke: “What’s he done? Or is it more what he hasn’t done?” There is some genuine feeling in her plea, “If there’s a knife to be thrust, let me thrust it. Let me be the first.”

But when confronted with the real possibility of Arthur being hurt - “Here’s a knife. And there’s Arthur!” - Rowena turns with an anguished gasp. She may even have thought Mark had actually seen Arthur approaching, and thrown a knife at him. When she sees the knife lodged in a hanging water-skin, she can’t hide her relief, and when Mark asks, “Is that what you want?” she has to admit that it isn’t.

Even when she has given Arthur the information he wants, he carries on manipulating her, pretending violent jealousy of “that young warrior of Mark’s”.  His play-acting convinces Llud and Kai, who clearly expect trouble; Llud even tries to mollify him. Then, with complete confidence that Rowena has eyes for no one else, Arthur cynically mocks her: “I couldn’t spoil her moment of triumph”. He plays games with her for his own amusement, and that of his friends.

So, since “The Marriage Feast”, Arthur’s attitude to Rowena has gone from being sufficiently jealous to risk death at the hands of Mark of Cornwall, to completely detached and emotionless. Perhaps, when he said that his motivation in stopping the wedding was to stop Mark of Cornwall from getting his hands on Rowena’s lands, Arthur was at least partly telling the truth. But if he thought her talking to Barth was such a joke, why was he keeping such a close eye on her, in the first place?

Hoping that her participation in the foiling of Mark and Herrick’s plan has earned her some credit in Arthur’s eyes, poor Rowena once again meets him on the torch-lit bridge. But as usual, business comes first; when Kai calls, Arthur asks her to wait, so that he can go and take revenge on Mark and his men for cheating at the games, and leaves her standing there, alone.


Fun and Games for Dark Age Men

These Games provide more opportunities than usual for macho posturing. Mark is especially competitive - Arthur is wrong if he “thinks Mark and his Cornishmen prefer meat and ale, to going home champions!”

Even Llud is not immune from bragging.  With the silver hand which disqualifies him from the hand-to-hand combat, he thumps Mark’s thigh, and says that if he were allowed to participate, Mark “might as well go home …”

Mark then asks Arthur – “are you going to give me the pleasure of rubbing your nose in the dust, in the wrestling?” Arthur implies that wrestling isn’t skilful enough for him, and Mark calls equestrian competitions, “games for women and children.”

Mark neatly insults both Rowena and the Jutish wrestling champion, Trederne, by pretending to think they are sisters, and tells Yorath to send Trederne back, “to play … with the children.”

When Rowena approaches him, Mark says, “I suppose you’ve come to plead for that girl-child, Trederne – to beg for his cracked ribs?” He eats in a deliberately uncouth manner, spitting out a mouthful of food. He belches. He makes a crude joke about her lack of progress with Arthur, and when she admits she doesn’t want to hurt Arthur, he says, “Just like a woman. No action, and all talk.”

With astute powers of observation, Barth admits the Mark is “a fine warrior, but not always as gentle with women as he might”.

And before the wrestling bout, just to show that he isn’t above some bragging, Yorath asks Mark’s men whether they brought a broom, to sweep up Mark’s “splintered bones”.


The best laid plans …

Presumably, Arthur’s Games are meant to bring the tribes together, to celebrate and strengthen the Celtic alliance, and not simply – as Herrick would have Mark believe – to put one over on Mark!

Mark and Herrick’s counter-plan to disrupt the games would have gone better if they hadn’t talked so loudly about it in Arthur’s village! The fact that Rowena knew something was afoot, and asked to join in, should have given Mark a clue that they’d been rumbled.

The hapless Barth, easily charmed by Rowena’s sad face, gives away the entire plot, explaining that she can’t join in, because no provocation from her would achieve the desired result.

Rowena warns Arthur that he will be provoked, “so it will be you who first draws the sword. The Games will be ruined, and you will be discredited.”

Though it is Arthur who determines that, “When they do provoke us, we smile, and hold our temper even if it’s fit to burst”, it is he who has most difficulty sticking to this!

Barth is understandably disconcerted by their failure to provoke Arthur; he must be worried that Mark will find out it was he who gave the game away!  Oddly, Mark doesn’t try to apportion blame, but puts it down to Arthur’s cunning: “Blast him for a fox! He’s put us down.”

Herrick, still bent on getting his way, thinks that if Mark cheats at the wrestling, Yorath will draw a weapon, and Arthur’s treaty with the Jutes will force him to draw in support.
But Mark’s championship is more important to him than Herrick’s plot. In the end, it seems that the alliance will hold firm, as Mark agrees to host the Games in Cornwall next year.

Arthur’s treacherous and childish revenge attack on the Cornish party - a flagrant violation of the rules of hospitality - seems almost calculated to destroy the reputation he has worked so hard to protect.


Yorath’s Wisdom

Yorath may be an old stick-in-the-mud, but he does talk sense to Rowena.

“Tonight we drink, and cast dice. Not long ago, it was a different sort of game. It was the ring of swords and the screaming of men dying. War and armies, year in, year out. If Mark and Herrick – that toad – if they’re up to no good, and you can flush them out, you’re doing all of us a service. Not just Arthur – all of us.”


"By the Gods!"

When the dice don’t fall kindly for Yorath, Erwith jokingly suggests that the gods are punishing him for his sins. 

Rowena is still wearing a cross around her neck.


Great moments

Arthur, taking an interest in the minutiae: “A line to mark the jumping-off place is no good. Two or three contestants, it’ll disappear – there’ll be arguments … Sink in a narrow log instead, here.”

Mark’s pretence at embarrassment when he “mistakes” Trederne for Rowena’s sister.

Rowena’s refusal to give in to Arthur’s bullying …



… and Kai’s weather-defying fashion-statement.

Kai - after losing the foot race - stalking purposefully towards Barth, as if to start a fight, then congratulating him with a back-handed compliment. Mark’s look of befuddled outrage.

Mark’s refusal to risk his wrestling championship for the sake of his plot.

Arthur’s men, preparing for a rumble.


Quote/unquote

Mark: The alliance is, in itself, a good thing …

Arthur: Sleep will not come to a man whose thoughts are as troubled as mine.

Yorath: Tonight we drink, and cast dice. Not long ago, it was a different sort of game.

Rowena: Demand from your soldiers. From me, you can only ask.

Kai: I always heard they could run like the wind in Cornwall. Now it’s proven.

Arthur: What better way to strengthen our alliance, than a great victory by a great king?


He ain’t heavy …

Kai seems very concerned about Arthur, after he falls from his horse.




A wager’s a wager

Yorath and some other visiting chiefs are seen playing dice. Yorath says that, “if these dice are falling true, then there must be a curse on them!” He is definitely a betting man; Herrick knows that he is “laying odds on Trederne winning the wrestling.”


“That is bloody dangerous!”

As usual when Mark of Cornwall is involved, he has to throw a few extras around – or just drop them!

.

The spectators at the shot putt look like they are wishing they had taken out some insurance.




“Night-night, Kiddies!”

Two bits of innuendo just about qualify for this category: Barth asking Rowena, “Do you think your little dagger a match for his sword?” and Llud trying to reassure Arthur with, “Perhaps it was only her quick tongue that managed to wheedle the information.”

During Trederne’s wrestling contest against Mark of Cornwall, Yorath appears to be telling Trederne, “Break his neck!”


Dressed to kill?

At the beginning of the episode, Arthur wears the purple cloak seen in “Rowena”, as well as the blue woolly shirt with the chevron trim – definitely one of his favourites.



For his scenes in the longhouse discussing business with Kai and Llud, and on the bridge with Rowena, he changes his cloak for the sheepskin coat he used as a Saxon “disguise” in “The Prize.”



For his riding skills event, he strips down to a cheesecloth shirt with ivy-leaf trim on the collar.



For Kai’s longhouse scenes, he wears the shaggy white coat, with a new purple tunic with fawn trim, and a wide waistband. When the Games get under way, Kai swans around the arena in his big-sleeved jacket, with a barely-laced-up jerkin underneath. He sheds the jacket for the foot race.



Llud once more wears his new green shirt from "Six Measures of Silver", and the tunic first seen worn by Morcant in “Enemies and Lovers”.



For most of the episode, Mark wears the tunic with studs all over it, with a vest underneath, to cushion it. When Rowena comes to see him - possibly to remind us that his status matches Arthur’s – he is wearing a rather nice purple cloak ...



... but the vest underneath is revolting!



Rowena starts the episode in a blue tunic, but soon puts on a maroon dress and white woolly cloak.



Barth’s outfit is quite nice!


Extra! Extra!”

It must have been hard for this villager to decide which part of his job was the worst - being thrown around by Mark of Cornwall …



… or having to rub him down between bouts!




“A man on a horse is worth ten on foot”

Mark rides in on the grey horse, Pinkie, Herrick on Pythagoras, and Barth on Blondie; Flame and Trooper are also ridden by members of his party. Rowena arrives on her usual horse, Blackstar, Trederne on Outlander. Yorath rides the bay horse, Yogi, with a star shaped like an inverted “Y”.



Fenred complains that he had to threaten Yorath with an army, to get back a stallion he had loaned him, to breed with one of Yorath’s mares. Fenred’s stallion must have been pretty special for one of the Jutes – supposedly famed as horse-breeders - to want to borrow it!

Rowena tells Barth she “can ride as well as anyone.” Again, as a Jute, she should have been a capable horsewoman, but according to Oliver Tobias, Gila von Weitershausen – who played her - was not a very confident rider.

In the equestrian skills contest, the first contestant rides Flame, so he is presumably part of the Cornish contingent. When picking up the scarf, he leans over to his left – Arthur, who comes next, leans to his right.



While filming “Romance of a Horse Thief” in Yugoslavia a year or two previously, Oliver had learned a lot of equestrian tricks – such as picking things up from the ground at a gallop - from the Cossacks. Though he must have been confident he could perform the stunt, his decision to ride Blackstar, rather than either of his usual - taller - horses (Bernie and Skyline), must have made it easier.

When Blackstar is spooked by a flapping cloak, Arthur appears to fall off, but actually, Oliver performs a skilful dismount at speed.




“My word is my bond”

Arthur asks Mark and his men to spend the night as his “honoured guests” – an invitation which comes with the tacit promise to treat them well, and keep them safe. His premeditated attack on them while they are under his roof is tantamount to breaking his word.


Honourable mention

This goes to the chap in the first picture, anxiously clutching a cloak. He isn’t too concerned about the result of the race.



What troubles him, is that his friend is foolishly running around without a shirt on, in November!



As soon as the crazy chap – who must be from the north – finishes the race, his friend rushes forward to wrap a cloak around him!




What’s going on here?

Holding big events can be expensive, especially with no sponsorship!  Perhaps, after the cameras stopped rolling in “The Prize”, Arthur and his comrades succeeded in stealing the Hoxel’s plunder, and Arthur used his share of the proceeds to fund this extravagant celebration.

Herrick complains that, “There will be eating, I hear. Feasting and drinking, beside the gaming and the sport.” But surely he doesn’t expect everyone to do all that running around on an empty stomach? They will have come from far and wide – they have to be fed!

The way Mark goes to meet Yorath and the Jutish party when they arrive in Arthur’s village, as if he were the host, is extremely arrogant. As for his greeting - “There … big fat Yorath himself!” - how does he get away with it?

When Kai overhears Mark and Herrick discussing their plot, he is not deliberately eavesdropping – just sitting in a little hut, when they happen past. What is he doing in there? Is it the latrine?

And when Kai tells his friends what he heard, why are they so sceptical? Apart from his concealment of Roland in “The Prisoner”, he has always been reliable. Yet Llud prefaces his reaction with, “If what Kai says is true” - as if Kai often lies.

Arthur then says he would dismiss what Kai has told him, but for the twitching of Llud’s nose.  The hot-headed Kai we saw in earlier episodes might have – understandably - taken offence!

When Arthur gets Rowena to spy for them, they don’t find out much new information.  She just confirms what Kai said - that they will be provoked - and discovers the reasoning behind it.

Arthur wonders what Herrick stands to gain from creating conflict. Kai’s explanation - “he bears no love for you” - implies there has been some interaction in the past, which hasn’t turned out well for Herrick.

But a personal grudge seems a petty reason to try to destroy the Celtic and Jutish alliance against the Saxons. Perhaps there’s more to it than that. Herrick’s determination to get the job done makes one wonder whether he is being paid by Cerdig, to spread mistrust within the alliance.

When Barth spots Rowena standing by the river, he says, “I trust I am not the cause of your unhappy face.” What does he think he has done to offend her?

This villager, measuring the length of a jump, seems to have discovered electricity.



As the runners turn back at the end of the first lap of the foot race, Barth sticks a leg out, and trips Kai.



But he way Kai throws himself over Barth’s outstretched leg, is a diving performance worthy of a premier league footballer!



It seems very unlike Mark of Cornwall not to react to Kai’s, “I always heard they could run like the wind in Cornwall.” Perhaps the insult was too subtle for him!

In the equestrian skills contest, Arthur rides Rowena’s horse, so presumably even after his appalling treatment of her, she is still talking to him!



When Arthur, referring to his startled horse, says, “Fool beast that he is”, he looks pointedly at Mark!

The chap who waves a cloak in front of Arthur’s horse has fastened it using a suspiciously large and showy clasp; could this be a reward for his sabotage of Arthur’s event?



As far as his failure to win the sled-hauling race goes, Llud has little to complain about.



He isn’t even in the lead when he collides with Mark’s man, and it appears to be Llud who plays foul, deliberately crossing into the other man’s line!





And why is there is no sign of a prize for any of the winners?


Music

Some of the music tracks used in this episode were:

Track 22, Revelry: Mark practices his wrestling.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: Herrick’s counsel.
Track 24, Carousal: Mark boasts, Yorath arrives.
Track 20, The Fair Rowena: Arthur and Rowena meet on the bridge.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: Yorath persuades Rowena; Rowena talks to Mark.
Track 22, Revelry: Catching piglets, shot putt.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: Kai congratulates Barth.
Track 8, Kai the Saxon/Skirmish and Rout: equestrian skills contest.
Track 13, In All Weathers: Mark is annoyed by Arthur’s reaction; Llud’s sled-pull.
Track 16, Danger Mounts: the wrestling begins.
Track3, Celtic Horns/The Longships: Mark claims victory.

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
Herrick …………....... Drew Henley
Barth ……………….. Christopher Mitchell
Erwith ………….…... Rollo Gamble
Fenred ……….…....... Ray Edwards
Old Man …………..... Sidney Johnson
Celt ………………… Terence Woodfield
Trederne ……............. uncredited – possibly “Jumping” Jim Hussey

Crew

Director ………….…. Sidney Hayers
Writer ……………….. David Osborn
Executive Producer …. Patrick Dromgoole
Producer ……………. Peter Miller
Associate Producer …. John Peverall
Production Manager … Keith Evans
Post-production ……... Barry Peters
Fight Arranger ……… Peter Brayham
Cameraman ………… Graham Edgar
Camera Operator …… Roger Pearce
Editor ……………….. Alex Kirby
Sound recordist …….. Gordon Kethro
Art Director ………… Doug James
Assistant Director ….. Stuart Freeman
Production Assistant .. Maggie Hayes
Set Dresser …………. Ken Bridgeman
Costume Design .…… Audrey MacLeod
Make-up ……………. Christine Penwarden
Incidental music …….. Paul Lewis
Theme music ………... Elmer Bernstein

¹ The father of Mark “Rollerball” Rocco.

²  The others were “Some Saxon Women”, and “The Wood People.”

³ A stunt often included in displays of horsemanship performed in Asia. See also: The Equine Stars of "Arthur of the Britons" and The horses of "Arthur of the Britons": quick reference ID pictures.

Episode 2.10: The Games

Writer: David Osborne


OPENING SCENE

Mark of Cornwall’s village. Mark wrestles a villager, and throws him to the ground, twice, in quick succession. While another opponent is limbering up, Mark goes to get a drink. Herrick comes to stand at Mark’s shoulder.

Herrick: There will be eating, I hear. Feasting and drinking, beside the gaming and the sport.

Mark: Well, perhaps Arthur thinks Mark and his Cornishmen prefer meat and ale, to going home champions!

He puts down his beaker, slaps Herrick on the back, approaches his next opponent, and claps his hands in invitation.

Mark: Come!

They wrestle. Herrick approaches.

Herrick: It isn’t only your athletes he’s out to beat, you know. It’s you. Hold games, invite the chieftains and kings to celebrate his special alliance.

Mark grunts, and heaves his opponent onto his shoulders.

Herrick: And then, with all his new Celtic alliances sealed – what of you?

Mark pauses, then drops the man to the ground.

Mark: What of me, Herrick?

Herrick: Haa, you will win your wrestling match when Arthur’s Games convene. But what will you lose?

Mark: You, I suspect, are about to tell me.

Mark sits on a bench, and dries his hands with a cloth. Herrick puts one foot on the bench, and leans close to Mark.

Herrick: Who is the most powerful king in The West?

Mark looks up enquiringly.

Herrick: You.

Mark: Yeah.

Herrick: But let there be an alliance sealed between all the other chiefs and kings, and they together, will be stronger than you.

Mark: You forget – I am part of that alliance.

Herrick: If you behave yourself, and do not cross Arthur.

Mark hands Herrick a drink.

Herrick: Argue with him, and break away, and you will find yourself facing a far greater army than you can raise - with Arthur at its head.

Mark: [thoughtfully] The alliance is, in itself, a good thing - you’d agree, Herrick? To join forces against our common enemy the Saxons must be a sensible plan. But perhaps we are not quite ready for it – just yet.

They grin conspiratorially, and clink their mugs together.

[OPENING CREDITS]


PART 1
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