PlotThe episode starts with Arthur, up to his chest in a river, putting the end of a hollow reed into his mouth, and sinking beneath the surface. He is hiding from a group of Saxon warriors, who wear distinctive shark-fin helmets. Their leader, Hoxel, and Cubert, his second-in-command, conclude that Arthur must have drowned. When they give up the search, Arthur emerges, gasping for breath.
Some time later, Arthur finds Mark of Cornwall, testing out some mail shirts. He advises Mark against buying something that will slow him down, asks for the loan of Mark’s Saxon longboat, then tricks him into coming along on an expedition, to steal some treasure from a Saxon base, upstream.
Thinly disguised as Saxons, Arthur, Mark, and sixteen of Mark’s men make their way up-river. Some friendly-looking Saxons wave to them, and Arthur cheerily waves back.
Further on, Arthur tells Mark to set him down on the bank, to check which branch of the river they need to follow. Instead, Arthur goes to meet his man, Baldur, who says that Hoxel wants Arthur to surrender his village, in exchange for some unspecified prize. Saying that he’ll reply tomorrow, Arthur returns to the boat.
The longboat moves deeper into Saxon territory. They row past a group of Saxon warriors - including some wearing shark-fin helmets - without incident, and Arthur refuses to stop for food or rest, until they have left them far behind. But when they finally stop and take a nap, their two sentries fail to spot the Saxons creeping up on them.
Arthur notices the longboat moving away from the shore. He wakes Mark; they swim out, and haul themselves aboard. Several Saxons attack, and while Arthur and Mark are fighting them off, more Saxons attack and kill the rest of the Celts, leaving Arthur and Mark alone in the boat.
Baldur returns to Hoxel, and tries to stall for time, but Hoxel sticks to his demand. If Arthur refuses to give up his village, Kai and Llud - who are tied to nearby trees - will be hunted and killed, tomorrow.
Now there’s just the two of them, Mark thinks that he and Arthur should just go home, but Arthur persuades Mark that they can still take the treasure. To avoid detection, they will use a narrow stream which runs off the main river, and re-joins further up. Arthur still hasn’t revealed his real purpose.
Next morning, Kai and Llud speculate about their chances of survival; Kai doubts that Arthur will arrive in time to save them.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Mark try desperately to free their boat, which is stuck in the mud. Mark is about to give up, but Arthur persuades him to try a new tactic. They succeed in freeing the boat, and continue their journey.
While Llud passes the time by telling Kai how to tickle trout, Arthur and Mark continue to row. As they get closer, Hoxel has Llud and Kai untied from their trees, then manacled together.
Mark suggests hiding the boat and waiting for dark, before raiding the Saxon camp, but Arthur says their Saxon disguise will be enough to get them in.
Hoxel tells his prisoners that they can run in any direction, in woods surrounded by Saxons; whoever kills them will get extra rations for a week. Llud and Kai set off. Luckily, Hoxel delays the start of the hunt, because there will be more “sport” if the quarry is harder to find.
Arthur finally admits to Mark that his real aim is to rescue Kai and Llud. Mark is furious.
Kai and Llud, still handcuffed together, easily deal with their first Saxon attacker.
Arthur and Mark approach a Saxon, and ask to speak to his chief. The Saxon tells them that a hunt has just started; Arthur knows that Kai and Llud are the quarry. He and Mark hurry to the rescue.
Kai and Llud deal with four more Saxons, and when Hoxel and Cubert attack, Arthur and Mark dispatch them. All four Celts run to the longboat, and make their escape.
Llud thanks Mark, for coming to save them, then Kai and Llud tell him that the Saxons have a store hut full of gold and silver treasure. As the credits roll, they start turning the boat around, to go back and steal the treasure.
TimelineThe filming of this episode is featured in an
article in the Western Daily Press, dated 19 October 1972, so most of the episode was definitely filmed in the week beginning 16 October.
“The Prize” appears immediately after “The Marriage Feast” in both the “Konig Arthur” book, and the German DVDs. Seasonal cues, such as the condition of trees and other vegetation, suggests that this order corresponds with the order in which they were filmed.
However, in a
letter written in November, not long after the filming of “The Pupil” and “The Wood People”, Michael Gothard mentions having recently been tied to a tree: something which only happens in “The Prize”, so it is possible that the scenes in which Kai and Llud were shown tied to a tree were filmed during while Oliver Tobias was filming his romantic scenes with Catherine Schell, for “The Girl from Rome”.
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
The Prize
LocationsThe previously mentioned article in the Western Daily Press, states that the longboat scenes in this episode were filmed on the River Avon, in Freshford, near Bath.
The reed bed scenes were probably filmed upstream of where the Avon joins with the Frome, in an area
described by blogger OpenSkySwimmer as “wide, shallow, slow moving … a reed bed rather than a river.”
The scenes where Kai and Llud are tied to trees, and where they fought Hoxel and his men, could have been filmed in the woods near Woollard.
Cast notesTim Condren, who played Hoxel, was a respected stuntman and trainer, as well as an actor.
Adrian Cairns, who played Heardred the builder in “The Slaves”, makes a second appearance in the series, as the Armourer, whose name – which is not mentioned - is Ruan.
A character named “Cubert” - played by George Giles - appears in the credits. Though his name is not mentioned in the episode, he seems to have been Hoxel’s second-in-command. George Giles also played the Guard Captain in the Dr Who story, “The Curse of Peladon”.
The actor who played Baldur -
Richard Durden – has rarely been off our screens.
Re-working the legendThe scene where Mark and Arthur criticise the chain-mail, and fish-scale armour, dismissing it as impractical, may have been a conscious attempt to explain to the audience, why there is no "Shining armour" in the series.
When Arthur lures Mark into his scheme with talk of “monastery ornaments” and “chalices, studded with diamonds”, one could be forgiven for being reminded of the search for the Holy Grail, though the one sought by the Arthurian knights was less worldly. In this case, the “treasures” Arthur is actually seeking are the lives of his comrades.
The Best of FrenemiesIn “The Prize”, the relationship between Arthur and Mark of Cornwall once again takes centre-stage. It’s Arthur’s bad luck that he needs Mark’s help, because they usually manage to rub each other up the wrong way, and Mark has also had run-ins with Llud and Kai.
In “Arthur is Dead”, Arthur tricked Mark into attending talks with other Celtic leaders, and Mark was disgruntled that Arthur had usurped his presumed status as the most important of the Celtic chiefs.
Months later, in “The Prisoner”, Arthur refused to surrender Kai’s prisoner to Mark, even when Mark threatened to turn some of the other chiefs against him, and Mark and Kai had a fight.
In “The Duel”, though Mark pitched in to help in a decisive battle with the Saxons, he spent the whole episode picking on Llud.
And in “The Marriage Feast”, Arthur succeeded in ruining Mark’s plan to marry Rowena for her land, and as a final indignity, Mark ended up covered in mud.
So when Arthur shows up and gives unsolicited advice on battle gear, it's quite surprising that he isn't sent home with a flea in his ear! Perhaps Mark wasn't so keen on getting married, after all!
In any case, Arthur knows that whatever he says, Mark will look for hidden motives, so he deliberately arouses his suspicions by offering compliments and unsolicited advice. Then he asks a smaller favour than Mark is expecting – the loan of a boat, and “a handful of men” - supposedly to raid a Saxon supply base. He behaves in an overly-casual manner, convincing Mark that he is hiding something, and finally ‘reveals’ that the base he is going to raid is full of gold and silver.
By the time Arthur fobs Mark off with the unlikely story that Kai and Llud are busy on other missions, Mark is too dazzled by the prospect of treasure to doubt him. So in the end, Mark supplies sixteen men, though he initially refused to provide any at all!
All things considered, the two of them get along very well throughout the trip. When every single one of Mark’s men is killed, he is upset and frustrated, but doesn’t seem to feel that Arthur is to blame, and when their boat gets stuck in the mud, it is only after spending all night trying to get it free, that Mark almost gives up. When Arthur works out a solution to the problem, Mark helps him once again, and they laugh in triumph, and even give each other a brief hug before jumping back into the boat.
Of course, the thought of the monastery treasures awaiting them at the end of the journey could be what keeps Mark’s temper under control! And when Arthur finally admits that the “treasure” consists of Kai and Llud, it is to Mark’s great credit that neither goes off in a huff, nor points out that the lives of Arthur’s two friends come at a cost of many others.
Maybe it’s just that he doesn’t have time to blow his top before they arrive at their destination, and have to charge to the rescue. Or perhaps we can see the seeds of a genuine friendship between the four of them, beginning to grow.
“My word is my bond”In “Daughter of the King”, writers David Pursall and Jack Seddon introduced the idea that it was important to be able to trust a leader’s given word. On this occasion, Arthur played a trick on Eithna, to find out whether Bavick’s promises could be relied upon.
Michael J. Bird then made Arthur’s word a crucial factor in his episode, “In Common Cause”. Arthur promised to give Cerdig some of the Celts’ animals to replace those the Saxons had lost to a plague, and left Kai as hostage to that promise. When Kai escaped, and urged Arthur to keep the animals, Arthur left it to Kai to decide whether this was the right thing to do, and after much soul-searching, Kai agreed that the promise should be kept.
In “Rowena”, written by Robert Banks Stewart, Arthur insisted - against his own wishes - on keeping his word to Yorath, by delivering Rowena to Hecla to be wed, against her will. He pointed out that, as she originally agreed to the match, she too had an obligation to keep her word.
In David Osborne’s “Some Saxon Women”, Yorath accused Arthur of rescuing the women from his camp, and refused to believe Arthur’s angry denial. On the basis of this loss of credibility, the Celts’ peace treaty with the Jutes nearly foundered.
In Robert Banks Stewart’s “The Prize”, Arthur lies to Mark, over and over, to get him to come along on the trip. “Not men … I would borrow a boat from you”; “Kai’s leading a group of men to help Yorath the Jute against some marauding Angles. Llud is further south, with Hereward, who’s plagued by the Scots”; “There could be arms”; “I can assure you, Mark, that this is simply an attack on a Saxon encampment”; “Monastery ornaments. Chalices, studded with diamonds. Treasures of gold and silver.” (This turns out to be true, but Arthur didn’t know it at the time.) Later, when he says he needs to scout out their route, he goes to meet Baldur instead.
When Arthur finally admits that there is no treasure, and that their mission is to save Kai and Llud, Mark can’t scarcely believe it. The idea that Arthur is basically honest, truthful and reliable, is so set in stone that even Mark - despite his initial suspicions - is completely taken aback.
When the lives of his father and brother are at stake, Arthur is ready to full advantage of his reputation, and cash in all the credit he has built up over the years, to save them. Though he still seems reluctant to face the fact that he has lied, telling Mark they have come for “Treasure counted in human lives ...”
He wisely refrains from suggesting that his promise of “Treasures of gold and silver” is fulfilled by Kai’s golden hair, and Llud’s silver hand!
The best laid plans …Arthur tells Mark he has “New tactics. Hit the Saxons in the rear, and they will ease off pressure on our villages.” Perhaps that was how he, Kai and Llud got themselves into trouble in the first place!
It was sensible to insist on putting some distance between themselves and the party of helmeted Saxons before stopping to rest, but Arthur really should have posted some competent sentries - or stayed awake himself. After all, he shouldn’t have been tired – he didn’t do any of the actual rowing!
As for the quest to rescue two Celt warriors: was it worth the sacrifice of the lives of sixteen other Celts?
Family TiesBoth Llud and Kai have complete faith that Arthur will come to their aid; Kai’s only question is, “will he come in time?” The strength of Arthur’s family ties shows in the considerable lengths to which he goes to save Kai and Llud. When he comes clean to Mark, he tells him that “One … is as a brother to me. The other I love as a father.”
Celts and SaxonsKai and Llud are held captive by Saxons, and Arthur reminds Mark that, “Ever since the Saxons came to these shores, they have burned and looted our monasteries.”
Hoxel and Cubert think it fitting that Kai and Llud be “hunted … The way you Celts hunt the boar … A circle of men – the hunters. Inside the circle – the hunted.”
Great momentsThe scene where Arthur hides underwater, breathing through a reed, which is reminiscent of a scene in “Dr No”, where James Bond uses a similar trick.
1Arthur, finessing Mark into coming on the trip.
Arthur, waving to the Saxons!
The shock reveal at the end of part one, where we see for the first time, that Kai and Llud are prisoners, and realise that Arthur has been lying the whole time.
Mark and Arthur working together to free the boat.
Kai and Llud trying to pass the time.
Mark’s comical confusion when Arthur is forced to admit the truth.
Mark’s response when Llud thanks him for the rescue: “Well … you would have done the same for me …” As if the word treasure has never even been mentioned!
A wager’s a wagerOn the morning of their planned execution, Llud poignantly tries to raise their spirits, by betting that they will “see the sunset tonight.” Kai says he’d “stake a hundred pieces of silver” that they don’t, though he wouldn’t mind losing.
Dark Age MenMark complains that Arthur keeps repeating himself “like an old washerwoman.”
“That is bloody dangerous!”The actors – especially Oliver Tobias, who was completely submerged – must have been exceedingly cold while filming in the river, in November. No doubt, in accordance with the wisdom of the time, “BRANDY” would once again have been listed among the props required for the day, as it was for
“The Penitent Invader”!
“Night-night, Kiddies!”Hoxel and Cubert’s bad guy dialogue - “Tomorrow, you’ll be killed. But first – hunted”, “Not too early a kill. We want some sport” - now sounds corny. But for the intended audience of children just home from school, it probably seemed quite chilling at the time, especially as Kai had already admitted that he didn’t expect to survive.
Dressed to kill? When first seen in the river, Arthur is wearing the blue woolly shirt with the chevrons on the cuffs, first seen at the end of “The Gift of Life”. Before going to see Mark of Cornwall, he finds time to change. Well, he’d have been daft to stay in wet clothes all day! He dons a nice new sheepskin jacket as a Saxon disguise. He later re-uses it in "The Wood People."
This is also seen in the scene from “Daughter of the King” which was filmed around this time, according to this
letter written by Michael Gothard. Llud's jerkin also appears in “Daughter of the King” and "The Prize", as well as "The Challenge."
Kai's suede shirt also appears in both "The Prize" and "The Challenge."
At the beginning, Mark wears the studded tunic seen intermittently in “The Prisoner.” His Saxon disguise consists of an axe, along with some sheepskin, which the other Celts also adopt.
While most of the Celts completely fail to hide their dark hair, some have made an effort, by wearing hoods. Some of the Saxons’ helmets don’t seem to fit very well.
The Celts also put their shields on the side of the longboat, presumably as Saxons would do. When the warriors are dead, the shields - which were left on land - are gone.
The shark-fin helmets worn by Horgren’s Saxons look very cool, but have no historical basis. Per Nick Dando on the Britmovie Forum, they "make no sense as far as protecting the head is concerned as a glancing blow would be enough to snap the neck of the wearer." They look as if they were made for a fantasy film, and hired for the episode.
Perhaps the prop department had seen these Gaulish helmets at Saint-Germain-en-Laye National Museum (left), or this Bronze Age Celtic helmet (right), and decided to elaborate on the designs.
Cubert has donned the “villain cloak” which Horgren wore in “The Gift of Life”.
Quote/unquoteArthur: The village belongs to my people. I cannot give them what is not mine.
Arthur: Treasure counted in human lives. Two friends. One, who is as a brother to me. The other I love as a father. That is the prize.
“A man on a horse is worth ten on foot”With this big Cheval de Frise, the Saxons seem to have gone over the top in their efforts to defend themselves against the one small horse - Blondie – who appears in this episode!
Extra! Extra! The loyalties of one of Mark’s men seem extremely suspect. Before joining Mark, he lived in Arthur's village - here he is in "The Pupil."
Before that, he worked for the Greek trader, and earlier still, he was one of Rolf's rabble!
Honourable mention…. goes to the beautiful Saxon longboat, and another to the magnificent river which provides the setting.
What’s going on here? Arthur is first seen hiding from a group of Saxons, who live many miles upstream from his own village, in an encampment where Kai and Llud are being held hostage. But how did they get there? Had the Saxons kidnapped them from Arthur’s village? Or had they got there under their own steam?
If so, what were they doing there? Were they trying to steal the Saxons’ treasure? Or trying to strike at them from the rear, as Arthur told Mark?
And how did they get there? If they came on horseback, did they lose their horses, or did Arthur manage to steal them back, to get home? It looks as if it would have been too far for him to walk, especially as he had to leave his friends in danger.
They could have used the Saxon longboat which brought Elka and Krist to their village in “The Gift of Life.” Esxcept that it looks like the same boat that Mark lets Arthur use it for the expedition.
The boat has ivy on it, as if it has not been used for a long time – good work, set dressers!
It would have been too cold for Oliver Tobias to stay in the water for any length of time, so the crew must have stuck a stick in the water, to fool the viewer into thinking that he is still down there, breathing through a reed. Seen fleetingly, it wouldn’t have been so obvious that it was just a flat stick, not a hollow reed!
When the Saxons are looking for Arthur, an upright structure with cross-beams can be seen in the distance; it looks like a water tower.
The Norse version of Cubert’s name – “goltr” - means “boar”. As no one calls him “Cubert” in the episode, this needs no explanation. However, Hoxel mentions that the Celts hunt the boar, and Cubert adds, “A circle of men – the hunters. Inside the circle – the hunted.” Perhaps Cubert – like his namesake - has experienced being hunted by the Celts!
It seems odd that Hoxel – a Saxon – has an Irish accent.
Why isn’t Mark surprised to see Arthur? Last time they met, Arthur robbed him of his intended bride and lands, and booted him in the rear!
Mark manages to slice through the first chain mail shirt very easily - because it is actually made of wool! The scale armour is already damaged when Arthur plunges his sword into it – presumably from an earlier take.
Mark’s question – “Who accompanies you on this campaign? Kai? Llud?” seems odd. Wouldn’t he have assumed they were coming along? Perhaps Kai and Llud really are spending more time on independent work. Arthur’s excuse - that Kai is leading a group of men to help Yorath against some marauding Angles - seems reasonable. But why would Hereward, who is based further south, be “plagued by the Scots”?
Despite his grudging reply - “You left me no choice” - Mark supplies the boat and the men, yet only demands half the treasure. This seems like a very good deal for Arthur! But in the end, when he reveals that his “treasure” is actually Kai and Llud, they don’t haggle over who gets which!
Arthur seems to have had a bit of trouble negotiating the boat, and falls down a gap.
Hoxel demands that Arthur surrender his village; but why does he want it? It’s just a collection of huts made of mud and wicker, in the middle of Celt territory, a long way from where he lives.
The first picture shows Arthur just as he notices the first group of Saxons, and the second, later on, when Galt asks to stop for food. Despite the outboard motor, they don’t seem to have travelled very far, in between! It was probably too time-consuming to set the camera up in a new location. Perhaps the motor was mainly used for moving the boat back for second and third takes.
It doesn’t seem fair that Mark has supplied the boat, and all sixteen men, yet the leading oarsman defers to Arthur for permission to stop. And why don’t they just take turns to eat and rest in the boat?
Arthur never explained why he wanted to use Mark’s men rather than his own, but Mark seems remarkably sanguine about the loss of 16 men! Considering his vengeful reaction when Roland had killed Agdor, (in “The Prisoner”) and when Llud accidentally killed Luke, (in “The Duel”) it makes one wonder whether he has been put on tranquilisers. He even refrains, this time, from complaining that Galt was his best man!
It's rather poignant to see the packs belonging to the dead Celts, still scattered around the boat.
Though they have already been attacked by Saxons, Arthur has the nerve to tell Mark that they still have surprise on their side! And could the two of them really have rowed that huge boat upstream?
“Yes, you can tickle them,” Llud says enigmatically. “Course you can.” He obviously isn’t talking about women, because Kai claims they “skittle away” from him when he tries it.
Kai seems to have created a new portmanteau word, a cross between skitter and scuttle!
For his part, Llud seems to enjoy trout-tickling a little too much!
For someone with a hut full of gold and silver, Hoxel is not generous with his rewards: “And the man that finds you, and kills you, receives extra rations for a week”. He’s got his stash of treasure, and he intends to keep it!
When Kai and Llud are being hunted, they kill one of their attackers, but neither of them thinks to pick up his spear, to defend themselves against future attackers.
It was nice that the director decided to show Kai and Llud getting the cuffs off.
When Llud thanks Mark for helping Arthur in their rescue, and Mark dryly replies, “You would have done the same for me”, does anyone in the boat believe it?
Why did the Saxons take Kai and Llud out of their prison hut, and tie them to trees? Perhaps it was so they could be filmed in daylight! But they would have been well-advised not to have let them see their treasure store.
Kai says it’s no wonder that the Saxons’ encampment was “so well guarded” - but Arthur and Mark seem to have infiltrated with no difficulty! And despite the fact that they must all be hungry and exhausted after their respective ordeals, they decide to risk going back for the loot!
MusicThe suite of music, beautifully written and orchestrated for the series by
Paul Lewis, is now available on
CD. The variation on Elmer Bernstein’s theme used when Arthur’s party sees the Saxon warriors on the river bank does not seem to have been included on the CD.
Some of the music tracks used in this episode were:
Track 26, Evil Stirs: Hoxel’s men hunt for Arthur.
Track 29, Pastoral Episode: Arthur, Mark and their oarsmen set out.
Track 3, Celtic Horns/The Longships: some Saxons wave from the shore.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: the Celts stop to rest, and come under attack.
Track 11, Desolation and Despair: Hoxel refuses to bargain with Baldur.
Track 20, The Fair Rowena: Kai and Llud wonder whether Arthur will come in time.
Track 3, Celtic Horns/The Longships: Arthur and Mark get the boat moving again.
Track 17, Pensive Moment: Llud describes catching fish by tickling them.
Track 13, In all Weathers: Arthur and Mark approach.
Track 9, Muttering and Plotting: the quarry is released.
Track 16, Danger Mounts: Kai and Llud fight for their lives, and escape with Arthur and Mark.
Track 6, Infiltration and Treachery: Kai and Llud describe the Saxons’ treasure hut.
Cast Arthur ……………...... Oliver Tobias
Kai ………………...… Michael Gothard
Llud ………………..... Jack Watson
Mark ……………….... Brian Blessed
Hoxel ……………….. Tim Condren
Cubert.…..................... George Giles
Baldur …….…............ Richard Durden
Galt ………………..... Geoff L’Cise
Ruan …………........... Adrian Cairns
CrewDirector ………….….. Pat Jackson
Writer ………….......... Robert Banks-Stewart
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 Operator ……. Brian Morgan
Editor ……………….. Alex Kirby
Sound recordist ……... Mike Davey
Dubbing mixer ……… John Cross
Art Director …………. Doug James
Assistant Director …… Stuart Freeman
Production Assistant … Ann Rees
Costume Design .…….. Audrey MacLeod
Make-up ……………... Christine Penwarden
Incidental music …….. Paul Lewis
Theme music ………... Elmer Bernstein
1 Oliver Tobias is said to have tried out for the role of Bond, which eventually went to Roger Moore. In 2003, a poster on the Brit Movie Forum told
this story:
"About twenty odd years ago I was working near Pinewood and used to sneak in and use the canteen. Over a sunny week I watched James Brolin and Oliver Tobias do screen tests for James Bond. Directed, it looked like, by the stuntman Martin Grace. It involved beating up Clive Curtis on a lavish room set. Due to the hot weather, tables and chairs were out on the patio and the french windows of the bar opened out onto the garden. As I sat taking in the "life of the stars" with a coke and packet of dry roasted peanuts I noticed a lonely person sitting quietly under a Skol Lager brolly having a light ale. It was Oliver Tobias. After a while he was joined by a middle-aged lady with a metal cash box. The lady sat down opened the box a counted out some cash. She gave him the money and he signed a page of foolscap. She then left. The whole thing took about a minute. He then got up went to the bar where Martin Grace and the rest of the Crew were drinking and started chatting. I went past the restaurant and as I left I could see, through the window, James Brolin sitting with some suits having a meal."
2 Considering his vengeful reaction when Roland had killed Agdor, and when Llud accidentally killed Luke, it makes one wonder whether he has been put on tranquilisers.
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