The BBC seem to have found their feet again somewhat with the Saturday evening family drama slot. This did remind me somewhat of Robin Hood – perhaps just the tone, or the production values – but this was much better.

It took a bit to get going, starting off a bit too teenage-bleugh, but eventually taking the legends and working with them. The element that keeps it balanced, I think, is that Uther (Anthony Head!) is a bit on the nasty side AND in charge, against all of the nice-y nice rest of the cast. And then it starts raising questions: will Merlin be found out? What’s Morgana going to do? And so on – enough to keep me watching.

Generally, all BBC dramas are well produced and Merlin doesn’t deviate from this a single bit. Sometimes the special effects seemed a tad amateurish but it actually added something to the series rather than diminished its worth. Truth be told, (some of) the actors being British and hearing the lovely British accent was all it took for me to take a liking on this series. At first the storyline seemed a bit feeble but it got better and better after each episode and the way Merlin and Arthur bonded, even though it happened very quickly and not much emphasis was put on its taking place, was really delightful. Many of the Arthurian legends were featured in the series, sometimes I got a feeling a bit too many of them, considering the episodes were supposed to concentrate on the young Merlin, before he became the greatest warlock of his time. In the series, we get to see glimpses of Lancelot, Excalibur, Avalon… At times it felt all a bit too overwhelming. Another thing that mostly just amuses me, is how the people and names don’t add up to the actual legends. Take Guinevere for example; she was the wife of Arthur, not a servant (like she is in the TV series). Or Lady Morgana; Morgan le Fay – a sorceress and an opponent to both Arthur and Guinevere. In the series it almost feels like she holds some kind of feelings for Arthur. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen in the second season. :) Can’t wait!