Though not unexpected, it is sad that hear that
Series 5 will be the final hurrah for
Merlin.
To be fair, the production had always suggested that this would be a five year show, but in many ways there is still a lot of untapped potential for the characters given their relative youth. As each year has progressed, the show has increased its both production values and ambition. Series 5 has been a world away from where
Merlin started and has become essential Saturday night viewing, holding its own against
The X Factor.
This year, with the institution of the Round Table, the death of Elyan in ‘The Dark Tower’ and the reintroduction of Mordred at the start of the series, it was clear that the stakes were increasing. Also, the recent news that actor Eoin Macken (Gwaine) was doing a
US TV pilot seemed to indicate that at least his character would not be coming back.
In most versions of Arthurian legend it is Mordred who kills Arthur in battle, often perishing also. For the BBC’s take on the story, which has cast Mordred as a young Druid who possesses magic, he is a mirror for Merlin. We suspect that his desire to live in world free to use his abilities may be the key to Arthur’s undoing. Merlin, on the other hand, has continually put his dreams aside for what he believes is the greater good.
While Arthur’s fate has been foretold, Merlin’s will doubtless be the more surprising. In Malloy’s
Le Morte d'Arthur he is the victim of a sorceress named Nimue, whom he adores. She learns everything she can from him but then tires of his affections and leaves him entombed forever.
Of course, Numueh was Merlin’s big bad in the first series, but in other versions of the tale that character is known as Vivien, Viviane or Niniane and sometimes she is the Lady of the Lake, or Morgana’s mother. Her trap is variously a rock, an ice cave or an invisible tower. Either way it doesn’t look good for Merlin! It’s worth remembering that this sow has a penchant for giving us a fresh take on legend, so perhaps they will provide something completely different.
And after the series ends, what is next for
Merlin?
There has been talk of a potential
Merlin animated series, but executive producer Julian Murphy
told CultBox that this could only really be considered once the TV series had ended. We imagine one avenue to explore is the tales of Merlin after the fall of Arthur, or perhaps such a show could occupy series gaps and fill in detail.
On the positive side, this could allow the chance for the central character to breathe, free from the show’s constraints, and have some solo adventures which would be unlimited by budget. Alternatively, such an animation might feel hampered by knowing the specifics of the characters’ ultimate fates, or worse still, it might be restricted by being aimed at an even younger audience than the show currently enjoys.
There has also been the suggestion of a
movie trilogy, an idea first mooted at this year’s
Comic Con in San Diego by the show’s co-creator and executive producer Johnny Capps. He indicated there were a couple ways this might pan out, either as a reboot which could restage certain key elements of the show’s five year run, or perhaps as a continuation of the tale. Either would be interesting, though we wonder what might sustain a Merlin movie trilogy without the key points of Arthurian Legend to underpin it?
What next for the cast?
Away from the story itself,
Merlin has been a superb launching ground for its young cast who will doubtless take their fan base with them onto new projects;
Colin Morgan (Merlin) has two movie credits to his name already,
Parked and
Island, while Bradley James (Arthur) starred in this summer’s
Fast Girls. Tom Hopper (Pervical) also has two upcoming film credits,
Grace and Danger and
Knights of Badassdom, as well as the role of Billy Bones in a US
Treasure Island prequel series
Black Sails.
Adetomiwa Edun (Elyan) is currently appearing in BBC Two’s
The Hour and Angel Coulby (Gwen) can soon be seen in Stephen Poliakoff’s
Dancing on the Edge, the tale of a black jazz band in the 1930’s.
Alexander Valhos has been cast in
Privates, a mini-series following National Service conscripts in 1960, as well as taking the lead role in Big Finish audio series
The Confessions of Dorian Gray.
Katie McGrath (Morgana) will be starring in
Labyrinth, a mini-series based on the best-selling Kate Mosse book. John Hurt (the Voice of the Dragon) is also involved in the project, which will be shown in the UK on Channel 4.
Whatever happens, we can expect plenty of action to be packed into
Merlin’s remaining five episodes. Merlin still has to deal with the threat of ‘Killer Queen’ Gwen, and we can expect the return of at least one more familiar face before the story can move on to its epic two-part finale.
The cast of Merlin have commented on the news that the show's current series will be its last.
Katie McGrath (Morgana) said: "I have always said the success of the show has stemmed from our audience being able to relate to the characters on different levels - being based on the universally loved Arthurian legend is only a tiny part of its success - it's a story about acceptance and growing up. The breathtaking finale of this series leaves you with no doubt that characters have been on their journeys and had their stories told - it's completely the right time to draw our telling of the story to a close."
![torrilla:
Tom Hiddleston and Colin Morgan attend the men’s singles final match between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day eight of the ATP World Tour Finals at O2 Arena on November 12, 2012 in London, England [HQ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v5_cAJlp5mym6ibY6T088o5U5ZxBnSF9ztMXQL1C70EFoAmeqfYnGSn-gHOBmW9J1uN8Z_xM68iAS2lhG0dEoWUfywS-SqbIxeCeNRQbutl36MQb6G1durQlfE-sT9j04=s0-d)
![What does Cumberbatch mean? The game’s afoot…
Benedict Cumberbatch gave us a very personal case, which we think we’ve solved.
Jack Seale12:45 PM, 09 November 2012
It’s one of the most famous names in showbiz, and not just because of its owner’s massive success as an actor: Benedict Cumberbatch is one of those appellations that seems to enjoy tripping off the tongue. Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict. Cumberbatch. BENEDICTCUMBERBATCH. Ahem.
It’s been corrupted every which way, from his fans the “Cumberbitches” to the old joke about him starring in a TV drama about a man working on an allotment, during which the director shouts: “Cue Cumberbatch!” One famous article in the normally august Washington Post even repeatedly referred to him as Bandersnatch Cummerbund, for a laugh. Other nicknames for the actor are, sadly, unprintable.
All this being the case, you’d think Cumberbatch himself would be intimately familiar with the origins of his surname. So when RadioTimes.com met him recently (yes, that happened – get over it), we checked – and found he doesn’t have any idea.
“I don’t know,” Cumberbatch said. “I genuinely don’t. Nobody does. There are theories: an 11-year-old girl I was acting with in Creation, a film I did with Paul Bettany, came up to me and said, ‘I know what your name means!’ I said, great, tell me! I’ve been trying to find out all my life. She said, ‘It means small valley dweller.’ I said, I’m going to pretend you didn’t tell me that.”
Someone who dwells in a small valley, or a small person who dwells in a valley?
“I think a very big person in a small valley! But I immediately got images of dank stone cottages. Kind of romantic, but a bit depressing.”
There is indeed a Welsh village called Cwmbach: “small valley”. So that could be the answer. Any other possibilities?
“The other genealogy of it could be that it came over with the Norman conquest, but that’s like saying everyone’s related to the Queen Mum. [I think it’s] probably [from] Germany.”
Well, this just wasn’t good enough. We wanted to know and we suspected you would too, so we thought: who do we know who’ll know? Easy: Susie Dent, resident of Countdown’s dictionary corner and, indeed, the puzzles page in Radio Times magazine.
After a bit of digging, Susie came back to us and said she reckons that 11-year-old girl was almost right, but not quite spot-on: “In a book of place names that existed before the Norman Conquest, ‘comberbach’ is listed as a stream in the Weaver valley of north Cheshire. The two parts of ‘Cumberbatch’ are ‘cumbra’, originally a byword for a Cumbrian and later an Anglo-Saxon personal name popular in North West England, and ‘bach’, meaning a ‘beck’, or stream in a valley.
“Together they make ‘Cumbra’s beck’. So ‘Cumberbatch’ is a surname based on a very specific place - Benedict’s ancestors will have lived in that very valley in north Cheshire that is still there today.”
Put the kettle on, Mrs Hudson - we’ve cracked the case! Or have we? Do you know better? Is your hero of German stock?
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