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| Arthur of the Britons | |
|---|---|
 Series DVD Cover | |
| Genre | Docudrama |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Production | |
| Producer | HTV |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 1972 (1972) – 1973 (1973) |
Arthur of the Britons is a British television show about the historicalKing Arthur. Produced by theHTV regional franchise, it consisted of two series, released between 1972 and 1973. ITV had already a reputation for entertaining historical TV shows that would displayadventure andswordplay, such asThe Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1956),The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955),The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956),Ivanhoe (1958) andSir Francis Drake (1961). LikeRichard Lionheart in the TV shows aboutRobin Hood andIvanhoe thisKing Arthur shows greatness by making peace between the two foremost peoples in the England of his era. The looks of King Arthur and his brother-in-arms Kai resemble contemporary rockstars.Arthur of the Britons was broadcast repeatedly on numerous localITV stations during the 1970s and 1980s.
The theme music was byElmer Bernstein.
Set in theDark Ages a century after theRoman withdrawal from Britain and during theAnglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Arthur is not a glamorous king with an elaborate court; instead, he is (as presumed by some historians[1]) just aCeltic leader who installs and maintains a Celtic alliance against theSaxon invaders. He is instructed by his adoptive father Llud and assisted by Kai, a Saxon orphan reared as Arthur's brother. His greatest rival is his cousin, Mark ofCornwall. TheJute chief Yorath and his daughter Rowena are in the beginning allies against the Saxons but finally use their special position to mediate peace negotiations between the Celts and the Saxons. Cerdig, chieftain of the Saxons, is Arthur's principal counterpart who in the episode "The Treaty" even insults him as a man "with many brothers but no father" but learns to respect him in the end.
The series dispenses with the legendaryRound Table and popular figures such asMerlin,Guinevere andLancelot and attaches no significance to magic or superstition. Neither Arthur nor his fellow celts are at any time clad in shining armour. Arthur is once again portrayed as a skilled fighter but especially as a cunning politician who eventually comes to good terms with the Saxons. After he has created the basics for a peaceful coexistence between his folk and the Saxons, he falls in love with a Roman princess (last episode, "The Girl From Rome") called Benedicta (portrayed byCatherine Schell) who wants to live with him in Rome. But Arthur refuses to leave the land and people he loves, and she leaves along with her escort, though it is hinted that she may return.
While some films about him avoid the question of his origin and show him as a man who defendsChristian Britain againstheathenbarbarians out of a sense ofintegrity, this TV show portrays him as one of theBritons who were already in Great Britain before the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans came, and hence, a Celt defending his homeland.
The Celts are portrayed as a self-sufficient people who make their living throughcattle breeding andhunting. They are very capableequestrians, who can kill wild boar from horseback. Besides that, they inhabitvillages that arefortified withpalisades. (In "The Pupil" and "Daughter of the King" the outside of Arthur's Celtic village is shown.) That is how they are defined as Celts.
TheSaxons are portrayed asfarmers who clear the land for cultivation of grain. They are also experienced in using wood to build ships. Their villages are in the middle of their fields and they are not fortified, since they can recognise approaching enemies earlier than the Celts who live in glades. ("The Gift of Life" and the flashbacks in "The Prisoner" provide an impression of Saxon villages.) The Saxons are bravefootsoldiers but they are defeated by even a smaller number of Celts if they fight ascavalrymen. (As demonstrated in "The Duel".) So instead of invading Britain they just infiltrate it as clans (and that is how Arthur describes it in "The Challenge"), fighting with Celtic clans for places that suffice to make a living as farmers.
The Celts and Saxons are defined by their cultures and their conflict derives from their different ways of life. The Celts feel robbed because the Saxons destroy their hunting grounds (as Kai explains to a Saxon girl in the fifth episode, called "People of the Plough") and the Saxons react to the hostility of the Celts (as explained in the second episode "The Gift of Life", where the Saxons bring Kai to trial, accusing him of being a traitor). It is not aboutChristianity, because on both sides there are Christians as well as adepts of other religions such asMithraism. (In the first episode, called "Arthur is dead", the gathered Celtic leaders beseech their gods to help them to tackle a task. Also, in the fourth episode, named "The Penitent Invader", a Christian Celtic leader asks Arthur to help him with another Christian Celtic chieftain, who unfortunately became an unbearable hypocrite and is eventually dealt with by Llud who uses a remedy that according to him was part of Mithraism.) Neither is it simply a conflict between good and evil because there are alsopacifists on either side. (In the aforementioned episode "People of the Plough", Kai mets a pacifist Saxon and in the eighth episode "Rolf the Preacher", a whole Celtic village turns to pacifism.)
Arthur seeks to forge an effective Celtic alliance in spite of religious differences, rivalry and sheer animosity among the leaders. He cannot trust in druids, clairvoyants or fairies because they exist in his world no more than in ours. Instead it is all political realism. Still this Arthur is also noble or at least fair. When Saxon children have lost their way they will be brought back to their families by his Saxon friend Kai, when the Saxon lose their cattle because of a disease he will offer him a part of hislivestock (episode "In Common Cause") and when one of his allies takes Saxons as slaves ("Some Saxon Women") he will talk him out of it. While defending the borders of the remaining Celtic area he prepares from a position of strength a peaceful coexistence. The TV series is composed accordingly, alternating episodes about sustaining the alliance with episodes that show Celtic-Saxon harmonisation. Once Arthur has accomplished his political goals and provided the grounds for peace, he indulges himself to the pursuit of personal happiness.
Many iterations of Arthurian legend end with Arthur's death or severe wounding byMordred's hand at theBattle of Camlann. InArthur of the Britons however, Arthur does not die, nor does he have to be taken toAvalon for healing. In the penultimate episode, under threat of attack by the Scots, Arthur comes close to securing a treaty between himself, Cerdig and Yorath the Jute, but a carelessly placed target board results in a death, and old hostilities quickly re-surface. Arthur and his men return home, disappointed but still hopeful that one day, there will be a lasting peace.
In 1975, the series was edited into a 90-minutefeature film,King Arthur, the Young Warlord.[2] The complete series was released on DVD in 2008, by Network. While the movie is available in the US and the UK, the series is only available in the UK.
Arthur of the Britons was aired in Brazil asRei Artur (King Arthur), simultaneously to its original release in the UK. In France, it wasLe Roi des Celtes (King of Celts), and in Germany,König Arthur. It was never aired in the United States.
Heritage Enterprises [...] which released an abridged feature film from the series, King Arthur the Young Warlord, in America in 1975 [...]