After spanning an impressive five seasons and standing as one of the best adaptations of Arthurian legend that didn’t actually have his name in the title, BBC’s Merlin was a gem of a fantasy series that came to an end an unthinkable 17 years ago. Looking back, the show’s co-creator and writer, Julian Jones, has shared his thoughts on where he believes the series went wrong, and it turns out the first season had some noticeable issues in his eyes.
Speaking to The Ladies of the Lake podcast (via Radio Times) about the show, which starred Colin Morgan in the titular role as the magical pal to Prince Arthur (Bradley James), Jones confessed there were some calls he regretted making pretty early on. "I mean, we made a lot of bad decisions. Is that too harsh? I don't think we made the right decisions in the first [episode],” Jones said. “We shot them in blocks of three, and that first block… I think what happened was we were able to have a look at that, and in seeing it, we were able to go, 'Okay, oh, now I'm beginning to see the show and then the episodes that follow.’”
But just like any show that’s starting afresh, this one in particular was looking to try something new with an age-old legend. It’s those kinds of risks that might not have got them very far nowadays. "Gradually, I think each [episode] gets better. And I just feel that it took its time to find its feet. I mean, it's not unique and shows get canceled way too early nowadays, and they should have more of a chance. But I look back, and I wish we could have known what we would do before we started.”
Hindsight is a heck of a thing, though, and even after looking back and seeing some debatable slip-ups, Jones was happy with the end result. "I genuinely don't think we could have cast it better, and I'm very proud of the scripts and what we did. We could make it better now, because technology is much better, but in regards to anything else, I don't think I would change it at all.”
