Happy 7th Anniversary Merlin, Why I love it!

 
So today, the 20th September, marks the 7th year of when a young warlock appeared on our TV screens. At 7:30pm around 9 million of us tuned in to watch the premiere of Merlin.

The BBC One's hit family-fantasy drama was an incredible show, I am such a fan girl over it I cant even begin to tell you. After all it is my favourite ever show!

 
My poster on my wall!

It has a huge international following and even though it has ended (the final series airing in 2012), it still lives on in us Merlinians.

So I am going to tell you five reason why I love Merlin (I limited myself to five as I literally could go on forever and ever about it)...

A brief outline of the show before we begin:
The much loved programme focused on the early days of Merlin, before he became the all powerful wizard we associate him with today.
It concentrates on him being the man servant of Prince (later King) Arthur of Camelot.
At the very beginning we are introduced to the kingdom of Camelot, under the ruling of Arthur's father, King Uther, where the use of magic is banned.
With this in mind, Merlin has to save the kingdom numerous times against magical creatures and humans/humans with magical powers without being found out that he has magical powers (God knows how).
All in a days work, eh Merlin?


The Cast
 
I can't even begin to tell you how much I am in love with the Merlin cast. They are all my favourite people on this earth.
 
Here is a list of this perfect cast:
Colin Morgan as Merlin, one of the most famous wizards of all times but in his earlier years helping and serving Arthur. He is a sassy man to be honest who calls Arthur all sorts of names whilst caring and protecting him.
Bradley James as Arthur Pendragon, a prince (later on a King) who is mean to Merlin but treats and cares for his men (Knights of Camelot) with kindness and loyalty. His is Uther Pendragon's son, his only child.
Angel Coulby as Gwen, a serving girl to Morgana in the first couple of series and friends with Merlin.
Katie McGrath as Morgana, Uther's ward who turns all round badass.
Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot who hates magic (even though he is saved by Merlin countless times) and wiped out all magic (including magical creature ie dragons) during the Great Purge.
Richard Wilson as Gaius, Merlin's mentor and friend/confidante. Merlin comes and lives with him so he can study magic pretty much. He is also the court's physician so if you are ill then he is the man for you.
Eoin Mackon as Sir Gwaine, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests. He is funny and charming and mischievous but we all love him! 
Alex Vlahos as Sir Mordred, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests. He is a druid and has magic like Merlin but will he use it for good or for bad?
Santiago Cabrera as Sir Lancelot, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests. He is also a really good friend of Merlin (he knows he has magic) and a love interest for Gwen.
Tom Hopper as Sir Percival, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests. He is really strong and clearly doesn't know what sleeves are hahaha!
Rupert Young as Sir Leon, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests and is immortal, which is pretty cool!
Adetomiwa Edun as Sir Elyan, a knight of Camelot who often helps Arthur in his quests (you get the idea). He is also Gwen's brother.
John Hurt as Kilgharrah the Great Dragon, the only surving dragon of the Great Purge who helps Merlin discover and strengthen his magic.

Guest stars across the five series include:
Nathaniel Parker, Michelle Ryan, Charles Dance, Emilia Fox, Caroline Faber, Asa Butterfield, Tom Ellis, John Lynch, Sarah Parish, Mackenzie Crook, Laura Donnelly, Harry Melling, Eve Myles, Janet Montgomery, Sophie Rundle and Holliday Grainger.
 
My cool Merlin and Arthur figurines!

As a bonus feature in the Series One DVD, the cast did some video diaries and please please please go watch them as they are hilarious!
The bloopers are funny too!

Merthur
 
One word that comes into all of Merlin fan's minds is... Merthur.
Ok so basically this is because we ship (want them to be together) Merlin and Arthur.
Like there is so much tension between them and they are always at each other and you know what people say, you are mean to the person you love....
I think I will leave this reason here hah
 
The Adventures
 
From evil witches, goblins, dorocha, unicorns to Lamia, pixies, griffins and many, many more, their adventures always seem to end in one thing... Merlin saving the day. Bless him, its a hard life!
It was like you were with them though, like you were a part of their adventures into the mostly unknown.
You jumped when they jumped, you cried when they cried and you acted like a badass when they save the day when they did. It enticed you in with the jokes and engaged you when one of the characters you loved got hurt or even worse.
You were a part of the adventure with them.

 
Character Development
 
The first series was all nice and you were introduced to the characters and their relationship with each other and it was all nicey nicey.
But as the show progressed and other series aired, it took a more dark turn. Characters you loved began to turn into someone you loved to hate.
I wont give an example as I don't want to spoil it (so you will have to watch it now) but it made you think how someone can just turn from good to evil because of certain events that affected them.
 
A note to you from me, do not under any circumstances get emotionally attached to any characters because believe me it doesn't end well.
I speak from experience.

The Fans
 
In 2012, a couple of months before Merlin ended, I created a fan girl account on Twitter.
I wanted to express my love of Merlin whilst engaging with people who felt the same about it as me. And it is certainly one of the best decisions of my life.
They are all so lovely and support all of the Merlin cast with whatever they are doing now.
We all have a fab time talking and sharing our favourite Merlin moments and tonight, on this anniversary, we all tweeted about the show and it was absolutely lovely to read all of them and all of the memories people have of this perfect show.
It is also a great way to contact the cast who have twitter too!
Eoin (Sir Gwaine) and Alex (Sir Mordred) tweeted me tonight in celebration of the 7th anniversary!
I fan girled a lot, board line in tears of joy.


It all shows how Merlin affected us, both the fans and the cast and that we are all so grateful.
 
 
Happy 7th Anniversary Merlin, you special, special show!
 
 



Until next time
-------------------------------------
All photographs are my own!

 

 

Comments

Popular Posts