"The boy wizard is back" "?" "and we're taking you backstage to see the stars in action." "Tonight we speak and spell with Camelot's latest magical menace, Mackenzie Crook." "I've got to memorise this Old English spell," "I can't get it into my head." "We go back to the very beginning of this epic adventure." "My first scene I did, ?" "I remember coming on set and I couldn't talk." "The director said, "It's gonna be OK." I'm like, "Mm-hm."" "After a successful first series, we find the measure of Merlin fame." "I've had a few people recognise me." "I was in a kebab shop once and a guy bowed at me and said, "My lady."" "I was like, "Cool!"" "Plus we saddle up to take a sneaky peek at the brand new series." "It's fast, violent, dangerous." "It's going to be some of the best action in the show so far." "I want you to kill Arthur Pendragon." "It's going to be a bit of a blockbuster." "How on earth are they going to fit all of this into 45 minutes?" "I didn't think it could get much bigger than last season, but it's got bigger." "It's huge." "All this and more Secrets And Magic." "Merlin Secrets and Magic" "In April 2009, cast and crew of the BBC Wales hit drama Merlin made their return to France to film the opening episode of series two." "It's completely like having your family back again." "?" "I think everybody's such a tight-knit group and know how to work well together." "It definitely feels very much like coming home again." "You fall back into it quite easily." "Myself and Colin get on really well, we have a good bit of banter." "We saw each other a bit over the course of the break, and then came back to filming and it was kind of the same again." ""Morning, Colin." ""How are you?"" ""I'm good, how are you?" ""Welcome to Camelot."" "It's so good to be back." "I had a great time on the first series, but this time round it seems to be even better for some reason." "Partly, maybe, being in France in the sunshine, and we've got a lot closer over time." "It's like being back in a family." "To come back now after the show came out, to have people like it, there's an extra swagger in your walk." "It's fun." "Ah, the reassuring and calm presence that is Rupert Young has returned." "Hey!" ""There might be ladies watching this, I'd better turn it on."" "But with a new series to shoot..." "..there's no time to waste, and for Merlin's main stars, filming the new series is something they've been looking forward to." "The stories that have come up are just even bigger and better and we're all generally very excited about it." "It's very dramatic, very emotional." "There's a lot of story left to tell." "I think the special-effects team will have their work cut out, because there's a lot of action and a lot of magic." "?" "Merlin series two promises to be bigger, better, more emotional and more action-packed than ever before." "And with magic in the air, it seems that" "Camelot's still a perilous place for the young Prince Arthur." "?" "In the opening episode of the brand new series, the knight's latest foes are flying monkeys, and you can bet Camelot certainly never saw that coming." "And neither did he." "And the mastermind behind all of this magical mayhem?" "It is, of course, guest star Mackenzie Crook." "We wanted to find an actor that could be very funny and then very evil, and Mackenzie came into my mind straight away." "This jewel, what size would you say it was?" "About that size." "My word, really?" "About that size, you say?" "Well, I never." "He just seemed perfect for the part and to me it was an absolute no-brainer." "Cedric is a kind of a con man, a sort of wheeler-dealer guy that comes in looking for opportunities to make himself rich." "It's an honour to be of service to the Prince." "An honour?" "Anything else I can do for you, sir?" "Well, you can give Merlin here a kick up the backside." "I wouldn't wish to deprive you of the pleasure, sir." "What's your name?" "Cedric." "Mackenzie Crook is fantastic." "He's found a lot of subtle humour within the character." "I regret, sire, there's one thing I've failed to do muck out your horses." "?" "In those scenes where I have to be annoyed at him, he's played it up so it's not hard to act annoyed." "He's great." "I didn't fall asleep." "I'm more than willing to take over his duties tonight." "Perhaps you're right." " No." " Shut up, Merlin." "Can't you see what he's trying to do?" "He's trying to get rid of me, and if you weren't such a clotpole, you'd see that." "A what?" "Clotpole." "He said clotpole." "Merlin doesn't like Cedric at all." "I desire only one thing, sire." "Anything." "A position in the royal household." " Consider it done." " Cedric has taken Merlin's position and is slowly edging him out." "You can have that back now." "Oh, sorry." "There are no qualities at all that Cedric has that Merlin likes." "I had a bit of rough and tumble with Merlin himself in the bedchamber." "Sounds..." "Yeah." "But I'm getting ready to stand on top of the castle battlements now and conduct all the gargoyles and send them down to wreak havoc in the castle and the tower." "I am returned." "The earth will roar, the sky will burn and these very walls shall dance to my command." "?" "The location that we use for Camelot is the most stunning castle you've ever seen." "One of the characteristics of the chateau is it has these peculiar gargoyles." "The gargoyles were always something that we loved and wanted to put into a story, and they felt like a very dramatic thing that'd work in episode one." "We played around with lots of ideas, lots of different gargoyles coming to life, then we decided that we'd be able to make the effect work much better if it was just one gargoyle, then we're just creating CGI for one that we can then repeat," "and it'll have a much more dramatic effect." "I had to be attacked by an invisible flying monkey, which was kind of strange." "It's the first CGI that I've done in the show, and getting used to where the monkey is, and its wings and how big it is." "Hopefully it'll look great." " Guinevere." " Sire." "That thing could've killed you." "And it still might." "Sorry, sire." "No, my pleasure." "I'm just getting ready to do my grand evil finale." "I don't look like this at the beginning of the episode, but as I become more evil, my clothes turn darker and my hair gets slicker." "Yeah." "He turns into a...and he comes and tries to destroy Camelot." "?" "I've got to memorise this old English spell." "I can't get it into my head." "It's... ?" "We'll see how it goes." "They might have to do it a word at a time and put it all together in the edit." "?" "I made him shoot one sequence about 10 times because we couldn't get it technically right." "He was on this turntable, when he's doing the big spell above Camelot, and he was having to go round and round this table with a green screen behind him." "He's having to do this spell in Old English and we just couldn't get it technically right, it's a very complicated sequence." "Poor old Mackenzie was in France for a whole week, and at the end of every day we always got him back on to the turntable" "?" "to do this spell." "By the end of the week, he was cursing me and my family." "It's been great, I've had a really good time." "For someone who's coming in for the one episode, it's a tight-knit family, but they've been very welcoming with the people who are only in for just the one episode." "It's been great." "If you will not join me, I'm will become you and your power will be harnessed to my will." "Of course, facing Cedric isn't the first time we've seen the boy sorcerer in a scrape." "Since taking his very first steps in Camelot," "Merlin has been at the centre of some very magical moments." "How did you do that?" "There's something about you, Merlin." "He's also found out that fulfilling his destiny will be dangerous, but, thanks to his gift, so far Merlin's managed to get out of some fiery situations." "Merlin's one gift and his one talent his magic." "He's using magic." "But because he lives in a world where magic is banned, casting these spells is easier said than done." "He's had some testing times." "Merlin, you idiot." "And found out that protecting the Prince is a thankless task." "Put the sword down, Merlin, you look ridiculous." "For tomorrow you need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword and polish my chain-mail." "His destiny is to protect Arthur and ensure his rise to the throne." "But Arthur's life is constantly under threat." "Merlin has to dodge all sorts of creatures, villains..." "How many times have I had to save his life?" "I mean, come on!" "No-one's like you, Merlin." "But Merlin wouldn't be half the magician he is today without 23-year-old Colin Morgan, a man of whom it could be said was also destined for great things." "He began enchanting audiences back in 2007 when after graduating from drama school he was snapped up by the Young Vic Theatre Company." "He then stepped off stage and on to TV where his comic timing was captured by Catherine Tate." "Did you not hear about our John, Mammy?" "I'm a gay man now, Granny." "The good doctor prescribed more peak-time experience for the young actor." "Think about it, though." "That knocking went all the way around the bus until it found her." "And then very soon Colin was offered his own Saturday-night lead role." "Understandably, shortly after landing the part, he was excited." "When I found I'd got the part of Merlin, the first people I phoned were my parents, because they had been hoping and praying for me,?" "so to phone them up and tell them that I'd been offered the part was pretty special." "They were completely excited, probably more excited than I was about it." "Casting the part of Merlin, you're looking for an actor that can be likeable, that has a broad playing range, and has good comedy." "The unique thing about Colin is that he does all of that." "He has this amazing ability as an actor, this huge playing range, we can throw anything at him as the character of Merlin and he always rises to the challenge." "Shortly after casting, Colin was taking his first tentative steps in his new studio." "This is the first time we're seeing the set of Merlin." "It's looking pretty amazing." "On the episode of Doctor Who that I did, it was one basic sort of bus type thing, and for the Catherine Tate show we actually filmed in someone's house, so for something like this is brilliant." "I want to see what's up in here." "For both Merlin and Colin, this was the start of an amazing adventure." "From a young age, I was really wanting to be an actor." "I suppose parents don't really think it's going to happen, because it doesn't appear to be a realistic job, but it is." "You can go and do it." "I remember careers advisers telling me," ""What d'you want to be when you grow up?" I said, "An actor."" "And they go, "Right." "Have you thought about teaching?"" "It's kind of putting you off in different directions." "I'm just glad that it's starting to work out." "And Colin wasn't the only one." "He was joined by three other young actors." " ?" " Bradley James playing Prince Arthur." "I could take you apart with one blow." "I could take you apart with less than that." "Katie McGrath playing the king's ward, Morganna." "I just don't think chopping someone's head off is cause for celebration." "And Angel Colby as maidservant Gwen." "My lady, I'm so sorry I haven't been here to attend to you." "Don't worry, I'm all right." "It's a legend that has fascinated people for the last 1,300 years, and many, many generations over that time have reinvented it." "But we're telling them a little bit before they were famous." "We have our own spin on it." "We had to cast young actors, and potentially actors who had done very little, to carry a very, very major BBC production, a prime time show in a prime time slot, and that's always challenging." "Arthur's POV, eyeline to Arthur with dialogue, tracking for Morgana's pass, and the split to Gwen which becomes a master for Gwen and all of that." "It was director James Hoarse who first filmed the four fledgling actors in their new Merlin roles." "Shooting the opening three episodes of the first series, he worked hard to turn them into stars." "What I'm trying to do is to go from the building blocks, to start with each actor and say," ""Let's trace your character through the first three episodes." ""Let's develop your back story, give you some grounding,"" "to give them something when we start hitting the floor with the speed we're going to have to shoot." "?" "This is going from zero to 100 miles an hour, this is the like going from Formula Ford to Grand Prix over a weekend." "Action!" "They know how that character is likely to react to the other people and to the events.?" "It was key for us before we started filming that we spent a week with the actors where the actors could get to know the director and talk about their part." "James spent a lot of time with each actor, talking through their character arcs." "If I had the scene before the episode starts, it's Merlin leaving home and leaving his mum." "I think he's probably been bundled off in a bit of a hurry." "This is Merlin, the square peg in a round hole, who's in a little country community." "When did you first come to London?" "Last year." "OK." "It's basically the equivalent of me coming from somewhere like a small village, Armagh, coming to London." "You get scripts through the door each day, and it can be a bit overwhelming so they sit down and go through the episode and map through all the character thoughts and things, which is great." "I feel a little bit more at ease now." "I think I might be OK for a while." "You're very nervous at that first week of rehearsals, and so we watched it, there was a temptation where I wanted to sit in there every day and watch every word, but you have to step back and have faith in the actors and the director" "and trust that over that rehearsal period they'll have time to find the characters and their confidence." "One of the many gifts that James has is straight away he pumped us full of this confidence and enthusiasm for the project." "You could see how passionate he was about it, and it rubbed off on people." "It was great to have a director who brought that with him." "He had that enthusiasm and energy to really get it rolling and get it sprinting out the blocks." "It's fine that we see you as a spoiled bully early on, because it does give you somewhere to go." "The idea is, in the market scene, the second scene we see you in..." "..at the end of it, you deck Merlin." "Wallop, he's down." "Guards come in to scoop him up and you go, "No, no, it's OK."" "Wait!" "Let him go." "He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one." "There's something about you, Merlin." "I can't quite put my finger on it." "We start to see a bit of generosity and," ""There's something about him," which works on two levels." "One is we start to see you being more human." "Yeah." "The other is starting to connect with this guy who's part of your destiny." "Arthur and Merlin are the ultimate odd couple." "Together they've had an adventure of a lifetime." "It's been an action-packed journey for a young prince who wasn't exactly matey with Merlin when they first met." "Do I know you?" " I'm Merlin." " So I don't know you?" " No." " Yet you called me "friend"." "That was my mistake." " Yes, I think so." " Yeah." "I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass." "When I first read the script," "I was quite pleased that he wasn't just a nice good guy, really." "Come on." "I think it's it incredibly boring when people are good for the sake of being good." "I warn you, I've been training to kill since birth." "And how long have you been training to be a prat?" "So he's great to play, because you just get to be a prat, which I find not too difficult." "Are you nervous?" "I don't get nervous." "Really?" "I thought everyone got nervous." "Will you shut up?" "!" "Arthur is presented as the arrogant Prince from the beginning." "Merlin, you idiot." "You really are a total buffoon." "Don't be such a girl, Merlin." "You humiliated me!" "Arthur being this kind of arrogant bully is great fun to play, because we know what he becomes, he becomes this great king." "You have to learn there's a right and a wrong way of doing things." "But his rise to the throne is far from an easy one, as Camelot's future king is constantly in danger." "That's led to some close shaves for the sword wielding knight in shining armour." "You're going to be king." "It's time." "Also, just a technical thing, if he hasn't already, Andreas is going to teach you how to throw knives so that you're somebody who knows exactly what he's doing with that." "yeah." "All of that stuff is stuff Arthur can do, and he's proud of being able to do well." " Any weapon, - yeah." "he's a trained killing machine." "Before landing this regal role, eagle-eyed BBC3 viewers might have recognised him as a love rat." "How many girls are you already sleeping with?" "What sort of a question is that?" "That's probably one of them now." "In one-off drama Disconnected he played lovable rogue Ben." "I don't know how they got there." "But what was it that attracted him to this princely part?" "When I first picked up the script, it captured my imagination." "It was an enjoyable read and I straight away read it and thought, "I'd love to do this."" "I couldn't see anything but the levels of fun that were going to be had." "I think most people feel like that." "Possibly me more so due to the fact that" "I get to kill a few people with swords and be a bit of a hero." "I'll shoot the fight right through ?" "I was going to say I'd quite like to do as much as possible." " You'll get that chance." " Yeah." "?" "Do it and go for it, and the more we can see you, the better." "We need to believe that Arthur is absolutely going for this." "I absolutely loved picking up the sword and shield for the first time." "Myself and Will just battering each other with these metal swords, which made them sound a lot more dangerous than they were." "So it'll be a case of fine-tuning my swashbuckling skills, which I'm looking forward to doing." "It's quite physical." "When we were doing the sword training" "?" "you end up with blisters from the sword." "Rehearsals were more tiring than the filming because you've got to get used to the swords, what strikes you do, where you do it, and make sure no one gets hurt." "It's great, I love it. ?" "You just don't get a better setting than this for this sort of thing." "No imagination required, we're in Camelot, that's it." "It's fantastic." "All the action stuff I think will be a boys dream, to run around and hit people with swords and stuff." "Then there'll be another angle on Arthur." "So when we get to do the fight scenes and things, we'll have the added bonus of having a lot of adrenalin going through, wanting to show off to everybody how good I am at sword fighting," "so the excitement levels, I imagine, will be quite high." "Will and Bradley are loving the fighting." "As far as they're concerned, they're medieval knights and they're born to it." "Another one bites the dust!" "Arthur looks up to his father considerably." "And he's, you know, obviously a major role model." "A moment that I quite liked, that was written after..." "Valiant's killed, where he looks up at his father, and it's kind of a look of..." "This is how I imagine doing it, is having the sword, pulling it out of the body and just throwing it away and just kind of like" "?" "staring up at him as if to say," ""You should have believed me."" "Prince Arthur's father is the frosty King Uther Pendragon, a tyrant with a terrible fear of magic." "There's only one evil in this land, and it's not magic - it is you!" "Where magic is concerned, our king is blind to reason." "Those who practise magic know only evil." "Only a mad man hears the truth as treason." "With your death, magic will return to Camelot." "I want the pleasure of killing you myself." "I play King Uther," "Uther Pendragon, who is Arthur's father." "No stranger to our small screens," "Anthony's been a success here in the UK since the '70s, but it was his role as Rupert Giles in US series Buffy that led to serious international stardom." "Though recently it's not stakes he's been slaying us with, it's laughter as he stars as the Prime Minister in award-winning Little Britain." " Morning, Prime Minister." " Morning, Sebastian." " Did you have a nice holiday?" " Very nice, thank you." "I've got the draft budget from the Chancellor here." " Thank you, Seba..." " Aargh!" "But King Uther is far scarier than any moustache." "We meet me condemning a man to death." "I am responsible for forbidding magic in my kingdom." "Basically the land was ruled over by sorcery, it was basically when people start playing with sorcery, it can lead to the dark side, and so, in an effort to stabilise the kingdom," "Uther has outlawed any kind of magic." "That poor mother." "It was simple justice for what he'd done." "To whom?" "He practised some magic," " he didn't hurt anyone." " You were not around 20 years ago, you have no idea what it was like." "How long are you going to punish people for what happened then?" "Until they realise there is no room for magic in my kingdom." "Uther has many opponents and there are dark forces constantly trying to undermine the fabric of his rule." "I have watched so many people I love die at your hands, Uther Pendragon." "Now it is your turn." "'Consequently it gives you this feeling all the time of this nasty underbelly bubbling away 'that threatens the reign at any time and threatens to topple Camelot.'" "I think I'm probably a fair king, just a little bit overshadowed by this... this - grrr!" "desperation to rule out any kind of magic." "If I get the faintest hint of it, I start...twitching." "Nothing's certain, save one thing." "The law stands or this kingdom falls." "The law must give him a fair trial." "He'll get a fair trial, and he'll be found guilty, because that's what he is." "Anthony has brought a side to the character that I suppose makes him more human." "He's playing this character who, in legend, is a tyrant." "Anthony's been able to find that balance between showing that side of being a tyrant to his people and then in moments with Arthur you see the human side to him, it arises and suggests that maybe it's not all black and white with who's good and who's bad." "I always thought that..." "What?" "That..." "I was a big disappointment to you." "Well, that is my fault and not yours." "You are my only son." "And I wouldn't wish for another." "Anthony Head's King Uther would be lost without faithful court position Gaius." " Are you using magic again?" " No." "Merlin intends to offer his life for his mother's." "I want you to take mine in his place." "Gaius the hero." "Once again, you've saved my life." "You've always served me well." "Merlin... you are the only thing I care about in all this world." "'Gaius is Merlin's mentor, really.'" "As you probably know by now, Uther has banned magic in the kingdom but Merlin is born with magical talents and he finds it difficult to control them." "Magic must be studied, mastered and used for good," " not for idiotic pranks." " What is there to master?" "I could move objects like that before I could talk." "Then by now you should know how to control yourself." "I don't want to!" "If I can't use magic, what have I got?" "'I'm his sort of guardian, trying to guide him down a path of no magic." "'And I think I've got a sort of a darkish history,' probably, I was a bit of a magician myself at one time." "Merlin, sit up." "Take your shirt off." "From episode one of the first series when Gaius is helping Merlin's wounds from the mace fight with Arthur, we shot that scene quite early and there was just such a great chemistry between the two of them," "Gaius being the reluctant father figure but actually enjoying it whilst at the same time not knowing how to do it." "I'm not a monster, am I?" "From the beginning, Gaius presents Merlin with the tools and the knowledge to use magic for the right reasons and he does that by presenting Merlin with a magic book, which..." "Merlin's never seen anything like that." "He's completely...delighted." "Gaius is very much that kind of figure to Merlin." "It's nice to see that relationship develop, and Richard and me get on so well, anyway, that I really enjoy working with him." "Richard Wilson himself has had the magic touch for quite some time." "Now an award-winning theatre director and actor, he became a household name in the '90s as moaning Victor Meldrew in sitcom One Foot In The Grave." "And recently, TV viewers played passenger on his driving tour of Britain." "You can drive around some of the Highland roads with very little traffic." "It's nice to be amongst the youngsters and their enthusiasm and their energies." "I mean, Colin, I have all my work with Colin Morgan, who's Merlin, of course." "He's hugely professional." "Works like a trouper." "And is always very keen to go over lines." "He has a very wise head on very young shoulders." "So he's great." "You don't patronise them." "One's there if they want to come and ask questions." "But the danger being an older actor is a lot of older actors want to tell you how to do it, which I think is very dangerous." "I know that they all talk a lot to Tony and Richard, and Tony and Richard are very generous." "And I think they have turned to both the older actors, all the cast have, on many occasions, for advice." "And I'm sure it's been very good advice." "And in many ways, it makes our jobs easier, having that wisdom there." "Of course, it's not all about the males." "Let's not forget there's a couple of medieval minxes in the mix." "Give them a night they'll REALLY remember!" "Knight Valiant, may I present the Lady Morgana." "She is Uther's ward, she's the first lady of Camelot." "She's a modern mind in a period body." "She's opinionated..." "You execute Gwen's father and I will never forgive you." "..she's mouthy..." "Then release me, because I've learned it already!" "..she's manipulative..." "There's more than just my life at stake." "And what kind of king would Camelot want?" "..she's intelligent..." "You need me if the plan's to work." "She's all of these things and she's an amazing character to play." "Katie McGrath is the lesser experienced of the four young stars." "When working behind the scenes as a costume assistant on The Tudors, she persuaded the director to put her in front of the camera." "That small part gave her a big break and later led to the nervous newcomer being cast in Merlin." "The first scene I ever did, the first scene we ever shot, actually, is in episode two." "I'm lying on the couch in my bedroom and I wake up, start up from a dream and I go over to the window to see Arthur practising his sword fight." "And that was my very first scene on Merlin, and I was petrified." "Which is good, because I'm supposed to be scared in the scene, so it was totally method." "But I came on set and couldn't talk." "The director's like, "It'll be OK."" "I'm like, "Mm-hm." "I haven't shot anything." "They can still recast me."" "And for the first three weeks, we were all just completely..." "Well, I was, so scared that they'd suddenly go, "We've got the rushes back, Katie, it's not working."" "?" "By the time we got to France, we kind of relaxed into it but for the first while, you are, because as well as the fact I hadn't really done anything before." "And so, you know, it was like, "Am I doing it right?"" "Action." "God have mercy." "Merlin!" "Remember, you're here to work." "She looks great, doesn't she?" " Yeah." " Some people are just born to be Queen." "Although Morgana could be Queen, legend has it her destiny is to be something completely different." "Morgana's powers are growing." "And not only are they growing, but she has accepted what she is." "And all the bits of her before, the opinionated... the antagonistic towards Uther and everything like that, all come into more marked focus." "And because she's more accepting of who she is, she has more strength to do the things that she believes and she doesn't back down." "Which is great for her, but not so good for Uther." "They would see me dead and have this kingdom return to anarchy." "You would help them." "Then punish me." "But spare the boy." "I beg you." "She increasingly disagrees with Uther about many, many things, and is one of the few people who actually stands up to him." "She is a very passionate and individual person who doesn't accept the status quo and doesn't really like the status quo." "And her journey is very much coming to terms with those feelings of rebellion." "Did you hear me?" " I want him executed at dawn." " Yes, m'lord." "What have these people done to YOU?" " Why are you so full of hate?" "!" " Enough!" "I will not hear another word." "Do not speak to me until you're ready to apologise for what you've done." "That was scripted as him to hit me, to give me a backhand." "And when we were doing it, it was, like, it's too much." "He's trying to kill a child and hit a woman, all in one episode?" "And the way it worked, the way he picked me up and pinned me, it was so much better because you got a longer shot of just him staring down at me and going "No."" "I remember him doing it, and Tony's the sweetest man..." "I was scared!" "But it was really, really good." "Of course, any Arthurian legend wouldn't be complete without Guinevere." "In the order of Camelot, Gwen is a maidservant to Morgana, who is King Uther's ward." "And she's very sort of kind, humble, gentle person at the beginning." "She kind of retains an inner nobility throughout, I think, but at the beginning she's very, very shy." "When I think back to the beginning, I remember the first read-through." "The first time Gwen meets Merlin, she approaches him and he's actually in the stocks." "I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen." "I'm the Lady Morgana's maid." "Right." "I'm Merlin, although most people call me idiot." "No, no, I saw what you did." "It was so brave." "It was stupid." "Well, I'm glad you walked away." "You weren't going to beat him." "Oh, I could beat him." "You think?" "Because you don't look like..." "one of those big, muscly kind of fellows." "Thanks." "No, no, I'm sure you're..." "stronger than you look." "It's just, um..." "Arthur's one of those real, rough, tough, save-the-world kind of men and... well..." "What?" "..you don't look like that." "He's got in trouble basically through fighting with Arthur and she goes up to him and she gets all flustered and embarrassed cos I think she kind of fancies him a bit." "And she ends up revealing her feelings accidentally and getting all embarrassed and trying to backtrack and then making it worse." "But in the end, it's quite a sweet little scene, really." " Well, it's great you stood up to them." " You think so?" "Arthur's a bully and..." "everyone thought you were a real hero." " Oh, yeah?" " Mm." "That's great, and I think just what you did at the end there, but just calming it down, actually, it's less of the kooky Gwen and more of the sort of calm, the Queen-to-be." "So we've met her, she's fun, she's got a sparkle in her eye all the time." "Of those sorts of things, there's a little code." " And finding those beats." " OK." "You're terribly important from that point of view cos we're going to follow you and your reading of Merlin to help us get to know and like him." " Oh, cool." " No pressure." "That's fine." "What I'm saying to all of you is I want this to have a real pace and energy." "Try and avoid that thing that we can do in British television drama of just slightly dragging it out and marking every beat." "Yeah?" "No, I've normally been guilty of doing the other thing, talking too fast." "OK." "You might be on the right side of the line, then!" "Angel Coulby is the most experienced of the young cast, having appeared in a broad range of British TV." "She played a gobby chav in sitcom 'Orrible..." "This is like the main beach bar." "..and a sophisticated lady in Doctor Who." " I am devastated." " Oh, indeed." "I myself am frequently inconsolable." "She's been a victim in court..." " Do you have much contact with him?" " I tried not to but he's always there." "..and in Holby City." "I went outside for a breath of air." "It was wet, I fell on top of her." "Stupid or what?" "You've also got some nasty lacerations to the head." "But it's her latest part as Gwen that's grabbing all the attention." "It's funny, considering that Gwen is actually this kind of humble, shy girl, and actually she tends to get quite a lot of male attention in the end." "Which is quite strange." "And nice!" "Tell me, do you think her beautiful?" "Yes, sire, I do." "Yeah." "Are you two... you know?" "No." "No." "Just friends." "Launcelot suddenly turns up on the scene and again, Gwen," "I think she kind of looks at him and thinks he's quite a nice guy, seems very noble and kind." "We need men like you." "You do?" "Well, not ME, personally." "But, you know, Camelot." "Camelot needs knights, not just Arthur and his kind, but ordinary people like you and me." "Well, I'm not a knight yet, my lady." "And I'm not a lady." "In the first season, I think she's perhaps beginning to notice that men do notice her a little bit." "Anything you want, anything you need, all you have to do is ask." "Thank you, sire." "You're not going to die, Arthur." "I'm telling you." "Because I know that one day you will be King." "A greater King than your father could ever be." "That's what keeps me going." "She gets all the men!" "She has snogged everyone, it's not fair." "Morgana gets nothing." "I get powers, great!" "I get frocks, brilliant!" "But no men." "Well, she's a vamp, she'd probably eat them, anyway." "She's a black widow." "That's what I tell myself." "A year ago, our young actors were just starting out, but after only one series, Merlin has enchanted audiences across Britain and turned them into Saturday night sensations." "One of the biggest dramas of the year, in the UK alone the show's watched by over 6 million people each week." "And for this fab four, that's brought new found fame." " Welcome to the show, guys." " Thank you very much." "Fans are on the increase with internet sites dedicated to the series magically appearing almost every night." "I went back to my old drama school and these kids came up," ""Excuse me, can I have your autograph?"" "It was a nice moment, because I thought, "Oh, right, this is where I honed my craft, so to speak."" "May we have a deserving winner." "I was in a kebab shop once and a guy bowed at me and said "My lady"!" "It's like, cool, I like that." "The fans that we've had on the show, it's been absolutely phenomenal." "The show did really, really well when it came on." "We had great ratings." "We get asked quite a bit now, "Did you ever think it would be such a success?"" "And we're like, "It's a success?" You've got no concept of it." "And we wouldn't know about it unless people told us." "It's amazing." "People say, "You know you're on the side of buses?"" "I think Colin was on the cover of a muffin packet." "It's bizarre to see the effect the show has on people." "It can initially be a bit daunting but I think it's really great." "And it's not only in Britain that the show's cast its spell." "Merlin's now gone global." "It's the number one show in Canada, Italy and one of the biggest dramas of the year down under." "Across the pond, the launch of Merlin peaked at over 5 million, ranking it as the number one original drama on American channel NBC." "You can just about take the fact that people in England are going to watch it, cos it's on BBC." "But then you know, you think, OK, you get an update of how many other countries have bought it." "It's better not to think about it, actually, cos if you do, it gets a little freaky." "?" "Quite a few people seem to sort of come to see us filming and stuff, and seem to know what it's all about." "There were people around during the first series but they didn't know what was going on." "But now they've sort of heard about it, they're coming specifically to meet us all, which is quite weird." "We been dubbed into lots of different languages, we've been dubbed into French, Italian, Malaysian..." "I've heard myself in Italian." "I sound old." "I sound like a 40-year-old woman." "What are you saying about Morgana, seriously?" "My make-up artist tells me that the Italian one - she's Italian - my voice is particularly sexy, she said." "So that's great." "And because of the worldwide success of the series, the rising stars of the show are now in high demand." "Now it's not just scripts they have to deal with, it's the press, too." "Doing a show and doing a series that..." "The first series turned out to be really successful." "It's Colin Morgan and Bradley James." " Welcome to the show, guys." " Thank you very much." "The publicity side of it, going onto TV shows and doing interviews is a whole other side of it and you need to sort of treat it as a completely different thing." "They very nicely had us do a fair amount of press together, so Angel and I got to do our first semi-live TV thing together and we did Sound for BBC." "Right, so it's now time to speak to Angel and Kate who play Gwen and Morgana in Merlin." "You totally look medieval." "You look like you're from that time." "What do you think?" " You look like a medieval Princess." " Classic English rose vibe going on." " But she's Irish." " But I'm Irish!" "It's nice being able to do something with Angel, because the two of us can bounce it off." "If I don't know the answer, she jumps in and picks up the slack." "A girl came up to me and she went "Hi."" "And I said, she's going to ask me." "And she went, "Are you in Silent Witness?"" "For its young cast, Merlin has been an adventure of a lifetime." "We've been doing it for nearly two years now and we've all kind of become good friends." "And I think we've formed good relationships that translate onto the screen, cos you can see there's chemistry between everybody and the relationship's interesting." "So, yeah, I'm really pleased I'm still here." "And they probably can't kill me off, so that's good!" "And as they get set for their second series, how do they feel about bringing back big magic to the small screen?" "This year, the show is more real, it's more concrete because people have seen it and it's taken on a life of its own." "We're no longer in a little Merlin bubble where we were just making this show and nobody knew what it was." "Now everybody does and everyone's a part of it, even the viewers." "So what exactly is Merlin conjuring up for the second series?" "There are huge changes for characters." "There seems to be more affection developing." "There are things that will change the course of everything for everyone." "I am expected." "There's more happening, everything's bigger." "The jousting, the stories, the scripts, the guest stars, everything's more elaborate." "Everything's just more." "?" "?" "?" "?"