No pointy hats in new Camelot

CAMELOT…what a silly place! Well not in Joseph Fiennes’ world. Camelot, which has begun on RTÉ last Friday, is of quite a different variety to that of Monty Python. While there are plenty of shrubberys, there isn’t a killer bunny or a coconut horse in sight.
Starring Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green and Ginny Weasley’s soon to be husband, Jamie Campbell Bower, Camelot is an epic series on a scale of Game of Thrones and with all the swagger and punch of The Tudors. It is an excellent drama that combines scenery, dramatics, storytelling and human nature effectively.
The story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table has been told around the world in many and varying guises. From the comedy styling to the dulcet tones of Sean Connery, many scriptwriters, photographers and film-makers have had a go at creating their own interpretation of the legend.
What is the story? The version being portrayed in this adaptation is this. Uther Pendragon longed for his enemy’s wife. He asked sorcerer Merlin to change his appearance so that he could lie with her. A son was result of their union and this son was Merlin’s payment for allowing the king his pleasure. The boy was taken by Merlin, who had a vision of him uniting all Britons and placed with a foster family only to be brought back to rule the kingdom upon Uther’s death. While Uther was an unyielding barbarian, Arthur would be a man of the people. However, this was not going to be an easy rise to power.
Upon Uther’s death, his daughter Morgan tried to seize power. A failed alliance was a feature of the first episode, however Morgan (or Morgana as she is known more frequently) has a pact with dark forces and scarred by the rejection of her father in previous years, she will try to thwart Arthur and Merlin’s plans at every turn.
One of the most beloved aspects of the legend was dealt with in the second episode. RTÉ ran the first two episodes as a double bill, to deal with the issue of the sword in the stone and introduce the main characters.
Merlin, brilliantly played by Fiennes, is a man driven to atone for past mistakes and the glory of the country. He is like a modern day press team, however and is a genius at the propaganda behind putting young Arthur on the throne. He decides to build a legend that the people will believe in him and stay loyal to a new king, a young man who has come to save them from tyranny. It will be interesting to see Merlin’s attempts to bring about and fulfil the image of Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable.
What is interesting about this adaptation, apart from the modern edges and overt sexuality, is that it challenges our ideas of the legend and grounds it less in fairytale but more in folklore. Yes, there are fantastical elements to the tale but the presentation is not of a long robbed old man with a pointy hat and a young lad who happens to pull a sword from a rock and crowned king to everyone’s delight.
This is about struggle, hardship and sacrifice. By the time the first two episodes are over, Arthur has lost both foster parents, is love with another man’s fiancé with his half-sister out to kill him. It has all the elements we have come to expect from TV dramas these days, especially medieval stuff. We want dirty hallways, animals, straw, gore, death, violence and good looking blokes and gals in the main roles. All of these qualities are here in abundance and the acting ain’t bad either.
For, not quite a swashbuckling time, but rather a lot of grimacing and heavy sword play, check it out on Friday nights.
Now for something completely different. Our very own answer to Jamie Oliver has arrived in the figure of fresh-faced, handsome Dónal Skehan, a 24-year-old on a mission. He wants to get all the young folk of Ireland cooking no matter where they live or what their previous experience is. This young lad is not a trained chef nor has he ever worked in a professional kitchen but he has managed to sell quite a few books and set many a girls heart racing. His new series, Kitchen Hero, sets about turning the most reluctant cooks into, yes you’ve guessed it, kitchen heroes.
His first episode was interesting. Concentrating on the fun that can be had from preparing simple, wholesome food and eating it with friends rather than structured meals, he has an easy manner on camera. Normal standard cookery show shots and presentation abound but that’s not always a bad thing. Watch it on Monday nights at 8.30pm on RTE One.