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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Shows by Decade»1970s Television
    1970s Television Drama Kids TV Shows A UK TV 2 Mins Read

    Arthur of the Britons

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    1 9 7 2 – 1 9 7 3 (UK)
    24 x 30 minute episodes

    This series stripped away the elaborate medieval view of Camelot, Guinevere and Merlin, and instead presented Arthur as the chief of a small Celt tribe in Dark-Ages Britain, a century or two after the withdrawal of Rome.

    Arthur (Oliver Tobias) struggled to weave the scattered and warring tribes of Celts, Jutes, et al into a union that could effectively oppose the Saxon invaders, led by Cerdig (Rupert Davies).

    arthur_5

    Arthur was aided in this endeavour by his adoptive father, Llud the Silver Hand (Jack Watson), and his foster brother, Kai (Michael Gothard), a Saxon orphan who had been reared as a Celt.

    Arthur’s sweetheart Rowena also featured, played by German actress Gila Von Weitershausen to appease the series’ European investors.

    Arthur’s other great rival was the powerful Mark of Cornwall (Brian Blessed).

    The sets were dirty (and built on Forestry Commission land near Stroud for a six-month shoot) and the woodland skirmishes, battle sequences and scenes of bloody swordplay – shot all on film – were authentic.

    These elements, and the charismatic Tobias – with a very 1972 haircut – made the series a high point in 1970s adventure programming for the just-home-from-school crowd.

    Guest stars included; Carry On veteran Bernard Bresslaw; Sally James (Tiswas); Tom Baker (Dr Who); Michael Gambon (The Singing Detective); Alfie Bass (The Army Game); Peter Firth (from Here Come the Double Deckers) and David Prowse (Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Green Cross Man).

    Arthur, Chief of the Celts
    Oliver Tobias
    Mark of Cornwall

    Brian Blessed
    Llud the Silver Hand
    Jack Watson
    Cerdig, Chief of the Saxons

    Rupert Davies
    Kai

    Michael Gothard
    Yorath, Chief of the Jutes

    George Marishka
    Rolf the Preacher

    Clive Revill
    Rowena of the Jutes

    Gila Von Weitershausen

    Episodes

    Arthur Is Dead | The Gift of Life | The Challenge | The Penitent Invader | People of the Plough | The Duel | The Pupil | Rolf the Preacher | Enemies and Lovers | The Slaves | The Wood People | The Prize || The Swordsman | Rowena | The Prisoner | Some Saxon Women | Go Warily | The Marriage Feast | In Common Cause | Six Measures of Silver |  Daughter of the King | The Games | The Treaty | The Girl from Rome

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