Merlin at 10: The cast and creatives on how they made the BBC’s boy-wizard drama梅林：科林·摩根剧情片的幕后制作历史？十周年口述史-电台时报。
A decade after its first episode aired, we talk to the cast and crew of the BBC fantasy series for a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made – and why the story of the young wizard isn’t quite over for some people…
在第一集播出十年后，我们和bbc奇幻系列的演员和剧组进行了一场幕后采访，看看它是如何制作的，以及为什么这位年轻巫师的故事对一些人来说还没有完全结束呢？…
Saturday, 22nd September 2018 at 9:00 am
On an ordinary evening on Saturday 20 September 2008, fantasy drama series Merlin began its BBC1 run as a stand-in for Doctor Who’s slot – but over the next five years it carved its own niche in the television landscape.
在2008年9月20日(星期六)的一个普通夜晚，奇幻剧“梅林”(Merlin)开始了BBC 1的演出-接替了“神秘博士”的时段-但在接下来的五年里，它在电视舞台上开辟了自己的立足点。
Delivering a new take on the Arthurian legend based around an adolescent Merlin (Colin Morgan) befriending and protecting a pre-throne King Arthur (Bradley James), the drama ran for five series of 13 episodes, attracted millions of viewers and was screened around the world in hundreds of countries.
该剧以一位少年梅林(科林·摩根饰)与获得国王王位前的亚瑟(布拉德利·詹姆斯饰)为伴，拍摄了一部新的亚瑟王传奇，共13集，吸引了数以百万计的观众，并在全球数百个国家上映。
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Pictured: the cast of Merlin L-R Anthony Head (Uther Pendragon), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Bradley James (Arthur), Colin Morgan (Merlin), Angel Coulby (Guinevere), Richard Wilson (Gaius)
图为：梅林的演员：L-R·安东尼·海德(乌瑟·彭德拉贡)、凯蒂·麦格拉思(莫嘉娜)、布拉德利·詹姆斯(亚瑟)、科林·摩根(梅林)、安吉尔·库尔比(Guinevere)、理查德·威尔逊(盖尤斯)
Even today, new fans keep discovering the series (just search through twitter) via streaming services and repeats – so to mark the anniversary, we caught up with some of the cast and creatives to find out what exactly went into making Merlin so magical, from the very earliest scripts to the last days of Camelot and all the incantations, venerable guest stars and difficult filming days in between.
时至今日，新粉丝仍在通过媒体服务和重复搜索(只需在Twitter上搜索)-为了纪念这一周年纪念日，我们采访了一些演员和剧组创意人员，找出了让梅林如此神奇的确切原因——从到卡梅洛特的最初一直到最后几天的剧本，还有所有咒语、受人尊敬的客串明显以及其间艰难的拍摄日子。
As it turns out, there were more than a few challenges getting Merlin out into the world…
事实证明，让《梅林传奇》诞生于这个世界有很多挑战……
Getting started 开始
With Doctor Who paving the way followed by Robin Hood, there was room for another family-aimed TV drama to hit the BBC on weekends – and in 2007, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps (with fellow creators Julian Jones and Jake Michie) were keen to take up the challenge.
沿着“神秘博士”铺好的路。罗宾汉紧随其后的是“罗宾汉”，另一部以家庭为目标的电视剧有机会在BBC周末上映。2007年，朱利安·墨菲(Julian Murphy)和约翰尼·卡普斯(Johnny Capps)（和其他编剧朱利安·琼斯(Julian Jones)和杰克·米基(Jake Michie)他们热衷于接受挑战。
Julian Murphy, co-creator and executive producer: It all began in a restaurant on Kensington Church street, where I had lunch the writer Jake Michie. And the pitch I gave him was very simple – It was I’d like to do the Arthurian story, but as an origin story in the same way that the Superman story had been done in [US TV series] Smallville. And I think from there, it evolved.
朱利安·墨菲，联合创作者兼执行制片人：这一切都是从肯辛顿教堂街的一家餐馆开始的，我在那里吃了午餐，作家杰克·米基。我给他的介绍很简单-我想演亚瑟王的故事，但作为一个起源故事，就像超人故事在[美国电视连续剧]斯摩维尔一样。我认为从那以后，它就进化了。
But the decision that I think was at the heart of it, which was to make Arthur and Merlin contemporaries, rather than make Merlin the old man looking after the young Arthur, was there from the very beginning.
但我认为这一决定的核心是让亚瑟和梅林同时代，而不是让梅林成为照顾年轻亚瑟的老人，从一开始就在那里。
Johnny Capps, co-creator and executive producer: That made us feel excited about it. But we didn’t think about all the other kind of characters until much later, when we had a meeting with [then Doctor Who showrunner] Russell T Davies.
约翰尼·卡普斯 联合创建者兼执行制片人：这让我们感到很兴奋。但直到很久之后，我们才开始考虑其他类型的角色，当时我们和[神秘博士的剧组成员]拉塞尔·T·戴维斯(RussellT.Davies)进行了一次会面。
JM: Russell actually was hugely influential on the beginning of Merlin. Because we sat in a hotel room, a hotel conference room with Russell and talked to him about his approach to Doctor Who and how he would approach something like Merlin. It was only a morning, but it was incredibly valuable.
JM：事实上，罗素在梅林一开始就有着巨大的影响力。因为我们坐在酒店的房间里，和罗素一起住在酒店的会议室里，跟他谈论着他和“神秘博士”的接触，以及他会如何对待《梅林传奇》这样的作品。这只是一个早上，但它是非常有价值的。
Anthony Head, Uther Pendragon: I read the script and thought ‘Well this could go horribly wrong, or it could be really cool. it depends on what the vibe is. Because if they decide to make it like a kids’ show it could be really really twee.
安东尼·海德 饰 乌瑟·彭德拉贡：我读了剧本，想，‘这可能会出可怕的错误，或者它可能真的很酷。这取决于是什么氛围。因为如果他们决定把它变成孩子们的节目，那就非常矫揉造作了。
And I had a meeting with James Hawes, who directed the first episode. And I upfront said look – my taking this depends on what your vibe is. And he said right off the bat no, this is gonna be quite dark. It’s a family show but it’s got a dark underbelly. And I was in from that moment on.
我和詹姆斯·霍斯开了个会，他导演了第一集。我先说，看，我接这个取决于你的氛围。他立刻就说不，这会非常黑暗。这是一个家庭节目，但它有一个黑暗的背景。从那一刻起我就决定加入了。
JM: We became magpies – we stole the bits of Arthurian myth we liked then ignored the bits we didn’t.
JM：我们变成了喜鹊-我们偷走了亚瑟王神话中我们喜欢的部分，然后忽略了那些我们不喜欢的部分。
JC: We wanted to embrace as much as the legend we could, though some bits were too adult in their content. For the audience we were playing to you could hint at it, but it didn’t feel tonally right for the series.
JC：我们想尽可能多地拥抱传说，尽管有些部分内容太成熟了。对于我们正在播放的观众来说，你可以暗示这一点，但这感觉不太适合这个系列剧。
Casting the stars 铸造新星
The younger cast of Merlin L-R Angel Coulby (Guinevere), Bradley James (Arthur), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Colin Morgan (Merlin)
《梅林传奇》的年轻演员：安吉拉·库尔比(Guinevere)，布拉德利·詹姆斯(亚瑟)，凯蒂·麦格拉思(莫嘉娜)，科林·摩根(梅林)
With the premise sorted and the scripts under way, the show needed a cast – and finding untested actors to take on the central roles of young Merlin, Guinevere, Morgana and Arthur wasn’t easy for the producers and casting director Jill Trevellick
随着前提的分类和剧本的正在进行，这个节目需要一个演员-并找到未经考验的演员来扮演年轻的梅林，吉妮薇，莫嘉娜和亚瑟的核心角色，对于制片人和演员导演吉尔·特雷维利克来说并不容易。
Colin Morgan, Merlin: I appreciate the trust from Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy to give me the opportunity and take the risk with me in the role.
科林·摩根 饰 梅林：我很感激约翰尼·卡普斯和朱利安·墨菲对我的信任，他们给了我这个机会，并与我一起承担了这个角色的风险。
It was such a special and exciting opportunity that I was given at that time in my life.
在我的生命中，这是一个给予我的特别而令人兴奋的机会。
Julian Murphy: It wasn’t easy. Because we were casting big parts, young actors. Obviously that didn’t apply to Richard Wilson and Tony Head, we sort of knew what they were capable of at that time!
朱利安·墨菲：这可不容易。因为我们选的是大角色，年轻的演员。显然，这不适用于理查德·威尔逊和托尼·海德，我们有点知道他们当时的能力！
So you do far more auditions than you would with younger actors, and you do put them together.
所以你要年轻演员做更多的试镜，你要把他们组合在一起。
Bradley James, Arthur: The first I heard of it was I was doing a pilot for Johnny Caps and Julian Murphy, which was a BBC pilot called Disconnected. This would have been back end of the summer of 2007. And as we were filming it, they mentioned another show they were developing, told me about a part they thought I’d be right for.
布拉德利·詹姆斯 饰 亚瑟：我第一次听说这个，是我在为约翰尼·卡普斯和朱利安·墨菲做一个叫“断线青春”的BBC播放的的一个飞行员的角色。这应该是2007年夏天结束的时候。在我们拍摄的时候，他们提到了他们正在开发的另一个节目，告诉我他们认为我适合的一个角色。
We did that show, the pilot didn’t get picked up. I then didn’t hear anything for a while other than the fact that every drama school graduate and his dog was going in to audition for this TV show called Merlin. I then got a call saying Johnny and Julian would like to see you, and I pretended to be calm and casual about it, acting like I hadn’t spent the last few weeks worrying about being forgotten.
我们做了那个节目，飞行员没有被选取。后来我什么也没听到，除了每个戏剧学校的毕业生和他的狗都要参加这个名为“梅林”的连续剧的试镜。然后我接到一个电话，说约翰尼和朱利安想见你，我假装对此很冷静和随意，装作我过去几个星期没有为被遗忘而担心。
Johnny Capps: In my mind, Bradley was always going to play the part because we’d worked with him on a couple of pilots before, and I knew he had a great comic ability. But we met a lot of other actors – and he was ultimately the one who won us all over.
约翰尼·卡普斯：在我看来，布拉德利总是扮演这个角色，因为我们曾经和他合作过几个飞行员，我知道他有很强的喜剧能力。但是我们遇到了很多其他的演员-他最终赢得了我们的芳心。
Katie McGrath, Morgana: I actually hadn’t been acting that long when I first started auditioning for it. I remember going into my first audition, and there was a guy reading in the room before I went in. In retrospect, I remember actually when we started filming that it was Colin! We both met each other on our first audition for it, and I didn’t put two and two together until we were actually cast that he was the guy, the two of us just sat there chatting before we went in.
凯蒂·麦格拉思 饰 莫嘉娜：实际上，当我第一次开始试镜的时候，我还没那么久就开始表演了。我记得我第一次试镜，在我进去之前，有个人在房间里看书。回想起来，我记得当我们开始拍摄的时候，那是科林！我们第一次试镜的时候就认识了，我没有把两个放在一起，直到我们被拍到他就是那个人，我们俩就坐在那里聊天，然后我们就进去了。
There was something about Morgana, something about the girl that she started out in the show and the woman that they wanted her to become that really sort of made me feel like this was something I could do.
有一些关于莫嘉娜的事情，一些关于她在剧中开始的女孩的事情，以及他们想让她成为那样的女人，这让我觉得这是我可以做的事情。
Especially because her character trajectory mirrored what I was going through. She was very unsure about herself and her abilities and her powers, and that was kind of me with acting.
尤其是因为她的性格轨迹反映了我所经历的一切。她对自己、她的能力和她的力量非常不确定，这也是我对演戏的一种感觉。
Richard Wilson, Gaius: The thing that appealed to me about it was I’d never done that sort of semi-children’s thing before, and it seemed a very good idea. And I think, if I remember, they left…well I don’t know if they’d left the casting of Merlin ’til last, but they couldn’t get anyone!
理查德·威尔逊 饰 盖尤斯：吸引我的是，我以前从来没有做过那种半儿童式的事情，这似乎是一个很好的主意。我想，如果我记得，他们离开了…我不知道他们是否直到最后才开始演梅林，但是他们谁都找不到！
JC: Casting Merlin was really really hard because you needed to find an actor who had a really big, broad playing range, but also could handle the fact that it’s not naturalistic drama. So you couldn’t have an actor who was just going to play it in an incredibly earnest, real way.
JC：演梅林真的很难，因为你需要找一个有着非常广泛的表演范围的演员，但同时也可以处理这不是自然主义的戏剧这一事实。所以你不可能有一个演员，他会以一种非常认真，真实的方式来演它。
You wanted somebody that could find the truth, but also find the truth as it exists in that kind of fantasy world.
你想要一个能发现真相的人，但也能在那种幻想世界中找到真相。
JM: Interestingly, in the early days Matt Smith was in the frame for Merlin. And we just felt that he was too old – not that he wasn’t great. And he was too old, really.
JM：有趣的是，在早期，马特史密斯在梅林的框架内。我们只是觉得他太老了-不是说他不太好。他曾.太老了真的
I think there’s a certain kind of actor who has the lightness and skill to play that sort of family drama, and I think both Colin Morgan and Matt Smith are that kind of actor. It’s a mercurial quality. And they’re light on their feet. That’s the skill they had.
我认为有一种演员有着轻盈和技巧来演那种家庭剧，我认为科林·摩根和马特·史密斯都是这样的演员。这是一种变化无常的品质。它们的脚很轻。这就是他们的技能。
And I think Colin and Bradley had a chemistry, and a natural comic affinity that we could see in the audition and became very central to the series.
我认为科林和布拉德利有一种化学反应，以及我们在试镜中可以看到的一种天生的喜剧亲和力，并成为这个系列的核心。
JC: There was lots of really interesting actors on the shortlist. And we thought Matt was absolutely brilliant, but Colin just had that quality, he just had the right quality.
JC：候选名单上有很多非常有趣的演员。我们认为马特是绝对聪明的，但科林有这种品质，他只是有最合适的品质。
The early days 早期
Filming for Merlin was split between Cardiff, Surrey and France at the Château de Pierrefonds, a castle which doubled for the exterior scenes of Camelot – and when production began, the young cast had to quickly find their feet.
梅林的拍摄是在卡迪夫，萨里和法国之间进行的。一座城堡，卡米洛的外部场景翻了一番-当制作开始时，年轻的演员们不得不迅速地找到他们的位置。
Katie McGrath: I was out of my MIND nervous on set! I didn’t know anything – I found out I didn’t even know what I was doing. They were like ‘OK Katie, there’s your mark, just come in and find your light’ and I was like ‘Er, sorry what now? What do you want me to do?’
凯蒂·麦格拉思：我在片场的时候太紧张了！我什么都不知道-我发现我根本不知道自己在做什么。他们说：“好吧，凯蒂，这是你的标记，进来找你的光”，我说：“呃，对不起，现在怎么了？”你想让我做什么？“
I was completely bloody clueless. It was useless.
我完全毫无头绪。那是没用的。
Anthony Head: Even in the very first episode you had a stunning performance by Eve Myles. I remember when she played a mother of the guy who Uther was having killed for witchcraft. And she was actually the witch.
安东尼·海德：即使是在第一集，也有一个惊人的表演——伊芙·迈尔斯。我记得她扮演乌瑟因巫术杀人的一个母亲。她其实就是那个女巫。
And we shot that scene where she breaks down in front of me, in Pierrefonds, and all the French extras just applauded her because it was stunning.
我们拍了那个场景，她在我面前崩溃了，就在皮尔菲，所有的法国演员都为她鼓掌，因为这是令人震惊的。
Bradley James: I almost have an idea of my first scene being me walking down a corridor or something, really uneventful. But the first scene I properly remember doing is when Merlin walks in and he goes ‘Oh I’ve done this’ and I go ‘You’ve done what?’ And basically just rip into him for a solid minute (laughs)
布拉德利·詹姆斯：我的第一幕可能是我走在走廊或什么的，真的平淡无奇。但我记得的第一幕是梅林走进来的时候，他说：“哦，我做了这件事”，我说，“你做了什么？”基本上，对他进行了足足一分钟的研究(哈哈大笑)
If it wasn’t the first scene it was one of our first scenes. And obviously a good way to build a relationship with someone you’re gonna work with for five years is to do a scene where you’re just hollering at them for take after take.
如果不是第一幕，那就是我们的第一幕之一。很明显，和你将要合作五年的人建立关系的一个好方法就是拍一个场景，你只是对他们大喊大叫，让他们拍摄一次又一次。
Getting into the groove 进入常规
The day-to-day realities of filming Merlin – a series which over its five years featured dragons, undead Knights, trolls, Questing Beasts and all manner of malign sorcerors – were a unique challenge, especially considering the sheer level of special effects required.
拍摄“梅林”(Merlin)的日常现实是一个独特的挑战，尤其是考虑到所需的特技效果，特别是考虑到所需的特效水平，这部电视剧在五年内以龙、亡灵骑士、巨魔、寻访野兽和各种邪恶巫师为主角。
But even in the early days, there was a sense that they were making something special
但即使在早期，也有一种感觉，他们正在做一些特别的事情。
Katie McGrath: There was such a suspension of disbelief on a day-to-day basis. You know, you are now talking to a dragon, but the dragon is a tennis ball with the AD voicing him. And if you didn’t believe it no-one watching would either, so you just had to go with it.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：每一天的日常总是有这样一种不相信的暂停。你知道吗，你现在和一条龙说话，但龙是一个网球，有模拟声音。如果你不相信，也不会有人看，所以你只能跟着看。
Bradley James: There was a lot of buzz around it, even though the first sort of scenes were just bits and pieces. There was a lot of buzz from everyone involved.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：虽然第一种场景只是一些零碎的片段，但周围还是有很多传言。每个人都很激动。
And at the time I just assumed this was normal, this was how it works when you get onto a new project and everyone’s feeling like that. With hindsight my experiences since have taught me it’s not always like that.
当时我以为这是正常的，当你进入一个新的项目时，这就是它的工作方式，每个人都是这样的感觉。事后来看，我的经历教给我，但并不总是这样。
Anthony Head: I do remember walking across the square of Pierrefonds in costume, and you could feel your cloak sort of catching the wind behind you, and you couldn’t help but strut your stuff.
安东尼·海德：我确实记得穿着服装穿过皮尔菲广场，你可以感觉到你的斗篷在你身后的风中，你禁不住要炫耀你的东西。
Because it was just, you felt so cool! It was just like dressing up, like a little boy.
因为那只是，你觉得很酷！像个小男孩一样喜欢那样的打扮。
Richard Wilson: Playing Gauis was quite good fun. We had a whole team of writers – and I don’t remember their names now, but some of them were brilliant, and some were not quite so brilliant.
理查德·威尔逊：饰演Gauis很有趣。我们有一个完整的作家团队-我现在不记得他们的名字了，但是他们中的一些人很出色，有些人就不太聪明了。
And of course it was such a long time ago and I’m so old now that I forget things. I can’t remember which were the better ones. And we had some very good directors.
当然，那是很久以前的事了，现在我已经老了，以至于我忘记了一些事情。我记不起哪个更好了。我们有一些很好的导演。
Colin Morgan: It was the best cast of actors I could have ever hoped to work with, with a supportive crew working so hard and with such skill and spirit.
科林·摩根：这是我所希望能与之合作的最好的演员阵容，有一群支持我的剧组，他们以如此的技巧和精神努力工作。
And of course all the amazing support we received and continue to receive from fans of the show old and new made it among the most enjoyable [years] of my career to date.
当然，我们持续获得新老影迷惊人的支持，使它成为我职业生涯中迄今为止最令人愉快的[日子]。
A punishing schedule 严酷的时间表
Merlin’s schedule and budget meant that filming had to be achieved as efficiently as possible, which proved tricky considering there was only one Colin Morgan to go around.
梅林的日程安排和预算意味着必须尽可能高效地完成拍摄工作，考虑到只有一个科林·摩根(ColinMorgan)，这证明是很棘手的。
Johnny Capps: There was a practical challenge in that we were always chasing our tails production wise. The show was commissioned very quickly and we had to get the scripts done quickly. And I think it was the time challenge of always finding great stories and things for the characters to do within the time pressures.
约翰尼·卡普斯：有一个实际性的挑战，我们总是要赶时间明智地生产。演出很快就开始了，我们必须尽快完成剧本。我认为这是一个时间挑战，总是为角色在时间压力下找到伟大的故事和事情。
Julian Murphy: We used to deliver Merlin two days before it aired, episode by episode.
朱利安·墨菲：我们过去常常在“梅林”播出前两天，一集一集地一脚“梅林”。
And that was a show with a lot of CGI, so it’s scary stuff! And we got down to that tight at times because they wanted it to be in its slot, it had to be in its slot, which is fair enough. But it was very tight.
这是一个有大量CGI的节目，所以它是可怕的东西！我们有时会陷入困境，因为他们希望它在它的时间段上，它必须在它的时间段上，这是很公平的。但它很紧。
Katie McGrath: Basically after filming Merlin, everything is a walk in the park. There’s a scene at the start of season four or five, and it’s me and Emilia Fox. And they only had Millie for a couple of days, so we shot all of Millie’s stuff and all of the wides, but to do my coverage we didn’t have Emilia, because she went off to Silent Witness.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：基本上在拍摄梅林之后，一切都是在公园里散步。在第四或第五季的开头有一幕，是我和埃米莉亚·福克斯。他们只有米莉几天，所以我们拍摄了米莉的所有东西，所有的宽度，但为了我的报道，我们没有埃米莉亚，因为她去了沉默的见证者。
So my stuff, they’d pick up as and when they could, with one of the Assistant Directors reading in her lines. And it actually took, to finish that scene completely, nearly four months.
所以我的东西，他们会在有可能的时候捡起来，其中一位助理主任正在读她的台词。实际上，花了将近四个月的时间，才完成了这一幕。
But however hard it was for me, it was nothing compared to what Colin and Bradley had to go on.
但是不管对我来说有多难，这和科林和布拉德利所要做的没有什么两样。
Richard Wilson: I mean, Colin Morgan of course was a brilliant piece of casting. They were so lucky because Colin was a really hard worker. A wonderful actor, and did his job brilliantly. He had a huge schedule, he had a lot to do. He was in more or less every scene.
理查德·威尔逊：我是说，科林·摩根当然是个出色的演员。他们很幸运，因为科林是个非常勤奋的人。一位出色的演员，出色地完成了他的工作。他有一个庞大的时间表，他有很多事情要做。他或多或少地出现在每一个场景中。
Anthony Head: They’d do a thing where we would run two or three episodes at times literally together. So they’d put all the scenes from one episode alongside the other episode.
安东尼·海德：他们会做一件事，我们会在一起播放两三集。所以他们会把一集的所有场景和另一集放在一起。
They would have two units, or three, shooting at the same time in different areas. And it was alright for someone like me, but Colin, bless his heart, literally he’d finish his scene and then he’d run to the other unit because he was slightly behind. The scheduling was insane.
他们将有两个小组，或三个，同时在不同的地区开拍。对像我这样的人来说，这没什么，但是科林，保佑他的心，他真的完成了他的场景，然后他跑到另一个单位，因为他稍微落后了。日程安排太疯狂了。
Bradley James: I’ve never had a job anywhere near as hard. We didn’t realise this at the time, but there were working us to the bone in terms of the hours we’d do and then the extra commitments with regards to publicity and things in your time off.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：我从来没有过这么辛苦的工作。我们当时并没有意识到这一点，但我们在工作的时间和额外的承诺，在宣传和其他事情是你的休息时间。
You’d go in and be doing what would be scheduled as a 12-hour day. You’d be picked up an hour and a half before that, and then you’d get home at night going over the scenes for the next day. You’d probably already prepped them over the weekend. That’s if you hadn’t been sent to a convention or something like that.
你会进去做一天12小时的工作。你会在那之前一个半小时被接走，然后你会在晚上回家，第二天去看一遍场景。你可能已经准备好周末了。如果你没有被派去参加会议之类的话。
We really did go all-out, but at the time we didn’t know any different.
我们确实全力以赴，但当时我们不知道有什么不同。
JM: It’s hard to sustain the quality. It’s not like you make a show now, and often you’re given time to make all the episodes before anything airs. We were still shooting it while it was airing! We were admittedly near the end of it, but we were.
JM：质量很难维持。这不是你现在制作一个节目，通常你有时间来制作所有的插曲在任何事情之前。我们还在拍摄它的时候，它在播放！诚然，我们已经接近尾声了，但我们已经接近尾声了。
And I think that means that there were certainly one, sometimes two episodes a series where we just made bad choices. And sometimes those episodes were saved by clever writing and great acting, and sometimes they weren’t.
我认为这意味着肯定有一集，有时是两集，我们只是做出了错误的选择。有时这些插曲是通过巧妙的写作和出色的演技来挽救的，但有时却没有。
The guest stars 客串演员
Over the years Merlin had a truly impressive roster of guest stars, with the likes of Charles Dance, Michelle Ryan, Liam Cunningham, Emilia Fox, Adrian Lester, Asa Butterfield, Sarah Parish and John Lynch all cropping up to lend their skills to an episode or two. Apparently, Merlin offered a unique opportunity…
这些年来，梅林有一个真正令人印象深刻的客串明星，如查尔斯·唐斯，米歇尔瑞安，利亚姆坎宁安，埃米莉亚福克斯，艾德里安莱斯特，阿莎巴特菲尔德，莎拉帕里什和约翰林奇都出现，以发挥他们的技能，为一两集。显然，梅林提供了一个独特的机会，…
Julian Murphy: A lot of actors like guest parts, because they don’t take too long but they can be very satisfying and challenging parts. So that always helps you. Many of those actors had children and families who loved the show, and once we’d made one series it was very easy for us to get these people.
朱利安·墨菲：许多演员喜欢客串角色，因为他们不需要太长时间，但他们可以非常满意和挑战性的部分。所以这总是对你有帮助。很多演员都有孩子和家庭喜欢这个节目，一旦我们制作了一个系列，我们很容易就能得到这些人。
Katie McGrath: In a way it was quite nice that I was bit a clueless back then, because then I wasn’t that daunted or scared by these legends coming on set. Except for Charles Dance, that man had the most amazing screen presence and freaked me out every time he was on screen. He’s incredible, but acting with him! Oh God.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：从某种程度上说，我当时有点不知所措，因为当时我并没有被这些传奇故事所吓倒，也没那么害怕。除了查尔斯·唐斯，那个人在银幕上最令人惊奇，每次他出现在银幕上都吓到我。他很棒，但是和他一起表演！哦上帝啊。
My default when I’m nervous is to start laughing, so there’s a whole scene with me and him where they couldn’t use anything because I’d just keep giggling in the middle of it. He’s just got such presence when you meet him. If you think how much it is onscreen, in person it’s insane.
当我紧张的时候，我的默认做法是开始笑，所以我和他之间有一整个场景，他们什么都不能用，因为我总是在其中咯咯笑。你见到他的时候他就这样出现了。如果你认为它在银幕上有多大，当面说这简直是疯了。
Bradley James: Charles has had to put up with me of numerous occasions. I definitely count myself lucky with the people who did come in.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：查尔斯不得不多次容忍我。我很幸运能和那些进来的人在一起。
Anthony Head: I remember all of them, I remember Charlie. The thing was, if you’re offered a guest role it’s got to be meaty, it’s got to have something to play. And it always did. They always had, it wasn’t just obvious, they weren’t just here for such and such a reason.
安东尼·海德：我记得他们所有人，我记得查理。问题是，如果你被提供一个客人的角色，它必须是内容充足的，它必须有一些发挥。而且一直都是这样。他们一直都有，这不仅仅是显而易见的，他们来这里不仅仅是为了这样和那样的原因。
All the characters always had levels. And it was fascinating because of that.
所有的角色总是有层次的。因为这件事很吸引人。
Favourite moments 最爱的时刻
While there were highs and lows throughout the five-year shoot, everyone involved still has fond memories of their time working on the series.
虽然在整个五年的拍摄过程中都有高潮和低谷，但每一个参与其中的人都对他们在剧集上的工作有着美好的回忆。
Julian Murphy: I think there’s a couple of episodes that I think we feel were very strong. I think The Last Dragonlord episode [at the end of series two] where John Lynch first appears as Colin’s father was a very moving and powerful episode.
朱利安·墨菲：我认为有几集我认为我们是非常强大的。我认为最后一集(在第二集的结尾)，约翰·林奇第一次以科林的父亲的身份出现是一个非常感人和强大的插曲。
Johnny Capps: I agree with Julian, that was really good fun. That was going to be an opening episode for series three but it became a final episode. And it was just such a strong idea but we realised it wasn’t a good episode one, it was a really good episode 13. And then we had something to work to quite definitively.
约翰尼·卡普斯：我同意朱利安的观点，那真的很有趣。这本来将是第三季的第一集，但却成了最后一集。这是一个非常强烈的想法，但我们意识到这并不是一个好的第一集，而是一个非常好的第13集。然后我们就有事情要做了。
I also loved all of the iconic episodes – I liked when we had fun with the legend.
我也喜欢所有的标志性情节-我喜欢当我们演绎传奇。
JM: I think we’re all quite proud of the way we did the sword in the stone. Because we felt a real pressure to find an original way of doing it – and it’s not easy. So I think that episode stands out too.
JM：我想我们都为我们把剑插在石头上而感到骄傲。因为我们感觉到了一种真正的压力，想要找到一种原始的方法-这并不容易。所以我觉得这一集也很突出。
Anthony Head: I remember there was one instance where Katie and I, Morgana, we were supposed to be having a horse race across this open field.
安东尼·海德：我记得有一个例子，凯蒂和我，莫嘉娜，我们应该在这片空地上举行一场赛马。
But the truck with all the horses’ food was at the top of the hill, and every time she overtook me she’d start to veer off sideways towards the hill, because the horse was going back to eat. It was so funny!
但是载着所有马的食物的卡车都在山顶上，每次她超过我，她就开始转向山坡，因为那匹马要回去吃东西了。太好笑了！
Bradley James: The big transition for me was when the knights turned up. I’ve always had a group of guy mates, and felt most comfortable in those surroundings. And as soon as I got a five-a-side football team’ worth of knights around me I thought ‘Oh, this is a laugh.’
布拉德利·詹姆斯：我的大转变是当骑士们出现的时候。我总是有一群男性朋友，在那种环境下感觉很舒服。当我身边有一支五人足球队的骑士时，我就想，‘噢，这简直是个笑话。’
All of a sudden I was given this set of mates who I got to run around in a forest with and swing swords around. Not that it was bad before, just that it made things much more enjoyable when the knights turned up, and it got into a more familiar setting for me – I’ve always had big groups of guy mates.
突然间，我得到了一组伙伴，我在森林里跑来跑去，挥舞着剑。这并不是说它以前很糟糕，只是当骑士们出现的时候，它使事情变得更加愉快，并且对我来说，它进入了一个更熟悉的环境-我总是有一大群男性伙伴。
Richard Wilson: Most of my work was with Colin, because we were together in the writing. But he was just wonderful to work with. Very good.
理查德·威尔逊：我大部分的工作都是和科林在一起，因为我们在一起写作。但和他一起工作真是太棒了。非常好。
The difficult days 艰难的日子
Though of course, even outside the brutal scheduling there were more challenging aspects to making Merlin a success.
当然，即使在残酷的日程安排之外，要使梅林获得成功还有更多的挑战。
Julian Murphy: I think the challenge with any family show is to make it work for the adults. You’ve got to want the mum and dad to be sitting down as much as the kid. And getting a show to work well on both those levels is genuinely difficult – it really is.
朱利安·墨菲：我认为任何家庭节目的挑战都是让它对成年人有效。你一定要让爸爸妈妈和孩子一样多地坐下来。让一个节目在这两个层次上都能很好地发挥作用真的很难-真的很难。
When you make a show that’s successful, there’s a slight pressure always to do the same thing again. And I think it’s really important that you don’t, that you change it and make it grow. Each year we did sit down and say we’ve got to take this further, and we have to take this to a different place.
当你制作一个成功的节目时，总是会有轻微的压力让你再次做同样的事情。我认为真正重要的是你不要，你要改变它，让它成长。每年我们都会坐下来说我们必须更进一步，我们必须把它带到不同的地方。
And that’s part of the reason it got darker. We were consciously pushing it to new places. Because otherwise I think you start trotting out a formula very very quickly, and a modern audience spots that formula just as quickly.
这也是它变得更黑暗的部分原因。我们有意识地把它推向新的地方。否则的话，我认为你会很快地推出一个模式，而现代观众也会很快地看到这个模式。
Richard Wilson: I was partly an assistant director at Sheffield then, so I was going from Cardiff to France, to Sheffield, to London. Which is rather a lot of travelling! I was lucky, being a senior member, that I got driven from London to Cardiff, and back. I think the others had to get the train.
理查德·威尔逊：当时我是谢菲尔德的助理导演，所以我要从卡迪夫去法国，去找谢菲尔德，去伦敦。这是相当多的旅行！作为一名资深会员，我很幸运，从伦敦开车到卡迪夫，然后又回来了。我想其他人必须坐火车。
Katie McGrath: If you had a shadow of a doubt about what you were doing – and there were days where you did, because you’re human – it made your job much harder. You had to buy into it completely or it didn’t make sense. You had to just drink the Kool-aid and go with it.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：如果你对自己所做的事情有一丝怀疑-因为你是人-有时候你会这么做-这会让你的工作更加艰难。你得完全相信否则就没有意义了。你只能喝下助兴酒然后跟它一起去。
Bradley and Colin were both amazing at it, I have to say, of completely believing and buying into everything that they did. Bradley was Prince Arthur, and then King Arthur. By the end of it I wasn’t sure where one ended and one began. And Colin obviously is possibly one of the best actors of our generation, and he made everything look easy.
我不得不说，布拉德利和科林都对此感到惊讶，他们完全相信并陷入他们所做的一切。布拉德利是亚瑟王子，然后是亚瑟王。到了最后，我不知道其中一个是在哪里结束的，另一个是从哪里开始的。显然，科林是我们这一代最好的演员之一，他让一切看起来都很轻松。
Saying goodbye 道别
In the end, after five series and 65 episodes Merlin drew to a close in 2013 – and according to both the cast and crew, the end of Merlin had been written from day one.
最后，梅林在2013年结束了五部连续剧和65集之后，根据剧组和剧组的说法，梅林的结尾是从第一天开始的。
Julian Murphy: I’m not saying I’m often in that place, but from the start we saw it running five series, and we always thought it would end pretty much where we ended. We always at the end believed we’d get to the Morte D’Arthur.
朱利安·墨菲：我不是说我经常在那个地方，但从一开始我们就看到它连续五季，我们一直认为它会在我们结束的地方结束。我们总是在最后相信我们会到达Morte D‘Arthur。
Johnny Capps: We knew that the final moment of season five would be the death of Arthur, and Merlin throwing the sword into the lake. We knew that was the end point of the series.
约翰尼·卡普斯：我们知道第五季的最后一刻是亚瑟的死，梅林把剑扔进湖里。我们知道这是系列的终点。
JM: Unless you’re Doctor Who, which is rare and lucky, endings are important. You have to pay off those characters and their journey in some way. We really didn’t want to see the spin-off series of so-and so’s life. it just isn’t right, and it so rarely works.
JM：除非你是神秘博士，这是罕见和幸运的，结局是重要的。你必须以某种方式偿还这些角色和他们的旅程。我们真的不想看到这样和那样的生活的分拆系列。这是不对的，而且很少起作用。
Anthony Head: There wasn’t a point where I went awwww – because I’d always known that it was going to happen. It was such a lovely crew, and such a lovely shoot – apart from the rain. It was a nice place of work. Everybody was invested.
安东尼·海德：我从来没有去过的地方-因为我一直都知道这会发生。这是一个如此可爱的团队，如此可爱的射击-除了雨。那是个不错的工作场所。每个人都投入了
You didn’t feel at any point anybody was just doing work because they had to. Everybody was hugely invested in it. Johnny and Julian as producers were really hand on, which was lovely.
你从来没有感觉到任何人只是在工作，因为他们必须这样做。每个人都在这方面做出巨大的投入。约翰尼和朱利安是真正的制作人，这是很可爱的。
Richard Wilson: I think I haven’t missed it. I enjoyed it, but I thought five years is quite enough.
理查德·威尔逊：我想我没错过。我很喜欢，但我觉得五年就够了。
Bradley James: They got us early on. We were young, fresh idiots out of drama school and they were like ‘Right, you’re signing up for five years.’ That was great both at the time and even more in hindsight, to create that bubble for us.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：他们很早就抓到我们了。我们当时还年轻，刚从戏剧学校毕业，他们说：“对，你已经报名五年了。”这是伟大的，无论是在当时，甚至更事后，为我们创造了起步。
And then we started the beginning of that fifth year, and the question got put to myself and Colin as to whether we’d consider doing more. I can’t speak for Colin, but I certainly felt like the passion was not there across the board to go on and do more.
然后我们开始了第五年，我和科林被问到我们是否会考虑做更多的事情。我不能代表科林说话，但我确实感觉到，激情并没有在所有的地方继续下去，做更多的事情。
When the question came we were probably both ready to go. I mean again, I won’t speak for someone else, but I was ready to take the chain mail off.
当问题出现时，我们可能都准备好了。我的意思是，我不会代表别人说话，但我已经准备好把枷锁取下来了。
Could Merlin ever return? 梅林还能回归吗？
Colin Morgan in Merlin (BBC, HF)
科林·摩根梅林(BBC，HF)
Today, many fans still wonder if there could be some return for the series – and while it’s unlikely this particular cast will ever reunite, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that Merlin’s world will have some form of future.
今天，许多粉丝仍然在想，这个系列是否会有一些回报-虽然这个特别的演员不太可能重聚，但梅林的世界会有某种形式的未来，这并不是不可能的。
Richard Wilson: I still get younger people coming up to me and saying ‘Is there no chance that Merlin’s not going to start again?’
理查德·威尔逊：到现在还是会有年轻人走过来对我说：“梅林不可能再开始了吗？”
Of course the youngsters wanted to get out and do other stuff. They wanted to make their mark. They didn’t want to get into something that was just going to go on and on and on when they had so much to offer.
当然，这些年轻人想出去做其他的事情。他们想留下印记。他们不想在有这么多东西可以提供的情况下继续做下去。
Katie McGrath: I have no doubt that at some point they will give a remake a go, and it’ll break my heart to see somebody else play Morgana.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：我毫不怀疑，在某一时刻，他们会重拍一次，看到别人扮演莫嘉娜会让我心碎。
She was so wonderful for me, I couldn’t deny that gift to somebody else. She’s been amazing – she still is, I still use her in other performances. I still find myself doing ‘smirkana’ every so often. Nope – probably shouldn’t do that!
她对我来说太棒了，我不能否认那份礼物是别人的。她一直很棒-她仍然是，我仍然在其他表演中使用她。我仍然发现自己经常做“傻笑”。不-也许不该这么做！
Julian Murphy: I think you could mine that legend for a lifetime and you wouldn’t scratch the surface. It’s huge, and there’s so much out there.
朱利安·墨菲：我想你可以用一辈子的时间去挖掘那个传说，但你不会触及表面的。它很大，外面有很多东西。
I think we all remain fascinated by that legend. And I think one day we want to return to it. But I think we’d return to it in a very very different way. And that’s right. And maybe that time will come – I don’t think it’s quite yet – but I think we will return to the legend. I hope it will be something that’s completely different.
我想我们都被那个传说迷住了。我想有一天我们想回到它。但我认为我们会以一种完全不同的方式回到它。这是对的。也许那个时候会到来-我认为这还不是很好-但我认为我们会回到传说中去。我希望这会是完全不同的事情。
Anthony Head: It’s certainly probably time for the BBC to get Merlin out there once more. Wheel it out again on BBC3 or something, or iPlayer.
安东尼·海德：现在可能是BBC让梅林再次出现的时候了。在BBC 3或其他什么设备上再次启动它，或者iPlayer。
Merlin’s legacy 梅林传奇的遗产
10 Years since #Merlin aired for the first time. One of the first things my memory jumps to is great times with our crew. Not all pictured but much missed. Many a laugh shared with a team who became family (and they put up with me for 5 years #Mahone #IvanIvan #BigJcameos pic.l.bst.126.net/cms/18031/404.html?1&2=/Yyc9gaLA7p
— Bradley James (@BradleyJames) September 20, 2018
十年后梅林第一次播出。我记忆中的第一件事就是和我们的船员在一起的美好时光。不是所有的照片，但错过了很多。许多人笑着和一个成为家人的团队分享(他们忍受了我5年)
-Bradley James(@BradleyJames)2018年9月20日
Years on, Merlin remains incredibly popular with young fans, and is watched (and discussed) online to this day – and the careers of its young leads aren’t the only legacy of the series.
多年过去了，梅林在年轻粉丝中仍然非常受欢迎，直到今天都在网上被关注(和讨论)-年轻领队的职业生涯并不是该系列的唯一遗产。
Colin Morgan: It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I first began on the journey of Merlin. It was such a special and exciting opportunity that I was given at that time in my life.
科林·摩根：很难相信我第一次踏上梅林之旅已经10年了。这是一个特别而令人兴奋的机会，在我的生命中，我被给予了这个机会。
Katie McGrath: I’m constantly surprised at the people who stop me years later, and even in America, and now in Canada, that are completely in love with this show and haven’t let it go. I think its being on Netflix in America now, it’s found a whole new audience. I honestly believe it’s going to be our new generation’s Doctor Who – that people will remember and hold on to.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：我对那些多年后阻止我的人，甚至是在美国，现在加拿大，对这个节目一见钟情而又没有放手的人，我总是感到惊讶。我认为它现在美国的Netflix上，它找到了一个全新的观众。老实说，我相信这将是我们新一代的神秘博士，人们会记住和坚持。
Julian Murphy: It’s a great feeling to know that TV lasts. You do often have a sense that no matter how good something is it doesn’t last.
朱利安·墨菲：知道电视能持续下去，这是一种很好的感觉。你经常会有一种感觉，不管某件事情有多好，它都不会持续下去。
We are aware of how many people still watch it, how its still aired, how it’s still successful. And it’s fascinating. There are shows in TV that do that, but they’re not very common.
我们知道有多少人还在看它，它如何仍然播出，它是如何仍然成功的。而且很吸引人。电视里有这样的节目，但它们并不常见。
Anthony Head: It’s a really solid cast, and there aren’t any weak links, nobody who you think ‘Oh it’s a pity about them.’
安东尼·海德：这是一个非常坚实的演员阵容，没有任何薄弱环节，没有一个人你认为“哦，这是他们的一个遗憾”。
But also the storylines were really fun, and really exciting, and really intricate. The locations are stunning, the animation is remarkable, the computer graphics.
但故事情节也非常有趣，非常令人兴奋，而且非常复杂。地点是惊人的，动画是非凡的，计算机图形。
Colin Morgan and Bradley James in Merlin (BBC, HF）
科林·摩根和布拉德利·詹姆斯在梅林(BBC，HF)
Richard Wilson: I think it was a very unusual show full of one-offs that they made work really well. And especially the special effects and things, they were so well done. It just worked brilliantly. And as I say, when it stopped there were children around the world absolutely horrified to find out that it was stopping.
理查德·威尔逊：我认为这是一个非常不寻常的表演，充满了一次性，他们使工作真的很好。特别是特别的特效和东西，他们做得很好。效果很好。就像我说的，当它停止的时候，世界各地的孩子们都非常震惊地发现它已经停止了。
Johnny Capps: I think the very fact that Merlin is a legend and it’s lasted this amount of time shows that there’s a fascination in the story. The Knights of the round table, King Arthur, Merlin – there’s something in our DNA, a fascination. There’s a romance about it which people still are intrigued by.
约翰尼·卡普斯：我认为梅林是一个传奇，它持续了这么长的时间，这一事实表明故事中有一种魅力。圆桌骑士，亚瑟王，梅林-我们的DNA里有某种东西，一种魅力。它有一种浪漫，人们仍然对它感兴趣。
Bradley James: Obviously you can’t run Doctor Who for 52 weeks of the year, and I think that opened up room for other shows like it. There have been successes and failures for what is able to fit in that slot.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：很明显，你不可能在一年中的52周里执导“神秘博士”，我认为这为其他类似的节目开辟了空间。有成功也有失败，因为什么是能够适应这一位置。
Most things are gonna struggle to have the longevity of Doctor Who, but in terms of filling that slot for however long was necessary, we probably glanced more on the successful side.
大多数事情都很难有博士的长寿，但在填补这一插槽的时间是必要的，我们可能会更多地看到成功的一面。
KM: I think we can’t underestimate what Merlin and shows like it, that England and the BBC do so well, have done for TV as a whole. We’re living in the world of Game of Thrones, but Game of Thrones came after Merlin.
凯蒂·麦格拉思：我认为我们不能低估梅林和这样的节目，英格兰和英国广播公司在整个电视节目中都做得很好。我们生活在“权力的游戏”的世界里，但是“权力的游戏”是在梅林之后出现的。
BJ: I haven’t watched the show back since it last aired, and I wonder how long it’ll be before I actually watch it back. And my fear is that I leave it too long, and the next time I watch it it’ll feel like a very separated experience from my body.
布拉德利·詹姆斯：自从最后一次播出后，我就再也没看过这个节目了，我想知道我要多久才能把它看回来。我担心我离开的时间太长，下一次我看它的时候，我会觉得它和我的身体非常分离。
Talking to you about it now, I’m taken back to the mental environment I had for it. But I have a feeling if I were to watch the show back, I have a feeling I’d feel like I was watching a completely different human being swinging swords, delivering orders and riding around on horseback.
现在和你谈这件事，我又回到了我为此而拥有的精神环境。但我有一种感觉，如果我要回去看这个节目，我会有一种感觉，我会觉得我在看一个完全不同的人，挥舞着剑，下达命令，骑在马背上。
CM: I feel so proud of the show and everyone who made it possible and incredibly lucky that I got to be a part of it all.
科林·摩根：我为这个节目感到骄傲，也为每一个让它成为可能和难以置信的幸运的人感到骄傲，因为我成为了这一切的一部分。
