Arthur of the Britons
Encyclopedia
Arthur of the Britons is a British television show about the historical King Arthur
. Produced by the HTV
regional franchise, it consisted of two series, released between 1972 and 1973. ITV had already a reputation for entertaining historical TV shows that would display adventure
and swordplay, such as The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1956), The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1955), The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
(1956), Ivanhoe
(1958) and Sir Francis Drake
(1961). Like Richard Lionheart in the TV shows about Robin Hood
and Ivanhoe
this King Arthur
shows greatness by making peace between the two foremost peoples in the England of his era. The looks of King Arthur and his brother-in-arms Kai resemble contemporary rockstars. Arthur of the Britons was broadcast repeatedly on numerous local ITV
stations during the 1970s and 1980s.
a century after the Roman
withdrawal from Britain and during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
, Arthur is not a glamorous king with an elaborate court; instead, he is (as presumed by some historians ) just a Celt
ic leader who installs and maintains a Celtic alliance against the Saxon
invaders. He is instructed by his adoptive father Llud and assisted by Kai, a Saxon orphan reared as Arthur's brother. His greatest rival is his cousin, Mark of Cornwall
. The Jute
chief Yorath and his daughter Rowena are in the beginning allies against the Saxons but finally use their special position to mediate peace negotiations between the Celts and the Saxons. Cerdig, chieftain of the Saxons, is Arthur's principal counterpart who in the episode "The Treaty" even insults him as a man "with many brothers but no father" but learns to respect him in the end.
The series dispenses with the legendary Round Table
and popular figures such as Merlin
, Guinevere
and Lancelot
and attaches no significance to magic or superstition. Neither Arthur nor his fellow celts are at any time clad in shining armour. Arthur is once again portrayed as a skilled fighter but especially as a cunning politician who eventually comes to good terms with the Saxons. After he has created the basics for a peaceful coexistence between his folks and the Saxons, he falls in love with a Roman princess (last episode, "The Girl From Rome") called Benedicta (portrayed by Catherine Schell
) who wants to live with him in Rome. By the end of the series the undefeated king is about to leave Britain in order to comply with her wish.
and show him merely as a man of superior integrity
who defends Christian
Britain against heathen barbarian
s, this TV show sees him as one of the Britons who were already in Great Britain before the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans came, and hence, a Celt.
. They are very capable horsemen
who can cull wild boar from a horseback. Besides that they inhabit village
s that are fortified by palisade
s. (In "The Pupil" and "Daughter of the King" the outside of Arthur's Celtic village is shown.) That is how they are defined as Celts.
s who clear the land for cultivation of grain. They are also experienced in using wood to build ships. Their villages are in the middle of their fields and they are not fortified, since they can recognise approaching enemies earlier than the Celts who live in glades. ("The Gift of Life" and the flashbacks in "The Prisoner" provide an impression of Saxon villages.) The Saxons are brave footsoldiers but they are defeated by even a smaller number of Celts if they fight as cavalrymen. (As demonstrated in "The Duel".) So instead of invading Britain they just infiltrate it as clans (and that is how Arthur describes it in "The Challenge"), fighting with Celtic clans for places that suffice to make a living as farmers.
, because on both sides there are Christians as well as adepts of other religions such as Mithraism
. (In the first episode, called ""Arthur is dead", the gathered Celtic leaders beseech their gods to help them to tackle a task. Also, in the fourth episode, named "The Penitent Invader", a Christian Celtic leader asks Arthur to help him with another Christian Celtic chieftain, who unfortunately became an unbearable hypocrite and is eventually dealt with by Llud who uses a remedy that according to him was part of Mithraism.) Neither is it simply a conflict between good and evil because there are also pacifists on either side. (In the aforementioned episode "People of the Plough", Kai mets a pacifist Saxon and in the eighth episode "Rolf the Preacher", a whole Celtic village turns to pacifism.)
(episode "In Common Cause") and when one of his allies takes Saxons as slaves ("Some Saxon Women") he will talk him out of it. While defending the borders of the remaining Celtic area he prepares from a position of strength a peaceful coexistence. The TV series is composed accordingly, alternating episodes about sustaining the alliance with episodes that show Celtic-Saxon harmonisation. Once Arthur has accomplished his political goals and provided the grounds for peace, he indulges himself to the pursuit of personal happiness.
created a version of a naive, victimised King Arthur who is cuckold
ed by his allegedly best friend Lancelot
and left by his knights who rather seek for the Holy Grail
than to stand by his side while Mordred is about to become Arthur's nemesis. Films like First Knight
that pick up these motifs, depict Arthur as a King whose Britons fail him and who lives in a gigantic castle which must have required such a great deal of drudgery that it is hard to believe in his legendary popularity. Finally he dies tragically. In Arthur of the Britons the protagonist does not die, nor does he have to escape to Avalon
or Brittany
in France. In the penultimate episode, which probably should have been the second season finale, under threat of attack by the Scots, Arthur comes close to securing a treaty between himself, Cerdig and Yorath the Jute, but a carelessly placed target board results in a death, and old hostilities quickly re-surface. Arthur and his men return home, disappointed, but still hopeful that one day, there will be a lasting peace.
movie, King Arthur, the Young Warlord. The complete series was released on DVD in 2008, by Network DVD
. While the movie is available in the US and the UK, the series is only available in the UK.
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
. Produced by the HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
regional franchise, it consisted of two series, released between 1972 and 1973. ITV had already a reputation for entertaining historical TV shows that would display adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
and swordplay, such as The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1956), The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV in London in the...
(1955), The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network...
(1956), Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (1958 TV series)
Ivanhoe is a British television series first shown on ITV in 1958-59. It featured Roger Moore, in his first starring role, as Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in a series of adventures aimed at a children's audience...
(1958) and Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake (TV series)
Sir Francis Drake was a British adventure television series starring Terence Morgan as Sir Francis Drake, commander of the sailing ship the Golden Hind...
(1961). Like Richard Lionheart in the TV shows about Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
and Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
this King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
shows greatness by making peace between the two foremost peoples in the England of his era. The looks of King Arthur and his brother-in-arms Kai resemble contemporary rockstars. Arthur of the Britons was broadcast repeatedly on numerous local ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
stations during the 1970s and 1980s.
Plot
Set in the Dark AgesEarly Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
a century after the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
withdrawal from Britain and during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain was the invasion and migration of Germanic peoples from continental Europe to Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, specifically the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain after the demise of Roman rule in the 5th century.The stimulus, progression and...
, Arthur is not a glamorous king with an elaborate court; instead, he is (as presumed by some historians ) just a Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic leader who installs and maintains a Celtic alliance against the Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
invaders. He is instructed by his adoptive father Llud and assisted by Kai, a Saxon orphan reared as Arthur's brother. His greatest rival is his cousin, Mark of Cornwall
Kingdom of Cornwall
The Kingdom of Cornwall was an independent polity in southwest Britain during the Early Middle Ages, roughly coterminous with the modern English county of Cornwall. During the sub-Roman and early medieval periods Cornwall was evidently part of the kingdom of Dumnonia, which included most of the...
. The Jute
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
chief Yorath and his daughter Rowena are in the beginning allies against the Saxons but finally use their special position to mediate peace negotiations between the Celts and the Saxons. Cerdig, chieftain of the Saxons, is Arthur's principal counterpart who in the episode "The Treaty" even insults him as a man "with many brothers but no father" but learns to respect him in the end.
The series dispenses with the legendary Round Table
Round Table (Camelot)
The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
and popular figures such as Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
, Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
and Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and attaches no significance to magic or superstition. Neither Arthur nor his fellow celts are at any time clad in shining armour. Arthur is once again portrayed as a skilled fighter but especially as a cunning politician who eventually comes to good terms with the Saxons. After he has created the basics for a peaceful coexistence between his folks and the Saxons, he falls in love with a Roman princess (last episode, "The Girl From Rome") called Benedicta (portrayed by Catherine Schell
Catherine Schell
Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott is an Hungarian-born actress best known for her work on British televison.Schell rose to fame in various British film and television productions in the 1960s and 1970s...
) who wants to live with him in Rome. By the end of the series the undefeated king is about to leave Britain in order to comply with her wish.
A Celtic King Arthur
While other films about him simply avoid the question of his belongingBelonging
Belonging is an English-language Welsh television drama series, produced by BBC Wales and broadcast on BBC One Wales.The programme revolved around the lives of the Lewis family, and their various trials and tribulations in the changing environment of their South Wales town Bryncoed and modern Wales...
and show him merely as a man of superior integrity
Integrity
Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions...
who defends Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Britain against heathen barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
s, this TV show sees him as one of the Britons who were already in Great Britain before the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans came, and hence, a Celt.
Depiction of Celts
The Celts are portrayed as autarkic people who make their living on cattle breeding and huntingHunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
. They are very capable horsemen
Horsemen
Horsemen may refer to:*Equestrianism, including cavalry*Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse*Four Horsemen *Royal Canadian Mounted Police*Horsemen , starring Dennis Quaid*The Horsemen , starring Omar Sharif...
who can cull wild boar from a horseback. Besides that they inhabit village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s that are fortified by palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
s. (In "The Pupil" and "Daughter of the King" the outside of Arthur's Celtic village is shown.) That is how they are defined as Celts.
Depiction of Saxons
The Saxons are portrayed as farmerFarmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s who clear the land for cultivation of grain. They are also experienced in using wood to build ships. Their villages are in the middle of their fields and they are not fortified, since they can recognise approaching enemies earlier than the Celts who live in glades. ("The Gift of Life" and the flashbacks in "The Prisoner" provide an impression of Saxon villages.) The Saxons are brave footsoldiers but they are defeated by even a smaller number of Celts if they fight as cavalrymen. (As demonstrated in "The Duel".) So instead of invading Britain they just infiltrate it as clans (and that is how Arthur describes it in "The Challenge"), fighting with Celtic clans for places that suffice to make a living as farmers.
Culture clash between Celts and Saxons
The Celts and Saxons are defined by their cultures and subsequently their conflict derives from their different ways of life. The Celts feel robbed because the Saxons destroy their hunting grounds (as Kai explains to a Saxon girl in the fifth episode, called "People of the Plough") and the Saxons react to the hostility of the Celts (as explained in the second episode "The Gift of Life", where the Saxons bring Kai to trial, accusing him of being a traitor). It is not about ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, because on both sides there are Christians as well as adepts of other religions such as Mithraism
Mithraism
The Mithraic Mysteries were a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to 4th centuries AD. The name of the Persian god Mithra, adapted into Greek as Mithras, was linked to a new and distinctive imagery...
. (In the first episode, called ""Arthur is dead", the gathered Celtic leaders beseech their gods to help them to tackle a task. Also, in the fourth episode, named "The Penitent Invader", a Christian Celtic leader asks Arthur to help him with another Christian Celtic chieftain, who unfortunately became an unbearable hypocrite and is eventually dealt with by Llud who uses a remedy that according to him was part of Mithraism.) Neither is it simply a conflict between good and evil because there are also pacifists on either side. (In the aforementioned episode "People of the Plough", Kai mets a pacifist Saxon and in the eighth episode "Rolf the Preacher", a whole Celtic village turns to pacifism.)
Arthur's role in the conflict
Arthur seeks to forge an effective Celtic alliance in spite of religious differences, rivalry and sheer animosity among the leaders. He cannot trust on druids, clairvoyants or fairys because they exist in his world no more than in ours. Instead it is all political realism. Still this Arthur is also noble or at least fair. When Saxon children have lost their way they will be brought back to their families by his Saxon friend Kai, when the Saxon lose their cattle because of a disease he will offer him a part of his livestockLivestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
(episode "In Common Cause") and when one of his allies takes Saxons as slaves ("Some Saxon Women") he will talk him out of it. While defending the borders of the remaining Celtic area he prepares from a position of strength a peaceful coexistence. The TV series is composed accordingly, alternating episodes about sustaining the alliance with episodes that show Celtic-Saxon harmonisation. Once Arthur has accomplished his political goals and provided the grounds for peace, he indulges himself to the pursuit of personal happiness.
A unique Arthurian career, without a tragic end
The French poet Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
created a version of a naive, victimised King Arthur who is cuckold
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
ed by his allegedly best friend Lancelot
Lancelot
Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...
and left by his knights who rather seek for the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
than to stand by his side while Mordred is about to become Arthur's nemesis. Films like First Knight
First Knight
First Knight is a 1995 American medieval film based on Arthurian legend, directed by Jerry Zucker. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere, Sean Connery as King Arthur and Ben Cross as Malagant....
that pick up these motifs, depict Arthur as a King whose Britons fail him and who lives in a gigantic castle which must have required such a great deal of drudgery that it is hard to believe in his legendary popularity. Finally he dies tragically. In Arthur of the Britons the protagonist does not die, nor does he have to escape to Avalon
Avalon
Avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and later where Arthur was...
or Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
in France. In the penultimate episode, which probably should have been the second season finale, under threat of attack by the Scots, Arthur comes close to securing a treaty between himself, Cerdig and Yorath the Jute, but a carelessly placed target board results in a death, and old hostilities quickly re-surface. Arthur and his men return home, disappointed, but still hopeful that one day, there will be a lasting peace.
Cast
- Oliver TobiasOliver TobiasOliver Tobias is a UK-based film, stage, and television actor and directorBorn Oliver Tobias Freitag in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of Austrian-Swiss actor Robert Freitag and German actress Maria Becker. He came to the United Kingdom at the age of eight and trained at East 15 Acting School,...
– Arthur, Chief of the Celts - Brian BlessedBrian BlessedBrian Blessed is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".-Early life:The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born in the town of Goldthorpe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England...
– Mark of CornwallMark of CornwallMark of Cornwall was a king of Kernow in the early 6th century. He is most famous for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult, who engage in a secret affair.-The legend:Mark sent Tristan as his proxy to fetch his young bride, the Princess Iseult, from... - Michael GothardMichael GothardMichael Alan Gothard was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Kai in the television series Arthur of the Britons and for his role as the mysterious villain Emile Leopold Locque in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.-Early life:Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939...
– KaiSir KayIn Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier... - Jack WatsonJack Watson (actor)Jack Watson , was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards....
– Llud the Silver-Handed - Rupert DaviesRupert DaviesRupert Davies was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon....
– CerdigCerdic of WessexCerdic was probably the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings...
, Chief of the SaxonsSaxonsThe Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein... - Georg MarischkaGeorg MarischkaGeorg Marischka , was an Austrian actor, screen writer, director and film producer for cinema and television.- Life :...
– Yorath, Chief of the JutesJutesThe Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles... - Gila von WeitershausenGila von WeitershausenBaroness Gila von Weitershausen is a German actress. Born in Trebnitz, , Lower Silesia, Germany into an aristocratic family, she has three brothers and two sister and is the great-granddaughter of Georg Graf von Hertling....
– Rowena of the Jutes - Clive RevillClive RevillClive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand-born British character actor best known for his performances in musical theatre and on the London stage.-Early life and stage career:...
– Rolf the Preacher - Peter StephensPeter StephensPeter Stephens was an English stage, film and television supporting actor, notable for his portrayal of the Bunteresque character, Cyril, in the BBC TV series Doctor Who series entitled The Celestial Toymaker...
– Amlodd
Series 1 (1972–1973)
- Arthur is Dead (Arthur's alleged death brings all Celtic leaders together.)
- The Gift of Life (Two little Saxons cause that Kai visits a Saxon village.)
- The Challenge (The rivalry between two Celtic leaders endangers the Celtic defense.)
- The Penitent Invader (The Picts turn out being the real danger for the Celts.)
- People of the Plough (Kai teams up with a pacifistic Saxon to outsmart a greedy Celt.)
- The Duel (The rivalry among the Celts leads endangers again an action against Saxons.)
- The Pupil (A young Celt asks Arthur for combat training but actally wants to kill Arthur.)
- Rolf the Preacher (For a change the Celtic alliance is weakened by pacifism.)
- Enemies and Lovers (Arthur and Kai are suspected being Saxon spies.)
- The Slave (With help of Kai and a Saxon girl Arthur can free Celtic prisoners)
- The Wood People (Homeless Celts are eventually accepted as allies against Saxon intruders.)
- The Prize (The heroes travel masked as Saxons in a Saxon boat through Saxon territory, .)
Series 2 (1973)
- The Swordsman (A rival Celtic chieftain tricks Arthur into a dangerous duel.)
- Rowena (Arthur escorts a princess of Germanic Jutes to her Celtic groom.)
- The Prisoner (Kai hides a Saxon who turns out being his former best friend.)
- Some Saxon Women (Arhur manages to rescue Saxon girls from getting sold into slavery.)
- Go Warily (An old Celtic feud threatens Arthur and his friends.)
- The Marriage Feast (Arthur averts that Mark of Cornwall becomes too mighty for the alliance.)
- In Common Cause (The Saxons lose their livestock because of a disease but Arthur helps them.)
- Six Measures of Silver (An old friend of Llud causes trouble among the Celts.)
- Daughter of the King (Arthur tries to force another Celtic leader into his alliance.)
- The Games (The Celtic Games cause tensions between the competing Celtic allies.)
- The Treaty (Arthur meets his Saxon counterpart, discussing to fight new invaders together.)
- The Girl from Rome (Arthur has a brief romance with a stranded Roman princess.)
Home video and DVD releases
In 1975, the series was edited into a 90 minute direct-to-videoDirect-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
movie, King Arthur, the Young Warlord. The complete series was released on DVD in 2008, by Network DVD
Network DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
. While the movie is available in the US and the UK, the series is only available in the UK.
Syndication outside UK
Arthur of the Britons was aired in Brazil as Rei Artur (King Arthur), simultaneously to its original release in the UK. In France, it was Le Roi des Celtes (King of Celts), and in Germany, "Konig Arthur."Further reading
- Thompson, Raymond H. (1991) "Television Series". In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, pp. 445–446. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.