TV Gold

...and lastly today...

Disc Two – ‘episode eleven’ – (23:06)
Hugo has sowed the seeds of dissention amongst his brother officers well and during this eleventh episode he is freed by his followers and leaves for London. Back in Canterbury Gervase and Julia meet with archbishop Thomas Armstrong and it is their first conversation in his office that sadly, on the DVD copy I am watching, has a significant although fairly brief horizontal lining distortion. With our two young leads waiting nearby there is a subsequent full cathedral church service complete with piped organ music however as the archbishop speaks there are two unsavoury individuals in the congregation. Yep, at Hugo’s insistence assassins have penetrated Canterbury with the instruction to kill Gervase and Julia thus releasing Mordrin from the seemingly debilitating hold they have over him. With the service concluded the undercover Knights follow the youngsters and the archbishop into the darkened crypt where there is a worthy cliff hanger deadly struggle which will I’m sure certainly get viewers tuning in the week to see its resolution. Other than this there doesn’t seem to be that much for me that is distinctly memorable so on now I think to the penultimate episode.

Right I'm off to watch the last couple of episodes tonight, catch you later!

Back for this...

Disc Two – ‘episode twelve’ – (25:51)
The trail to find ‘the King’ leads Gervase and Julia from Canterbury to an isolated island where a monastic order forge a simple low tech existence. I thought there was a nice initial aerial shot of the sailing yacht with our series leads standing at the front which seemed to effectively echoed the iconic image from the big budget Hollywood movie “Titanic”. Apparently at the final battle between the Knights of God and the Royal family three individuals survived and were able to protect an infant whom had been raised in secret so that he could grow up and become King. The three were the Archbishop whom died in Canterbury at the hands of the assassins during the previous episode, Arthur, the enigmatic wise white haired character played by Patrick Troughton, and Father Gregory, the blind leader of this isolated monastic order. By this point in the series it hardly takes a genius to work out the identity of the future King of England which leads to a marvellous concluding sequence where Gervase runs from the monastery across the fields to the cliff edge, his mind wracked by conflicting impassioned pleas from Owen (“You must live boy, for all of us!”) and Mordrin (“You must kill him!”). Meanwhile the leading players of the Knights continue down their divided paths. On the one hand you have Brother Simon urgently consulting Mordrin for immediate action in crushing Hugo’s rebellion however the Father Prior is getting ever more delusional about Gervase’ mission and his plans for his own coronation. Whilst they speak, in London, Hugo makes an impassioned rousing speech to fellow Knights offering firm leadership and denouncing his former friend and superior Mordrin. Out in the countryside wasteland, attempting to capitalise on the perceived divisions in the Knights rebel leader Owen Edwards, played as usual with marvellous resolution by actor Gareth Thomas, delivers a rousing speech to motivate his followers to come together and attack the Knights. With great character revelations and plot developments I feel this twelfth instalment sets up things perfectly for the following episode which concludes the series.

...and finishing off my thoughts (for the time being) with this...

Disc Two – ‘episode thirteen’ – (26:02)
The final part of this series opens satisfactorily with the permanent cancellation of Mordrin’s subconscious instruction thanks to Gervase having to concentrate on rescuing Julia hanging over the edge of the cliff face. Obviously it’s a stuntwoman doubling for the actress whom plays this character but it still looks really quite effective with Julia in real deadly danger. The most memorable main element of this thirteenth and final episode is Hugo’s forces attacking the Knights at the Winchester headquarters with effectively staged fighting, gunfire and explosions. The only aspect that for me that negates this sequence is that, in the resistance camp, ‘the King’ states that his forces should wait until the Knights have finished off each other before they enter however in the midst of the battle Owen Edwards apparently disobeys his orders and gets shot for his troubles. There’s an effective final confrontation between Mordrin and Hugo in the chapel and a touching moment with Alfred taking the crown from Mordrin in the latter moments of the episode. It’s been great to see this series for the first time since it was originally shown way back in 1987, the main attraction obviously is the impressive cast list assembled. Patrick Troughton (in his last appearance before his sad death), Gareth Thomas, John Woodvine, Don Henderson, Michael Sheard and Nigel Stock will undoubtedly all leave an indelible lasting memory on anyone whom gets to see this intriguing, enjoyable dramatically engaging albeit fairly farfetched tale of English civil unrest in the far future. Again its another title that I’m amazed has not been picked up for a highly polished official release perhaps with the possibility of extra features including commentaries, photo gallery and ‘making of’ item.