Cast Members Announced for Merlin

LONDON, July 24:
FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) and BBC One have announced the cast for the
fantasy drama Merlin, including
actor John Hurt as the voice of the Great Dragon.

Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) will serve as Lancelot and Michelle Ryan (Bionic
Woman) will be Nimueh. Other cast
members include Richard Wilson as Gaius and Anthony Head as King Uther
Pendragon as well as Colin Morgan as the young wizard Merlin, Bradley James as
Prince Arthur, Angel Coulby as Guinevere and Katie McGrath as Morgana.

The 13 hour-long episodes
begin before Arthur becomes king. His father has outlawed magic in the city of
Camelot. Gaius takes Merlin under his care and helps guide him into adulthood.
The story follows both Arthur and Merlin as they come of age.

FME holds the exclusive
distribution, licensing and home entertainment (excluding the U.K.) rights to
the series. Created and produced by Shine Television, Merlin will premiere first on BBC One in September. FME
has also presold the series to NBC in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

David Ellender, the CEO of FME, said: “Merlin is truly world-class drama on all levels from
special effects to story lines to production values, and the brilliant
international cast further underscores the fact that this is event programming
at its best. For FME, it was an obvious choice to invest in the series
alongside BBC One and Shine Television, and looks forward to bringing the show
to a global audience.”

—By Jackie Stewart