Film crews have descended on the West Country, including several sites around Bristol, to film an upcoming series called The Winter King. Film sets are being erected in Patchway and at Blaise Castle Estate, containing mocked-up medieval villages and forts.
But what is the series, which is creating a lot of buzz online? Who are its principal characters, and who is it likely to appeal to? Read on to find out.
A Cornwell classic
The Warlord Chronicles is a series of three novels by historical novelist Bernard Cornwell, who is most famous for his creation of the no nonsense, Francophobic, Napoleonic rifleman Richard Sharpe. The Sharpe stories were Cornwell’s first books and were famously made into a long running TV series starring Sean Bean, filmed from 1993 to 2008.
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Cornwell followed up this literary success with the Warlord Chronicles, a series of five novels which are the author’s recreation of Arthurian Britain. They follow the legendary king and his retinue of knights and druids as they defend post-Roman Britain from the Anglo-Saxons, Irish raiders and the newly arrived religion of Christianity.
The author describes the trilogy on his website thus: “Once upon a time, in a land that was called Britain, these things happened ... well, maybe.
“The Warlord Trilogy is my attempt to tell the story of Arthur, 'Rex Quondam Rexque Futurus', the Once and Future King, although I doubt he ever was a king. I suspect he was a great warlord of the sixth century. Nennius, who was one of the earliest historians to mention Arthur, calls him the 'dux bellorum' – leader of battles or warlord.”
Who and what
The new series will reacquaint viewers with familiar characters like Arthur, Merlin and Lancelot – although the knight, portrayed as so heroic in other tellings of his adventures, is characterised by Cornwell as an arrogant, cowardly and petty prince.
Merlin, the most powerful of all the druids, also appears in an unfamiliar light: not wise and fatherly but lecherous, mischievous and irreverent. Whether his powers are truly magical or a combination of coincidence, psychology and illusion is left for the viewer to decide.
But the protagonist of the series is Derfel Cadarn, a Saxon raised in Britain by Merlin. His character is based on the part-legendary Saint Derfel and on Bedivere, the one-handed knight of Arthurian legend. Derfel (pronounced Derv-el) rises through the ranks to become one of Arthur’s closest advisors and warlords in his battles against his countrymen the Saxons.
An obvious choice
Cornwell also describes the novels in this series as “his favourites” of those he has written, noting that they have been “translated into a score of languages and were best-sellers in a dozen countries”. The popularity of this series – and the ongoing popularity of Cornwell, who has also written novels about the American Civil War as well as several modern thrillers – makes it a prime choice for a screen adaptation.
The neverending popularity of Arthurian legend – evidenced by popular TV series like Merlin (2008-2012), Camelot (2011), Once Upon a Time (2011-2018) and Cursed (2020-) – is also likely to make The Winter King a smash hit for whichever streaming service picks it up.
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