Series 4 Volume 1 of BBC One’s fantasy drama Merlin is released on DVD next week.
> Order the Series 4 Volume 1 DVD on Amazon.
CultBox caught up with co-creators Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy to ask them your questions…
Are you pleased with the response to Series 4 so far?
Johnny: “Yeah, we’re thrilled. Our audience figures are the highest they’ve ever been, so year on year we’ve built our audience which is terrific. Also the audience appreciation index, which is very important to the BBC, we’re getting into the 90s and anything above 85 is deemed superb.
“It’s really exciting that not only are we doing well audience figure wise, the people who are watching are also really enjoying it. As programme makers, it doesn’t really get better than that.”
Do you have a favourite episode of Series 4?
Julian: “So far I’d say Episode 3, the one where Uther died.”
Johnny: “I enjoyed Episode 7 with Gaius revealing Merlin’s identity, that was a great episode for me. But I also really enjoyed the dragon egg episode.”
Julian: “Also, this week’s episode is a favourite too.”
BMSESQ67 asks: Will Arthur and Gwen be bringing a Pendragon baby into Camelot in Series 5?
Johnny: “Blimey, I hadn’t thought about that, maybe Series 8!”
@xxMerlinLoverxx asks: How far along are you with planning ideas for Series 5?
Julian: “We’ve been planning for quite a while as we got the green light quite a long time ago. We’re fairly into the storyline process, certainly the first half of the series.”
As you knew that Series 5 had been commissioned before you’d filmed the final episode of Series 4, does this series end on more of cliffhanger than usual?
Julian: “We do have a cliffhanger! And it probably is more of a cliffhanger than we’ve had in the past, yeah.”
When does Series 5 start filming?
Johnny: “We start filming again some time in March next year.”
@Aiimzzii82 asks: Do you already know the ending for the show’s last ever episode?
Julian: “Yeah, we don’t know which series that’ll be in, but we’ve always had an idea of how we would end it, absolutely. Obviously to some extend the legend had written it for us.
“The story of Arthur’s death is a very well told one, but our version of it isn’t quite the same as everyone else’s, we’ll give it our twist. But yeah, strangely enough we’ve had an idea since the very beginning.”
@ali_termite asks: When will we get some shirtless Merlin?
Johnny: “I don’t know how to answer that one! We don’t currently have any plans for a storyline based around a shirtless Merlin.”
Julian: “We’re thinking about doing an episode where everybody is shirtless!”
> Read the second part of our exclusive interview with Julian and Johnny.
What do you think of Series 4 so far? Let us know below…
> Order the Series 4 Volume 1 DVD on Amazon.
Watch the Series 4 trailer…