WARLORD CHRONICLES TV series to air in August

The Winter King, the TV adaptation of Bernard Cornwell's acclaimed Warlord Chronicles trilogy, will start airing on August 20th this year.

The show was only commissioned last September and was put into rapid turn-around, with Bad Wolf Productions (A Discovery of Witches, His Dark Materials, Doctor Who) prioritising the project which they'd been developing since 2015.

The novels take the form of a historically-inspired take on the legend of Arthur, with armour, weapons and military tactics based on real 5th/6th century sources. The books are narrated by Derfel Cadarn, a relatively junior member of the Knights of the Round Table. In the novels, Arthur is not a king but a warlord, a mercenary commander who is chosen to act as regent for the true heir to the throne, Prince Mordred. Britain at this time is a seething morass of competing religious, political and cultural influences, divided between the Roman occupiers whose time is fading, the native Britons and the invading Saxons. Arthur has the unenviable task of forging these forces into a coalition to ensure peace in the islands, aided by Merlin, in this version of the story a lecherous high priest.

The series stars Eddie Marsan (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) as King Uther, Iain de Caestecker (Agents of SHIELD) as Arthur, Ellie James (I May Destroy You) as Nimue, Nathaniel Martello-White (I Hate Suzie) as Merlin, Stuart Campbell (Rogue Heroes) as Derfel, Daniel Ings (The Crown) as Owain, Valene Kane (Gangs of London) as Morgan, Jordan Alexandra (Mammals) as Guinevere and Simon Merrells (Knightfall) as Gundleus.

The series is produced by Bad Wolf and parent company Sony Television, and will air on MGM+ in the United States and ITVX in the United Kingdom.

WARLORD CHRONICLES TV series greenlit by Bad Wolf and ITVX

Bad Wolf Productions have finally pulled the trigger on their long, long-gestating Warlord Chronicles TV series.

Based on the historical-with-a-hint-of-fantasy trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, the series is a "realistic" take on the legend of Arthur, recasting Arthur as a post-Roman mercenary commander or warlord who has to rule as regent of the kingdom of Dumnonia for the young Prince Mordred, and how he deals in a politically complex world divided between the remnants of the Romans (particularly the cult of Mithras), the native Britons and the invading Saxons. The series is notable for its attempts to be historically accurate to 5th and 6th Century Britain, particular when it comes to military, religious and political concerns.

The trilogy consists of the novels The Winter King (1995), Enemy of God (1996) and Excalibur (1997), and is consistently Cornwell's most acclaimed series, helped by its conciseness (his Sharpe and Last Kingdom series, both previously adapted to television, are better-known but considerably longer) and its revisionist take on familiar characters, with Guinevere as a fierce warrior-queen of another tribe and Merlin as a priest whose magical powers are more claimed than demonstrable.

The 10-part first season, which will adapt The Winter King, will debut on the streaming platform ITVX in the UK. Bad Wolf Productions are currently looking for an international streaming/distribution partner. They have good relations with HBO and the BBC, with whom they produced His Dark Materials (which returns for a third and final season this year). Kate Brooke and Ed Whitmore are writing, whilst Otto Bathurst will direct.

Bad Wolf originally optioned the series in 2015, at the same time as His Dark Materials, but wanted to complete work on that show before moving to a new project.

Bad Wolf are also producing Doctor Who for the BBC, with Russell T. Davies in charge. Production appears to be complete or almost so on a series of three specials due to air in 2023 for the show's 60th anniversary, which will see David Tennant reprise his role as the Doctor, and they are about to start production on the fourteenth series, which will see Ncuti Gatwa take on the role.

'Thousands' of cans of missing TV episodes returned to the BBC and ITV

The British Film Institute hosted one of its Missing: Believed Wiped events today, in which British television programmes and films that were believed lost are discussed and celebrated. A few weeks ago they announced the successful return of nine missing episodes of Doctor Who, amidst heavy rumours of additional finds.

Tonight, the event organisers confirmed (following reports on Twitter) what had been speculated for months: that 'thousands' of cans of material had been recovered, mostly from Africa where copies had been sent for broadcast in the 1960s. The figure 10,000 cans was at one point mentioned, though later the organisers stressed they did not have a confirmed figure and that was speculative. However, it is clear that a substantial amount of material has been found.

What this material consists of and how much of it is of missing material and how much extra copies of episodes that already exist in the BBC and ITV archives is unknown at the moment. Apparently the BBC and ITV are assessing the material and will make further announcements in due course. However, it is rumoured that the three missing episodes of classic British sitcom Dad's Army are among the find, alongside possible episodes of Steptoe and Son and Hancock's Half Hour.

The holy grail for fans of British cult TV would be the 24 missing episodes of The Avengers and of course more missing episodes of Doctor Who. Following the find a few weeks ago, 97 episodes of the series remain missing. The most extravagant rumour - and sadly already reported to be wildly optimistic - was that 81 of these episodes had been recovered. The true figure is reportedly significantly lower, but would still comprise a number of eagerly-missed episodes. It is believed that the BBC will only confirm recovered episodes once they have been fully checked and are ready to be released to the public via iTunes and DVD.

In a separate development, Doctor Who 'superfan' Ian Levine has recovered five episodes from Taiwan. However, these were additional copies of already-extant episodes. Whilst it is disappointing not to find lost episodes, this discovery, hot on the heels of the announcement of the find of nine episodes in October, gives further hope that there is more material out there to be discovered.