''Atlantis'' is a British

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extr ...

television programme inspired by

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

and created by Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy with

Howard Overman Howard Overman is a British television writer, best known for creating the series '' Misfits'' which won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series and the police-procedural comedy '' Vexed''. Career Overman has written scripts for s ...

. It premiered on 28 September 2013 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

. In the show, submarine pilot Jason washes up on the shores of legendary

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

and must navigate the powerful leaders of the mythological realm. ''Atlantis'' was the biggest new Saturday night drama series launch across all

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

channels since 2006, even up on the launch of hit show ''

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

''. It also managed to draw 1 million viewers away from the highly popular ITV show ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'', which aired at the same time in the UK. On 26 October 2013, BBC One ordered a second series of the show, which began airing on 15 November 2014. On 23 January 2015, it was announced that the series had been cancelled.

Plot

In the modern day, Jason, the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the show, pilots a one-man submarine to investigate a deep sea disturbance that resulted in the disappearance of his father when he was a child. When he discovers the location, the submarine begins to fail and he is pulled into white light. He wakes up on the shores of the kingdom of

, which is ruled by a traditionalist King

Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eat ...

and his power-hungry, manipulative wife, Queen Pasiphae. Under a set of circumstances, he is given shelter by a couple of unlucky and largely unemployed locals:

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politic ...

— a young intellectual who enjoys beautiful triangles — and the rotund, ex-

prize fighter Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

— a hopeless romantic who spends most of his time in taverns drinking and gambling. The three of them encounter monsters, gods and

demigods A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the " divine spark" (spiritual enlightenment). ...

, as they live the

Greek myths A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...

and battle to do good and protect the innocent. Along the way, they pick up some allies including Medusa, a palace maid; Ariadne, daughter of the King and heir to the throne; and a mysterious Oracle, who seems unsurprised at Jason's arrival. The Oracle predicts a world-changing destiny is in store for Jason if he stays on the right path.

Cast

Main

Jack Donnelly Jack Donnelly (born 28 October 1985) is an English actor, best known for his role in BBC series ''Atlantis'', in which he played the role of Jason. Early life Donnelly was born the first of four boys in Bournemouth on 28 October 1985, the son ...

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek mythology, mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was marri ...

Mark Addy Mark Ian Addy (born 14 January 1964) is an English actor. His roles in British television include Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the sitcom '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–1996) and Hercules in the fantasy drama series ''Atlantis'' (2013–2 ...

Robert Emms Robert Emms (born Robert James MacPherson; 20 May 1986) is an English film, stage and television actor, known for portraying Pythagoras in the BBC One fantasy-adventure series ''Atlantis'', and Leonid Toptunov in HBO's Miniseries ''Chernobyl'' ...

Aiysha Hart Aiysha Hart (born 8 August 1990) is a British-Saudi actress and screenwriter best known for playing DS Sam Railston in ''Line of Duty'', Ariadne in the BBC drama series ''Atlantis'', Mona in independent thriller ''Honour'', and Polaire in ''Cole ...

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havin ...

Sarah Parish Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including: '' The Pillars of the Earth'', '' Peak Practice'', '' Hearts and Bones'', '' Cutting It'', '' Doctor Who'', '' Mistresses'', ''Merli ...

as Pasiphae *

Juliet Stevenson Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadi ...

as the

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The wor ...

Jemima Rooper Jemima Rooper (born 24 October 1981) is a British actress. Having started as a child actress in television series, she has appeared in numerous film and theatre roles. Background Born in Hammersmith, London, Rooper is the daughter of TV journ ...

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

Amy Manson Amy Manson (born 9 September 1985) is a Scottish actress. She has portrayed Alice Guppy in '' Torchwood'', Abby Evans in '' Casualty'', Lizzie Siddal in '' Desperate Romantics'', Daisy Hannigan-Spiteri in '' Being Human'', Medea in '' Atlant ...

Medea In Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the ...

Recurring

Ken Bones Ken Bones (born 11 June 1947) is an English actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Career Theatre Bones trained at RADA between 1971 and 1973, where he won the Honours Diploma, the Ronson Prize, the Kendal Award, the Poel ...

Melas Melas may refer to: * Plural of mela People * Melas (mythology), a number of different characters in Greek mythology * Pavlos Melas (1870–1904), a Hellenic Army officer and a symbol of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia * Chloe Melas, an Amer ...

, son of Poseidon and High Priest * John Hannah as Tychon / Aeson * Robert Lindsay as

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, ...

*Joseph Timms as

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos sus ...

Gary Oliver Gary Oliver (born 14 July 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish League One side Falkirk. Oliver started his career at Heart of Midlothian, before a loan spell at Stenhousemuir, followed by one season ...

as Alytarch ;Series 1 *

Hannah Arterton Hannah Jane Arterton (born 26 January 1989) is an English actress. She attended Gravesend Grammar School for Girls and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2011. She has most notably appeared in the television series '' The Five'' ...

as Korinna *Lou Broadbent as

Ione Ione may refer to: Places * Ione, California, a city * Ione, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Ione, Nevada, an unincorporated community * Ione, Oregon, a city * Ione, Washington, a town * Ionopolis or Ione, an ancient town near Antioch ...

Lucy Cohu Lucy Ann Cohu (born 2 October 1970) is an English stage and film actress, known for portraying Princess Margaret in '' The Queen's Sister'', Evelyn Brogan in '' Cape Wrath'' and Alice Carter in ''Torchwood'': '' Children of Earth''. Background ...

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vast kno ...

* Joe Dixon as Ramos *

Alexander Siddig Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi (born 21 November 1965) is a Sudanese-born English actor and director known professionally as Siddig El Fadil and subsequently as Alexander Siddig. Siddig i ...

King Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eate ...

Oliver Walker Oliver Walker (born 23 September 1985) is a British actor, known for his role on the TV series ''Atlantis''. He has also made guest appearances on '' Doctors'', ''Holby City'' and ''Coronation Street'', among others. Career In 2013, Walker was ...

as Heptarian *

Ciarán Griffiths Ciarán Joseph Griffiths (; born 3 March 1983) is an English actor. His role in television include Gary Best in ''The Bill'' and Micky Maguire in '' Shameless''. Biography Griffiths was born in Manchester to a Welsh father and Irish mother, a ...

as Cyrus *

Nora-Jane Noone Nora-Jane Noone (born 8 March 1984) is an Irish actress. In 2020, ''The Irish Times'' ranked her 47th on its list of the greatest Irish film actors of all time. She made her screen debut in the drama film ''The Magdalene Sisters'' (2002) and h ...

as Atalanta ;Series 2 *Thomas Coombes as Critias *

Lorcan Cranitch Lorcan Cranitch (born 28 August 1959) is an Irish actor. Born in Dublin, Lorcan Cranitch became involved in drama while a student. In 1980 he moved to London, where he trained at RADA. Career His first major role on British television was as ...

as Cilix * Peter de Jersey as Goran *

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in '' Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific st ...

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to ...

Robert Pugh Robert Pugh (born 11 October 1950) is a Welsh actor, known for his many television appearances, including the role of Craster in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. Life and career Pugh was born in the Tynte, Mountain Ash and grew up in Cilfy ...

as Sarpedon *

Vincent Regan Vincent Regan (born 16 May 1965) is a British film and television actor, best known for his roles in ''300 (film), 300'', ''Troy (film), Troy'', ''Unleashed (2005 film), Unleashed'', ''Clash of the Titans (2010 film), Clash of the Titans'' and ' ...

as Dion, Ariadne's general * Emmett J. Scanlan as Delmos * Clive Standen as Telemon, an exiled prince of Aegina *

Anya Taylor-Joy Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy ( ; born 16 April 1996) is an actress. She has won several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2021, she was featu ...

as Cassandra *

Sian Thomas Sian or Siyan may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name Places * Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran * Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia * Xi'an, China, formerly r ...

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the name ...

, the wife of Orpheus

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

Series 2 (2014–15)

Production

Announced on 11 February 2013, ''Atlantis'' was created to fill the gap left behind by ''

'', a show that was created and produced by Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy. This duo, plus ''

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

'' creator

, produced ''Atlantis'' through their new company Urban Myth Films. Executive producer for BBC Cymru Wales was Bethan Jones. The drama series was commissioned by

Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot Productions in the United States. Personal life Stephenson attended The ...

, Controller of BBC Drama, and Danny Cohen, Controller of BBC One. The cast was announced on 27 March 2013. The series was filmed in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

. A 155,000sq ft warehouse, a former cold store building near

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

, was converted into a vast TV studio to house the sets and filming of ''Atlantis''. The first series was filmed between 1 April 2013 and 1 November 2013. On 22 July 2013, BBC America announced that the channel was co-producing ''Atlantis'', and the show was broadcast in the US in autumn 2013 as part of "Supernatural Saturday." Since that date the series was promoted using a

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

campaign, with official accounts on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

. On 9 August 2013, the first poster for the series was revealed, and on 16 August 2013 the first teaser trailer for the series aired on BBC One. A week later on 23 August, a second teaser was shown where Jason (

) appeared. On 29 August four new teasers were released featuring

and

. On 7 September the first promotional pictures of the cast were revealed and on the same day, the first trailer for the series was aired before ''Strictly Come Dancing'' on BBC One. A week before the first episode, on 21 September, the first clip from the opening episode was released. On 26 October 2013, the BBC confirmed that a second series had been commissioned. The second series had its initial read-through on 11 March 2014, with filming taking place from 17 March 2014 to 10 October 2014. On 3 April 2014, it was announced that

was joining the cast as Dion along with

as Medea. Clive Standen, known from ''

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

'', guest-starred in an episode of the second series. Emmett J. Scanlan, known from ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

'', revealed on his Instagram page that he was joining the second series.

Soundtrack

In December 2015, Silva Screen Records released the soundtrack to the second series on CD and digital download. Composed by

Stuart Hancock Stuart Hancock (born 5 August 1975) is a British composer of film, TV and concert music. Hancock is known for having composed the original soundtracks to series 2 of the BBC fantasy series Atlantis, the animated TV adaptation of We're Going O ...

, the album features 30 tracks and 73 minutes of music score, with the final track, entitled 'Vision of the Future', incorporating Rob Lane's original series title theme. Reviewing this soundtrack release in Synchrotones, Pete Simons wrote "Stuart Hancock's ''Atlantis'' is a magnificent work... What is impressive about ''Atlantis'' is its big cinematic feel; along with its large orchestral performance...the score sounds vibrant and exciting in a way that many similar scores don't."

Broadcast

On 4 October 2014, the first teaser trailer for the second series was released, followed by the first official trailer on 29 October 2014. It premiered on 15 November 2014. In Canada, the series airs on

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...

, premiering 12 October 2013, with the second series returning 15 November 2014. In the United States, the series premiered on 23 November 2013 on

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

, with the second series returning 15 November 2014. BBCA aired the remaining six episodes of the cancelled series in June and July 2015 with the last episode, "The Queen Must Die," airing on 8 August 2015. In Australia, the series aired on Fox8. It was originally set to premiere on 30 March 2014, but did not premiere until 4 May 2014. The second series was set to return on 26 April 2015, however, it was postponed until late 2015. In January 2015, the BBC confirmed that a new series was not to be commissioned, and on 16 May 2015, the series ended.

Notes

References

External links

*
Atlantis
at the

's website * *
Atlantis
on Facebook
Atlantis
on Twitter
Atlantis
on

{{Argonautica 2010s British drama television series 2013 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings Atlantis in fiction BBC television dramas British adventure television series British fantasy television series Cultural depictions of Jason Cultural depictions of Medusa Cultural depictions of Pythagoras English-language television shows Greek and Roman deities in fiction Television series about Heracles Television series based on classical mythology Television series set in ancient Greece Works about Medea