''King Arthur's Disasters'' is a British

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

which first aired on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

. Co-created by Paul Parkes and Will Ashurst, the series follows and depicts attempts by

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

(voiced by

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (; 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative come ...

), assisted by the wizard

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

(voiced by

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain (TV series), Little Britain'' (2003–2006) ...

), to woo the beautiful self-obsessed Princess

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; ; , ), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...

(voiced by

Morwenna Banks Tamsin Morwenna Banks (born 20 September 1961) is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show '' Absolutely'', and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film ''The Announc ...

). Due to the popularity of the show, it was picked up for a second series which began transmission on CITV from 6 November 2005. Both were executive-produced by Genevieve Dexter at

Cake Entertainment Cake Entertainment Limited (stylised as CAKE, formerly Cake Distribution) is an independent company specialising in the production, distribution, financing and development of kids’ and family entertainment brands. About CAKE works with produc ...

. ''King Arthur's Disasters'' was the highest-rated new CITV show during spring 2005. It regularly achieved an audience share of over 20% of children and it regularly won its time slot against

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

. In 2006 the show was nominated for a children's

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for Best Animation; however, it lost to ''

The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers ''The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers'' is an animated television series created by Dan Chambers, Mark Huckerby, and Nick Ostler, known collectively as The Pox. Starting off as online shorts for the CBBC website in 2002, it was eventually commissio ...

''.

Story

Princess Guinevere requests a certain object, animal, or being which she apparently desperately wants or truly has need of. Arthur accepts, in return for her agreed hand in marriage. Arthur, usually accompanied by Merlin, will set off on a quest which sometimes included other people to gain the item required. He is beset by numerous dangers before finally reaching his goal, however something will always ruin it or its effects and Guinevere will never be pleased, or if she is, soon after she will be displeased. The enemies to the king are his two rebellious knights, Sir Lancelot and Sir Martyn, who constantly quarrel between each other but share the king as a common enemy.

Characters

The show uses a stock series of characters drawn from the popular reception of the

Arthurian Legend The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

, and whose most notable features demonstrate the influences of 20th century, rather than medieval incarnations of the knights. The main recurring characters are: *

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

(

), the eponymous king whose disasters provide the main plot motivation. *

(

), the archetypal bored princess whom her creators describe as "the

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...

of her generation". While having no intentions of actually marrying Arthur, she uses her hold over him to will him into finding her the things she desires; water from the fountain of youth, a winter palace, a golden bear, and so on. In the later episodes, however, she really starts to love Arthur. Guinevere is so self-absorbed, sometimes she doesn't even notice Arthur's absence. *

(

), Arthur's only faithful servant, whose bumbling manner might hide a devious, brilliant mind... or might not. *

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...

(

Phil Cornwell Philip Cornwell is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and is the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed pri ...

), Arthur's first knight, who resembles nothing so much as a fusion of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

and

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members ...

. Holding a grudge since a childhood dispute, Lancelot seeks any occasion to rid himself of Arthur and usurp the vacant throne; a

trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things in medi ...

which leads him to heartily encourage Arthur's more perilous quests, and recalls Steve Barron's ''

'' TV series, transferring the adultery theme to a more 'child-friendly' comic equivalent. * Lady 'M (Margret), is King Arthur's cunning older sister. She has claimed to live in France. (In the episode Glass Rose, King Arthur stayed at her castle in France.) Unknown to Arthur, her brother she is also the famous Sir Margret who is liked by townsfolk. She does things for the benefit of the townsfolk as seen in Glass Rose. She has come to Arthur and Guinevere's rescues a couple of times in a few episodes as Sir Margret. She made her first appearance in the episode ''Glass Rose''. *

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

(Phil Cornwell), a cheery denizen of the forest who (along with his not so merry men) serves as an antagonist to Arthur since an encounter with the Singing Oak Tree and the ruse of a cunning pig... While technically speaking, the character is an anachronism (depending on which Arthurian source a viewer prefers), the inclusion of Robin Hood is not without precedent in Arthurian films, since

Nathan Juran Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran (September 1, 1907 – October 23, 2002) was an Austro-Hungarian-born film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for '' How Green Wa ...

's ''

Siege of the Saxons ''Siege of the Saxons'' is a 1963 British medieval adventure film directed by Nathan H. Juran and released by Columbia Pictures. Starring Janette Scott and Ronald Lewis, the film is set in the time of King Arthur, but, as with many Arthurian t ...

'' included a Robin-esque character, and the backdating of Robin places him within broadly the same time period as

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

, who was writing his Arthurian legends (late 12th Century). His voice was based on

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

. * Sir Martyn, a deliberately

anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common typ ...

(or perhaps

anatopistic An anatopism (from the Ancient Greek , "against," and , "place") is something that is out of its proper place. The concept of anatopism is less widely familiar than that of anachronism, perhaps because much that is anatopic is also anachronistic. ...

) insertion into the legend, perhaps an homage to

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

whose

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

present a similarity with occidental medieval knights. * Splag, Arthur's only loyal knight, who is a stocky brute capable of only monosyllabic grunts. * Alan, Arthur's horse.

Episodes

Series 1 (2005)

Series 2 (2005-2006)

International broadcasts

References

External links

King Arthur's Disasters home page
* {{TV series based on Arthurian legends 2000s British children's television series 2005 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings Television series based on Arthurian legend British children's animated adventure television series British children's animated comedy television series British flash animated television series Disney Channel original programming 2000s British animated television series ITV animated television series Television series about kings