Camelot for the Small Screen

In Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur," a young King Arthur presides over Camelot, a mythical place that attracted legions of knights and damsels. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Amy Chozick states the pay-cable channel Starz hopes their TV version has the same appeal. On Feb. 25, Starz will preview the first episode of Camelot, an ambitious period drama full of feuding monarchies, black magic and hedonistic revelry. The series is part of the network's strategy to challenge HBO and Showtime with original programs.

Camelot marks the first new series from President and Chief Executive Chris Albrecht since he left HBO, where he shepherded such shows as Deadwood, Rome and Band of Brothers. His philosophy is that viewers will only shell out that additional $15 or so each month if pay cable provides shows that look and feel different than other TV offerings. By which he means, in this case, larger-than-life epics. "Quiet drama... "We're going to leave that to other people," Mr. Albrecht told reporters last month.


In January of last year, Starz debuted Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a stylized, CGI-heavy interpretation of ancient Rome with lots of shirtless men and video-game-like choreography. BBC co-production Torchwood, about a secret organization that investigates the supernatural, is due this summer.

Other shows in the works at Starz include Magic City, set in 1960s Miami, and Boss, a King Lear-inspired political drama set in Chicago starring Kelsey Grammer. Gus Van Sant will direct the first episode. The network is in discussions with Ben Silverman's Electus production company to develop shows about William the Conqueror and Marco Polo, says Mr. Silverman.

By the time Camelot officially kicks off the 10-episode season April 1, its competitors will be ready with epics of their own. Showtime, which first developed Camelot but passed on the series, premieres The Borgias starring Jeremy Irons on April 3. On April 17 HBO will kick off its medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones.

Shot in a studio outside Dublin, Camelot relies more on elaborate costumes, sweeping landscapes and an oversexed Morgan Le Fay (Eva Green) than on special effects. Producers say they didn't want to try to match the expensive battle scenes that viewers are accustomed to seeing in movies like Robin Hood and Gladiator. Modern TV screens may be big, but they're not that big.

"Those epic battle scenes of thousands of warriors moving together, that never pays off when you actually make it," says executive producer and president of production house GK-TV, Craig Cegielski. "We don't have the magic of a 40-foot screen."

The story begins with the death of King Uther Pendragon and the rise of a young King Arthur, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, recently seen in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Joseph Fiennes's Merlin helps him navigate the pitfalls of sudden royalty.