A quite impressive young movie level cast have signed up to new TV series Camelot for the US Starz channel and GK-TV. Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, Jamie Campbell Bower and Tamsin Egerton will lead the show, based on the Arthur legend, and suddenly we're paying attention to it.
Once-and-future vampire Campbell-Bower will take the role of Arthur himself, with Egerton as his unfaithful Queen Guinevere. Green will play Morgana le Fey, half-sister to Arthur, bad-ass sorceress and occasional incest fan, with Fiennes playing a less wrinkly than usual Merlin.
If you don't know the King Arthur legend, well, you need to get a bit more into your culture, frankly. But Arthur was the once and future King of the Dark Ages who (according to legend) managed to fit a bit of protecting the country in between marrying a wife who cheated on him with his best mate, shagging his half-sister (accidentally, in fairness), pulling swords from stones and being a High King with a taste for circular furniture. And if that doesn't say serial drama to you, we don't know what does.
Shooting starts on the series this month, so with luck we'll see it next year. So what do you think? Will this be any challenge to the BBC's Merlin? Is it fair to expect vastly more sex and violence?