Glastonbury Tor given surprise role in series finale of Merlin on BBC1
Glastonbury Tor was featured in a surprising finale to the BBC One series Merlin over Christmas.
But locals will have seen through the director's attempts to convince viewers that the Tor is set in the middle of a vast lake, with a backdrop of mountains being the giveaway that it wasn't really filmed in Glastonbury at all.
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Merlin visits Glastonbury Tor – but not as we know it
In the series finale – The Diamond of the Day Part 2, Merlin gently pushes a boat containing the dead body of King Arthur out on to the Lake of Avalon.
Years pass and we see Merlin as an old man, complete with beard, hiking along a "Glastonbury" road with the Tor in the background.
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Looming in the distance behind the Tor is what appears to be a scene from the Welsh mountainous countryside, and not that of Somerset. And had Merlin wanted to visit the modern Tor featured in the series he would have needed a boat as it was set in the middle of a vast expanse of water.
Maybe the recent flooding was the reason for the Tor's watery appearance on screen.
Although the reconstruction of Glastonbury was fairly unconvincing in Merlin, Danny Boyle did a better job at recreating Glastonbury Tor at the summer Olympic Games opening ceremony in London.
Given its links to Arthurian legend the Tor has frequently featured on television and remains a draw for tourists from all over the world, including Merlin, it would seem.
Comments
by SandraL
Thursday, January 03 2013, 5:58PM
“In King Arthur's time, Glastonbury Tor *was* an island (except at low tide, when it was a peninsula). The entire plain around Glastonbury was under water - it's all basically reclaimed swampland. I'm an American and even I know that.
The "lake" wasn't shown in the last scene. They did their homework (mountains aside).”