''The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'' is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series first broadcast in 1956, produced by

Sapphire Films Sapphire Films Ltd. was a British television production company, active in the 1950s. Amongst their best-known series are ''The Adventures of Robin Hood,'' ''The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'', '' The Buccaneers'', and '' The Four Just Men'' produ ...

for

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous

Sir Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

, a

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur at

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

. In the United States, it was originally broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from 1956 to 1957. Its success on the network led to it becoming the first British television series to have entire episodes filmed in colour, with the last fourteen of the thirty half-hour episodes being shot on colour stock, although they were seen in colour only in the US. (Although the BBC's 1954 TV series ''

Zoo Quest ''Zoo Quest'' is a series of multi-part nature documentaries broadcast on the BBC Television Service between 1954 and 1963. It was the first major programme to feature David Attenborough. In each series, Attenborough travelled with staff from L ...

'' pre-dated ''The Adventures of Sir Lancelot'' use of colour film stock by two years, this was only for the location work whilst the studio links were captured by monochrome video cameras). As was common with other British television series of the time, the programme employed several American screenwriters who had moved to Britain after being placed on the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...

, often under

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s. These included

Ian McLellan Hunter Ian McLellan Hunter (8 August 1915 – 5 March 1991) was an English screenwriter, best remembered for fronting for the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo as the credited writer of ''Roman Holiday'' in 1953. Hunter was himself later blacklisted. ''Roman ...

Hy Kraft Hyman Solomon Kraft (April 30, 1899 – July 29, 1975), aka Hy Kraft, H.S. Kraft, or Harold Kent (pseudonym due to Hollywood Blacklist), was an American screenwriter, playwright, and theatrical producer. Among the notable comedy plays that he ...

and

Ring Lardner Jr. Ringgold Wilmer Lardner Jr. (August 19, 1915 – October 31, 2000) was an American screenwriter. A member of the "Hollywood Ten", he was blacklisted by the Hollywood film studios during the late 1940s and 1950s after his appearance as an " ...

The series was made at

Nettlefold Studios Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ran ...

Cast and characters

* William Russell as

(30 episodes) *

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a prominent British politician who after his death was revealed to have been a prolific serial sex offender against children. A member of the Liberal Party, he was Member of ...

as Merlin (24 episodes) *

Ronald Leigh-Hunt Ronald Leigh-Hunt (5 October 1920 – 12 September 2005) was a British film and television actor. His father was a stockbroker and he attended the Italia Conti Academy. He began acting whilst serving in the army. Though never a major star, he ...

as King Arthur (22 episodes) *

Bruce Seton Sir Bruce Lovat Seton, 11th Baronet (29 May 1909 – 28 September 1969) was a British actor and soldier. He is best remembered for his eponymous lead role in ''Fabian of the Yard''. Early life Bruce Lovat Seton was born in Simla, British Ind ...

as King Arthur (Episodes 1-3 only) *Robert Scroggins as Brian (Lancelot's squire) (22 episodes) *

David Morrell David Morrell (born April 24, 1943) is a Canadian-American novelist whose debut 1972 novel ''First Blood'', later adapted as the 1982 film of the same name, went on to spawn the successful ''Rambo'' franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He h ...

Sir Kay In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay ( cy, Cai, Middle Welsh ''Kei'' or ''Cei''; la, Caius; French: ''Keu''; Old French: ''Kès'' or ''Kex'') is King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. ...

& others (21 episodes) *

Jane Hylton Jane Hylton (16 July 1926 – 28 February 1979, born as Audrey Gwendolene Clark) was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the ...

Queen Guinevere Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), 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 ment ...

(14 episodes) *

Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he also appeared in many television series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is known for his role as Major von ...

(credited as Derry Nesbitt) as

Sir Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...

& others (14 episodes)

Broadcast history

The series debuted in the UK on Saturday 15 September 1956, on London weekend ITV franchise holder ATV, and on the

network in the United States nine days later. The last episode was shown on 20 April 1957 in the UK and 16 September 1957 on NBC. It later transferred networks in the US to ABC, who repeated the episodes from October 1957 to September 1958.

Episodes

Air dates are for ATV London;Before 1968 ATV transmitted weekdays in the Midlands and weekends in London. See

History of ITV The history of ITV, the United Kingdom " Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955. Independent Television began as a network of independently-owned regional companies that were both broadcasters and programme makers, beginn ...

ITV regions varied date and order.

Home release

The complete series of 30 episodes was released as a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

boxed set in the UK by Network DVD in 2004. Of the 14 episodes made in colour, only 12 are presented in colour for financial reasons. The other two colour episodes ('The Ugly Duckling' and 'The Missing Princess') are taken from black and white prints. In the US, the series was released as a

boxed set on 19 August 2008 by The

Timeless Media Group Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

with 14 episodes presented in colour, taken from US public domain prints.

References

*Thompson, Raymond H. (1991) "Television Series". In Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp. 445–446. New York: Garland. . *Vahimagi, Tise (1994). ''British Television: An Illustrated Guide''.

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

. .

External links

* *
Episode guide at The Historical Adventure Series Guide website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Sir Lancelot, The 1950s British drama television series 1956 British television series debuts Television series based on Arthurian legend Television series by ITC Entertainment ITV television dramas NBC original programming 1957 British television series endings British adventure television series Black-and-white British television shows English-language television shows