When most people think of fantasy television, they think of things like Game of Thrones or similar — stories set in original worlds that have familiar elements that fall into the greater “fantasy” genre, like dragons or magic. But the reality is that fantasy television includes a much wider range of stories and particularly shines when it takes on beloved and well-known myths. Think about it: stories about King Arthur, the lost city of Atlantis, and even legendary folk figures are all very much the stuff of fantasy and make for some truly great adaptations.
And sometimes, those adaptations are complete reinventions. They’re shows that take the well-known and change things around just enough that they come up with something new, fresh, and fantastic. The BBC in particular has excelled at that. Here are three great BBC fantasy shows that reinvented the well-known myths that they were based on. Some of the reinventions were a little wild, but the shows are all fantastic watches.
Airing for three seasons with a total of 39 episodes, Robin Hood debuted in October 2006 and starred Jonas Armstrong as Robin Hood, Lucy Griffiths as Marian, and Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Generally speaking, the series didn’t entirely reframe the legendary folk hero — many of the elements of the classic Robin Hood story existed in the series. What the series did do, however, was took the story from being theatrical and having a more high-art, academic feel to it and brought it down to a gritty, more human approach. Armstrong’s Robin Hood was younger than most people might have expected and he wasn’t a straightforward hero the way the legends have largely built him to be. This Robin comes with darkness. The series also reframes his relationship with Marian, giving the pair a betrothal before his departure for the Third Crusade. As for Marian, she’s not some delicate damsel as other portrayals have suggested her to be. Notably, the series also features a lot more modern dialogue, giving the whole story a much fresher feel.
Debuting in 2013 and airing for 2 seasons with a total of 25 episodes, Atlantis might be one of the wildest takes on a well-known myth ever. The series starts out in the modern day when a man, Jason (Jack Donnelly), takes a one-man submarine out to investigate a deep-sea disturbance where his father disappeared years before. However, he finds himself pulled into white light and wakes up on the shores of Atlantis as ruled by King Minos (Alexander Siddig) whose wife, Pasiphae (Sarah Parish) has designs on the throne.
The show is a wild reimagining of all kinds of Greek mythology and across both seasons of the series various well-known Greek myths get their own retelling as part of the plot. The show is full of myth, monsters, gods, and more. The show is also just downright delightful because of how cheesy it is — there’s even a moment where Pythagoras geeks out about triangles. Yes, really. It’s nuts in the best way.
As the reinvention of legend and fantasy goes, Merlin is the absolute gold standard. Airing for 65 episodes over five seasons, the series debuted in 2008 and still tops lists of great fantasy shows. The series gives viewers the story of the wizard Merlin but not as the old and wise magic man in service of King Arthur that we all know. Instead, we meet a young Merlin who lives in Camelot when sorcery is outlawed. This means Merlin has to hide his magic. Further fleshing out this sort of origin story element, we also do have a young Arthur but he is far from the noble and heroic king of legend. Instead, he’s an immature and arrogant young prince and the two young men don’t necessarily get along at first. Instead, they have to work together almost begrudgingly at times. There’s something really beautiful about that because we get to actually see that friendship develop and start to see how the legend will ultimately take shape.
Merlin is honestly just truly fantastic television for how it takes something extremely well known and that has been told and retold countless times over the years and makes it into something completely new. The show’s talent also makes it work — the cast includes Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby, Richard Wilson, Anthony Head, and John Hurt.
Did you watch any of these shows? What story did you think was the most interesting take on well-known myth? Let us know in the comments!
