Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
ATLANTIS RISES (AGAIN!)
Greek mythology, time travel and spectacular action combine in a new BBC drama from the team behind Merlin that brings the lost city back to our screens
Ever since Plato first told the story of the wealthy city that sank into the sea without a trace, humanity has been fascinated by Atlantis. There have been movies including Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire; TV series – The Man From Atlantis, Stargate: Atlantis and most recently 2011’s BBC docu- drama Atlantis: End Of A World, Birth Of A Legend – and numerous books. But tonight, a glossy new drama about the lost city explodes on to BBC1 that, as it’s by the team behind Merlin, promises to be rather different.
The story starts with mysterious stranger Jason, played by handsome newcomer Jack Donnelly, who washes up on the Atlantis shoreline. He’s come from another world – our world – in search of his father. But when he lands in Atlantis we learn his appearance there is no accident. He soon befriends the brainy Pythagoras (War Horse’s Robert Emms), who has a strange fascination with triangles, and Hercules ( The Full Monty’s Mark Addy), who’s famous for telling tall stories about his brave deeds. Then there’s Hercules’ slave girlfriend Medusa (this is before the curse that left her with snakes for hair) and the beautiful princess Ariadne. Each week the friends find themselves thrown into adventure – a sort of Ancient Greek A-Team – while the enigmatic Oracle (Juliet Stevenson) tells them it’s all part of their mysterious fate.
Fitting firmly into the Doctor Who and Merlin mould – there are battles with strange monsters and the scary Furies, the goddesses of vengeance, bull-leaping and sword fights – it’s aimed at all ages but will be a little bit scary. ‘Just enough to get children behind the sofa, but not to traumatise them,’ says producer Julian Murphy. His co-producer Johnny Capps admits, ‘We’re playing fast and loose with Greek myths, legends and tragedies as well as real characters – they all blend together.’
Historically, of the main trio Jason and Hercules are probably only myths, while Pythagoras did exist but several centuries later. Johnny says Greek scholars will ‘probably hate it’, but for everyone else – and who doesn’t love a Greek myth or two, especially when you throw in a bit of time travel and a generous helping of action? – this should provide the very definition of ‘family entertainment’.
Amid all the adventure, the mountains are rumbling. The people are afraid of a giant earthquake and there is a sense of impending doom. We at home know that disaster is on the way, but the producers aren’t planning to put their world underwater just yet. ‘We’re hoping this show has longevity,’ says Johnny. ‘We want to
pull people in with humour, action and adventure, and keep them there with great emotional tales.’
Mark Addy, who plays Hercules, says he’s convinced audiences are in for something special. ‘Before I took the role they sent me the script of the first episode and it surprised me,’ he says. ‘You expect them to spend a lot of time establishing who’s who and what’s what, but instead they’re meeting the mythical Minotaur and getting into all sorts of scrapes from the word go. It has amazing ambition.’
Alongside the established stars – which include Sarah Parish as Ariadne’s evil stepmother Pasiphae – the show has plenty of new talent. Jack Donnelly, 28, says, ‘Me and Rob [Emms, who plays Pythagoras] say, “We’re going to be famous!” Marriage proposals and fan letters? Bring it on!’