RIP Dark Knight




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Season Two Script Editor Andrew Cartmel offers his personal tribute to the Dark Knight television series...

Fittingly enough for the subject of an epitaph, the television drama series Dark Knight was conceived at a funeral.

Odo is threatened by a vampire nun in Shameer, the final episode of Dark Knight, written by Andrew Cartmel.
Photo© Jon Paske and used with permission

The occasion provided a reunion for Terry Marcel and Joseph D'Morais. Two of a vanishing breed -- programme makers who actually make programmes -- they they succeeded in bringing into being a British swords and sorcery series and launching it into a schedule clogged with uninspiring dramas about lawyers, doctors and cops.

Dark Knight was created by Terry and executive produced by Joe. The second season has now been transmitted on Channel 5 and the channel has made the decision not to go ahead with a third series.

This came as a rather nasty shock to everyone involved in the production. It seems odd to cancel a show replete with magic, swords and sorcery just at the time when Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are dominating the box office in a spectacular fashion.

Since there clearly exists an enormous audience which simply can't get enough of such material, you might think that now would be the time to launch a show like Dark Knight rather than cancel it. But so it goes.

Dark Knight was a terrific series. It had a genuinely cinematic look, thanks to being shot on film in magnificent locations in New Zealand. It also didn't hurt that we had a director of photography of the calibre of Wayne Vinten.

As the script editor I had the pleasure of working with a team of crack writers, including my old partner in crime, the formidable Ben Aaronovitch. And as a writer myself I had the pleasure of seeing my scripts filmed by directors of the caliber of Keith Claxton and Terry Marcel.

Sad too to see the end of a series that featured so many marvelous actors, including Geoffrey Thomas as the black hearted necromancer Mordour, Cameron Rhodes as Prince John and Tod Rippon as Falco.

Farewell too to the beautiful Charlotte Comer (Rebecca) and of course Ivanhoe himself, Ben Pullen. Dark Knight should have served as a launching pad for him in the same way that a series like Rawhide once did for another star and launched Ben (a genuinely convincing screen action hero) onto a career trajectory similar to Clint Eastwood. But only after the show had run and run and run, with the CGI getting better every season until it was the most intoxicating and exciting dark fantasy saga ever broadcast on television...

It's nice to think that in some fairer alternative universe all these things might be happening.

The second series of Dark Knight had its ups and downs. The uppest up was seeing the episode Puppet Master attract over a million viewers. The downest down was seeing the show mysteriously moved from an early evening Saturday slot to Sunday midday, with the concommitant loss of half a million viewers. This reminded me of working on Doctor Who when Michael Grade decided to schedule us against Coronation Street (then as now the implacably porcine ratings monster of British television).

Maybe Channel 5, like Michael Grade, realised that the show was so unique and commanded such a loyal following that it could succeed in even the most hostile slot.

And indeed our viewing figures bounced back dramatically, virtually recovering to their original level. The audience had followed Dark Knight. But we were cancelled anyhow.

It seems to me our show is like a kamikaze pilot who somehow, miraculously, managed to fly a series of successful missions and return alive -- only to find himself executed on trumped up charges of treason.

But, detaching oneself from emotions, there's no need to read any malicious motive into this. The power structure at Channel 5 had simply changed and it's traditional in situations like that to wipe the slate clean of old projects.

Let's just hope that whatever original drama the channel now introduces, it won't involve lawyers, cops or doctors.

Andrew Cartmel
This article © 2002 Andrew Cartmel. All rights reserved.

In addition to his work on Dark Knight Andrew Cartmel was script editor of Doctor Who and wrote several Doctor Who New Adventures and various comic strips, as well as his own original novel, The Wise. He was also script editor for the BBC drama series Casualty. He lives in London.

Web Sites

• Blue Dolphin Productions: Go

• Ivanhoe/Dark Knight Fan Club: Go
• Recommended Episode Guide: EpisodeGuides.com
• Read the original Ivanhoe onlinpan

Back to Dark Knight Main Page: Go
Other Pages: Episode Guide • Production Credits • Dark Knight: A Personal Tribute by Andrew Cartmel

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This page compiled by John Freeman, Room 8, 96 Church Street, Lancaster, England LA1 1TD. Additional information welcome. Text © 2001 John Freeman. Dark Knight created by Terry Marcel. © Palana Productions (NZ) Ltd and Dark Knight Production (UK) Ltd. This is a fan site site and has no official link with the show. With grateful thanks to production team members Jon Paske and Andrew Cartmel for their contributions.
The information presented here is for information and news purposes only. Please credit this site and John Freeman if you use any of the information above, thank you. Special thanks to Jon Paske in New Zealand for permission to use some of his pictures from the show.

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