CultBox attended a screening of the first episode of Merlin’s fifth series this week, and in a subsequent Q&A the show’s producers were asked whether the more mature tone was an attempt to engage older viewers.

“The short answer is, we already have a more adult audience,” pointed out co-creator and executive producer Julian Murphy. “It was conscious. It’s a change really that occurred… I would say that the show has gradually got older, from the first series. We’re transmitting later, which is partly responsible, and our adult audience is growing dramatically. Our audience over 40 is huge now.”

“We’re not losing our younger audience,” clarified executive producer Bethan Jones. “We’re not really, no,” Murphy agreed. “They’re probably growing up with us, but we’re not losing them.”

“The thing that’s always important to us when we’re storylining is that it’s still an action-adventure show for the family,” said executive producer Johnny Capps, “but there are inevitable changes as the characters get older and their statuses change, then the stakes of the stories get darker. And as we’re tipping more to the mythology of Arthur and the Round Table, those stories are darker anyway. I think like Julian said, because we’re going out – the first series, remember, went out at 6.15 in the evening, whereas now we’re going out at 8.15 – you have to sort of take that on board when you’re storylining it, because that shift in time means you do have to think about the tone, and make the tone a little bit more sophisticated, and a little bit more darker, for that kind of slot.

“This year we don’t necessarily have a big comedy episode like we did last year,” he added, “but there’s always enough comic fun in an episode, and it’s always that counterbalance in every episode when we’re storylining: we make sure you can have a good laugh as well as jump out of your seat!”

Are you excited for a more grown-up Merlin? Will you miss the comedy episodes in Series 5? Let us know below…

> Order the Series 5 Volume 1 DVD on Amazon.

Watch the Series 5 trailer…