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Bradley James talks Buffy, Merlin, and much, much more

Season three of 'Merlin' begins airing in the UK on September 11, so what better time to have a chat with one of its stars, Bradley James?

Well, Merlin fans, season 3 will be airing soon in the UK, and to celebrate I naturally thought, why don’t I call up my good buddy Bradley James (who plays Prince Arthur, for those of you not cool enough to be in the know)? Because, as I’m sure you’re all aware, I have him on speed dial. We’re tight.

Hah, hah.

No, in reality, it took me quite a few months, but I finally got a chance to catch up with Bradley James (he managed to second-hand charm my mother, who could hear him because he was on speaker phone) and pick his thoughts on Buffy (he’s a huge fan), soccer — sorry, football — Prince Arthur, and traveling with his co-star Colin Morgan.

Hello?
Hello, is this Julia?

Yeah, sorry, I think we have a bit of a bad connection, can you hear me?
I think we have a bit of a comedic time delay, which should provide us with some awkward silences, which we can talk about later.

We can. Next time you’re in Boston you can come over for drinks and we can discuss it.
Okay, and then maybe we can pretend we have the same delay and play a little game where we have delays in between each line, before each one talks … but that’s just me.

No, I think it would be a good time! We could start a drinking game with that.
Definitely, right.

So you’ve been actually kind of MIA lately, you weren’t at Comic-Con or anything. Have you been busy filming?
Yeah, well, I mean, I was there in spirit. But I think the budget allowed for Mr. Merlin himself [co-star Colin Morgan] and Buffy‘s Anthony Stewart Head to get plane tickets. But they decided to send me in spirit by the form of an interview with Warwick Davis, so I was pleased to, you know, make some kind of appearance.

Well, if you could have gone to Comic-Con, what was the first thing you would have done? Is there anyone you would have wanted to go see?
I … that’s an interesting question, but you’re clearly someone who knows more about Comic-Con. I have very little knowledge of it. I only know that it’s a huge event where lots of people have a great time and, you know, there’s just loads going on. So I wouldn’t have the first clue as to what I’d go and do. But hopefully the opportunity will arise for me to go at some stage. It sounds like it was a lot of fun.

It’s pretty much TV nerd Mecca, where you go and you meet everybody who’s ever been on a television show. Ever.
Oh, okay … wow. That’s a lot of people.

It is! It’s huge.
Wow! Okay then.

Well, you’ve mentioned you’re kind of a TV nerd yourself, especially when it comes to Buffy. How big of a Buffy nerd are we talking? Are we talking you know all the words to the musical episode?
I know a couple … I have, in fact, sung some of the songs to Anthony as the course of filming happens.

So is that your next music video that’s going to happen [after You’re the Voice]? It’ll be a “Once More With Feeling” music video?
I don’t know! Here’s my deal with Buffy, right. I’ve got … I mean, I’ve seen all the episodes, I’ve got them all on VHS. Not DVD.

So, old school.
Yeah, and “Once More With Feeling,” I think it’s one of those episodes that, were I to go back, that’s one of the first ones to go back to watch, because it was very unique. And having Anthony around on set, there’s moments where, um, I sing him a few lyrics.

Which I’m sure he appreciates.
Oh, I’m sure he does. I try to do it sparingly so I’m not just barraging him with, you know, Buffy moments that he’d, you know, perhaps like to move on from.

Well, have you ever considered that Camelot is, perhaps, on the Hellmouth? Considering how many monsters tend to come there?
Yeah! It seems to be since Merlin’s turned up, that seems to be the case. I think before that, you’d probably have to ask the question of how Arthur managed to stay alive, due to the fact that hes been certainly healthy, nothing wrong with him, and then Merlin turns up and all of a sudden…

…it’s all Merlin’s fault.
Yeah, absolutely everything. So yeah, being on the Hellmouth, I don’t think it’s that far-fetched a reality for Camelot. They might put that in the story somewhere.

But Arthur could definitely take on vampires, right?
Ohhhh, that’s a good question. Vampires … To be honest with you, vampires are probably being done to death at the moment.

They really, really are!
I mean, we’ve got,you know, the obvious, Twilight

…oh, God.
That’s doing the rounds at the moment, I think there’s various TV shows. But yeah, right, vampires! Let’s get on that bandwagon.

Yeah, Colin [Morgan] has mentioned he’s into True Blood, which is, like, the big vampire show over here.
Yeah, he got into that quite a bit, I think. He’s sort of been talking about it on set. I’ve kind of faded out a little bit. I mean, when you do this [schedule] you have to be quite specific with your television watching, if you get any time to watch it at all, and I didn’t really keep up with that one, I’m sorry to say.

Did you get to keep up with the World Cup, though?
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I managed to, you know, install my flat with everything required, you know, getting a big TV to watch it on, the producers very kindly arranged so that the crew got to have a TV on set for the England games … it’s a very important part of my life, the World Cup every four years it’s like my, like my religion suddenly arrives, and I’m in my element, basically. So it was terrific, being able to see, you know, the England games, despite the fact that we were rubbish.

Yeah, my condolences on that. I was for Team Spain from the beginning, so I can’t quite say the same.
Ah, I see, I see. Well basically, all you need to know is that we didn’t deserve to do any better than we did. We deserved to be taught a lesson. So just, hopefully well learn from it, and we’ll just change everything.

And they’ll call you up next time.
Oh, I’d love if they called me. But I think, uh, 50 million other Englishmen are probably throwing their caps in that ring as well. So, you know, we’ll see how things change. Hopefully they will.

Well, so you are on this show Merlin, which is going to be premiering in England again soon.
Yes!

Photo Credit: BBC

Categories: | Clack | Features | Interviews | Merlin | News | TV Shows |

9 Responses to “Bradley James talks Buffy, Merlin, and much, much more”

August 27, 2010 at 4:55 PM

woot! Go you, getting an interview with Bradley!

It’s awesome how many unasked questions, little niggling things in the back of my head about Merlin and Bradley have been answered. I especially liked the Ley Line Man expansion. Thank you so much! :D

August 27, 2010 at 5:12 PM

“Colin looked terrified the entire time.
Oh, God, I’m glad that came across. I’ve never seen him act so worried in my entire life.”

I don’t know why but this amused the hell out of me. I don’t remember Colin looking particularly terrified (I do remember Bradley having a “wow, this dude is a weirdo” expression on his face though). I’ll have to rewatch and see Colin’s face!

Thanks so much for the awesome interview and in particular for asking Bradley about Buffy and the Arthurian Road Trip of Uber Fail Due to the Chronic Lateness of Bradley and Professor Morgan. :)

August 27, 2010 at 6:07 PM

Awesome fresh questions! Bradley comes across as incredibly easy-going and very friendly =D

Interesting answers, too =D I, too, hope they’ll do another road trip to places that actually matter *laughs*

August 27, 2010 at 6:14 PM

That was really enjoyable to read! You asked fantastic questions, I was grinning the whole time. Lol at the old school VHS tapes. I’m also in support of a US roadtrip. 8) Thank you for such a fun interview! It felt very relaxed and friendly.

August 27, 2010 at 8:11 PM

Awesome interview! Probably the best Merlin interview I’ve ever read. I particularly love that he talked about Colin quite a bit. Hope you get to do an interview with Colin too! =D

August 27, 2010 at 8:16 PM

Thanks so much for asking different and interesting questions! That was a lovely interview.

August 28, 2010 at 4:24 AM

It finally happened, Julia! Niiiice.

Reading this brought back wonderful memories of my trip to the Arthurian sites. Tintagel is just breathtaking – massive cliffs and 100-mile-an-hour winds. I hope he gets over there sometime.

August 28, 2010 at 4:21 PM

I like the tone of the interview! I read an interview that someone did with Leonard Nimoy and it was just so, so rude. This was real fun, and very nice to read.
Love the questions.

Cheers xx

September 8, 2010 at 9:52 AM

This was lovely. I liked that Bradley was so sweet and funny. I also liked that you asked about them doing a Bradley and Colin show!

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