Merlin: Secrets and Magic

Welcome to Secrets And Magic, the show that goes behind the scenes

to reveal how Merlin is made.

Coming up, we get close to the man who's enchanting audiences all over the world.

He's full of enthusiasm for everything.

I couldn't do what he does.

And love is in the air...

and on water, so join us

as we set sail backstage for the most emotional scenes so far.

He did have to just continue that... that height of emotion

for so long.

To have gone through what Merlin went through throughout the episode,

it'll take him a while to get over what that's done to him inside.

All this and more on Merlin - Secrets And Magic.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In a land of fandom

and a time of blogging, the destiny of a great drama series

rests on the shoulders of a young boy. His name is Colin Morgan.

And, as the producers knew, this part was always going to be particularly tough.

I think that Colin has a very difficult job on Merlin,

cos everybody's reliant on him, and it's difficult for such a young actor

to feel such a huge responsibility on his shoulders - like Merlin.

He is the first guy on set and the last guy on set virtually every day.

I don't envy him his workload.

Merlin is the lead in the show in many ways, and he...

he is in a huge amount of it.

Yeah, it's a full-on eight months on the series

It's huge, you know?

You do a relentless schedule which has back-to-back scenes.

Colin works very hard.

So he should - but he doesn't work hard in a martyr-like way.

He doesn't come staggering into the make-up room in the morning,

"God, darling, I'm exhausted!"

At the end of the day, I couldn't do what he does.

I'm in for more than one day and I start moaning.

"I'm tired! I wanna go home!" I've never see Colin complain.

No matter how tired he is, whether he's up a hill on a horse,

whether he's in the water, or in a castle having to fight a pretend monster in front of a green screen,

no matter what we throw at him, he always gives us 100%.

I suspect by the end of a season he's quite tired,

but he's young, he's energetic. He should be able to take it!

I have the sort of idea that if I work like hell

and just put as much effort into it as I can, then it'll be worth it.

And, um...

that's what I've done. For these eight months, I've become...

I'm really boring, you know, just like out of it all.

I just put the head down and do it, cos I figure, eight months is eight months. Just get on and do it.

Do the best job you can and hopefully it'll pay off.

And I enjoy it. I love being kept busy.

He's full of enthusiasm for everything.

Everything's great, everything's nice, everything's, you know,

fantastic all the time. Sometimes I think, "Could do with a pep-up here,"

and then Colin's there, going, "Oh, everything's great!" "Yeah, all right."

Our senses of humour have crossed now, so we often find we're laughing at the same things. It's good.

And after two years as co-stars, their own comedy is crossing onto the small screen.

That's the new breakfast menu. This isn't enough!

We've got to keep you in shape.

I'm fighting fit!

We want to keep you that way.

Merlin!

There's quite a lot of banter, then having a little jibe at each other,

which I think they kind of get to the understanding that that's how their relationship works.

Whenever Merlin's a bit downtrodden

and Arthur is playing up to the typical prince-type role -

even though he's not quite like that -

I think possibly he feels he has to act a certain way,

and he... he plays about with that a bit and Merlin bears the brunt of it quite a lot,

and that is in a lot of comic situations.

HISSING

Ow-w! You bumpkin! It's boiling!

Boiling?! You are half-asleep today.

Sorry, sire. I'll get you some cold.

No, I'll get YOU some!

But when it comes down to it, they are actually there for each other,

'despite all the jokes.

'They're willing to put their neck on the line.'

Though recently, it's not only the royal who Merlin is willing to risk his life for.

When he meets a beautiful young Druid in distress, he does everything he can to help her.

We wanted to challenge the character of Merlin, and we thought, well,

let's see him... let's see him fall in love.

Let's see him meet somebody else that has magic that is his age.

Why are you asking me all these questions? I didn't mean to.

I'm sorry.

I understand. You could never understand.

I know what it's like to keep secrets.

'Freya is, um, a Druid'

who has been cursed by a witch, and when night falls

she turns into a big, black panther with wings,

and is cursed to kill people for the rest of her life.

So it's not something that she has chosen or that she was born with -