When I mentioned earlier this morning that we'd bring you the breaking Merlin news as soon as we had any, I didn't expect that to be later the same day, but the BBC have just confirmed that a second series of Merlin has been commissioned, and there's some interesting news about the cast too, over the jump.

For the rest of our Merlin coverage, go here.

The first series of Merlin ended on Saturday with a bang. Several bangs, actually. What started out as a weak and at times banal "retelling" of Arthur's early days, which took the elements of legend and stirred them in a pot until only small pieces were still recognisable, and was populated with pantomime characters and dodgy villains, slowly found its feet. Towards the end both the stories and the people telling them became, through familiarity but also through some measure of development and growth, somehow more solid and real. And we finally got to see some proper magic.

Related: Merlin on TV Scoop

I lost interest in Merlin weeks ago, but if I was a teenage boy I would have probably loved it. For me it's been a bit... dull. Not sure what the Beeb is doing with this fantasy drama mularky. It made a pigs ear of Robin Hood and Merlin has hardly set the world on fire. Still, there's still a series finale to get through tomorrow night (BBC One, Saturday 13 December, 7.10pm), although let's face it - the majority of the population will be watching The X Factor final at the same time. There's a trailer after the jump.

For all our Merlin news and reviews, go here.

Another week, another bad decision by Uther. Caught holding a puck of gold that was neither heavy enough to be gold, nor hot enough (having only moments before being cast from a boiling crucible), Guinevere's father Tom the blacksmith was accused of treason on account of his customer being Tauren the leader of a band of renegade sorcerers, and sentenced to death.

Merlin on TV Scoop

Just when things were going so well, along comes an episode that took us so far out of our suspension of disbelief that we were laughing out loud throughout. Which was a shame, as we were supposed to be feeling sad for the poor, dead unicorn.

In this week's Merlin - entitled in a Lord Of The Rings stylee, The Legend Of Gedref - impetuous Prince Arthur brings a curse upon Camelot after he kills a unicorn. Sure enough the city goes into freefall and it's up to him to undo the mistakes he has made. He goes to the mysterious Anhora for advice, but the challenges she sets him aren't a walk in the park. More like a walk in the forest. It's on tomorrow night (BBC One, Saturday 29 November, 7.35pm) and there's a clip after the jump...

For all our Merlin news and reviews, go here.

Continuing the upward trend of stories, the tenth episode involved a conflict back in Merlin's home town. Well, village. Suffering at the hands of marauding Kanan (the always excellent Alexander Siddig) and his bandits, the villagers were threatened with starvation, or death, or both. So Merlin's Mum set off for Camelot, hoping to persuade Uther to send help.

Whisper it quietly lest we break the spell, but this week's Merlin was the best yet. Once again it drove a coach and horses through the accepted legend, in this case by having the captive dragon forge Excalibur from an original made by Blacksmith Tom (although thankfully the "new imagining" retained the traditional words on either side of Excalibur's blade), but the more irritating plot elements of previous week's were attenuated while the better ones were accentuated. And we learned something new about Arthur.

The usual plot elements were given a stir this week. Not too much, you understand. This is Merlin we're talking about after all. But at least, with Morgana in the frame as "magical person protector," Uther was prevented from condemning any major character to death. Sadly for Arthurian legend lovers another nail was driven home into the coffin of original myth as Mordred morphed into a boy druid. Good grief.

In a kingdom where magic is forbidden and anyone who practices it is put to death, two strangers arrive wearing sparkly cloaks and carrying strange staffs with blue crystals on top held in intricate wood carvings. So what does the king - he of ultimate power and the one who most loathes magic - do with these unknown people? He welcomes them with open arms and gives them the run of the castle of course! Because this is Merlin, where no-one learns anything from week to week and they all keep on making the same mistakes.

Apologies for being a little late with this review. The way Merlin jumps around the Saturday night schedule it's taken me until now to track down the episode. So without further ado here we go with a story in which Julian Rhind-Tutt proves that it only takes different lines in a script for him to be able to tell a different story using his enormous range of characters from A to B, and Uther proves that he's an even worse judge of character than we had previously suspected.

Merlin's trundling on in a semi-entertaining fashion, although the BBC seem to be mucking about with its scheduling every week (and, therefore, the scheduling of Strictly as well). This week's installment is on at 5.50pm (Saturday 24 October) and sees Julian Rhind-Tutt make an appearance as a mysterious new physician, called in to try and save Morgana, who has gone down with something a bit nasty. There's a trailer after the jump.

For all our Merlin news and reviews, go here.

It's the latest installment of Merlin tomorrow night (BBC One, Saturday 16 October, 5.55pm), and in this, the fifth episode of the series, we're introduced to Stud Knight Lancelot. Merlin's out and about in the forest when he's attacked by a massive bird. Lancelot saves him and the young sorcerer vows to help him become a knight of the roundtable. Trouble is, old Lancey doesn't have blue blood coursing through his veins so Merlin might have his work cut out. Want to see a trailer? Go over the jump...

For all our Merlin news, reviews and trailers, go here.

Not much of a disguise is it? Experienced sorceresses from days gone by have morphed themselves into crones, or different people, or even animals to avoid detection. Nimueh wraps a scarf around her head and is instantly undetectable by anyone in Camelot, despite her being Uther's nemesis. Still, that small conundrum aside, this week's story tripped along nicely enough, and at least we weren't subjected to another pointless visit to the insufferably cryptic dragon.

Three episodes in, and the cracks are starting to show in this Saturday night "flagship" show for me. As I've mentioned before, you have to be prepared to suspend any preconceptions of the Arthurian legend to enjoy this series, but that doesn't mean you should suspend all critical faculties. When you're faced with dialogue that doesn't even match the action seen moments before, you have to wonder whether the scripts have enjoyed the same level of investment as the sets and the CGI. To take a tour through all our Camelot coverage, point your clickers here.

Yes, Merlin continues tomorrow evening (Saturday 4 October, 6pm) and The Mark Of Nimueh (for that is what thy episode is callethed) sees Michelle Ryan play a wide-eyed and slightly mad witch who is terrorising Camelot with a poisonous water supply. Gwen is arrested because everyone thinks that she is the culprit, and it's down to Merlin, Arthur and Morgana to find the witch and prove their chum's innocence. Here are some nice photos of the episode, and there seems to be more torches knocking about than I don't know what. You can click on the picture below and you'll be transported into Merlin-land. You can also view the trailer here.

To read all our Merlin news and review go here.

No series set at a medieval castle would be complete without a tournament, and Merlin (the series, not the man) is barely two weeks old before we have a full-blown contest to enjoy, with Uther strutting around demanding the best of sportsmanship from his knights of the realm. Most of them look a sorry bunch but one of them stands out. Or at least, his shield does - when its snake-head device comes to life and the three snakes sit ready to do the bidding of their master Knight Valiant.

Episode two of Merlin is upon us and interestingly, it's been moved to an earlier time slot. So beware - set your PVRs or cook your tea in time for 6pm tomorrow evening (Saturday 26 September). This week's installment of the big, flashy re-telling of the Arthurian legend guest stars Will Mellor as an evil knight sort of bloke. There's some jousting and some evil serpents too. What's not to like about that?! There's a trailer over the jump.

For all our Merlin news and reviews, go here.