WALKING down a narrow track deep in the Forest of Dean, the cloudless, blue sky slowly becomes obscured as the trees grow ever denser. A light mist weaves its way around the ancient trunks.

It seems only fitting to find two characters of legend, Merlin and Morgana, deep in conversation at the end of the path, their silhouettes highlighted by a stream of golden sunlight breaking through the woodland canopy.

Then a cry of 'Cut' can be heard and, in an instant, the spell is broken as crew members set about preparing the next scene of the successful TV series, Merlin.

Now in its third series, the show is based on Arthur and Merlin in their formative years, with Merlin a novice wizard and Arthur a headstrong prince in a Camelot where magic is outlawed.

"There's a danger with fantasy that people take the light-hearted approach but I think you can put a lot of heart and emotion into it," says Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin, during a break in filming.

"I think it's important to put a 100 per cent into everything and find new ways to make it believable," adds the 24-year-old, who hails from Northern Ireland.

As a wizard in training, Merlin spends a lot of time casting spells but Morgan says it's only now he's getting to grips with the complicated pronunciation.

"When we first started out it was a bit daunting," he says. "It's great because they're in genuine old English so whenever I get the gobbledegook," he says, referring to the script, "I find out the meaning, and then the phonetic pronunciation. So when I say the spells, I genuinely know what they mean."

He has no idea how his magical gestures will look on-screen when the special effects are added, but he says it's "no excuse not to go for it".

"You have to not feel silly doing things," he says. "It's going to look stupid if you feel stupid."

Co-star Bradley James, who plays Arthur, doesn't have to pretend to utter incantations but he instead has the challenge of head-to-toe chain mail.

"I'm prepared to lose a stone in sweat in each day," says Devon-born James, 26, of his heavy costume. "It's a small price to pay because, in my mind, I get to play the best character in the show."

Although the pair are now the heroes of a big Saturday night show, so far they've had rather less impact on the public at large.

"Colin has a magic beanie hat that prevents him from being recognised," says James straight-faced. "If we go out, he'll put the magic hat on and I'll stand there and people will go, 'You're the bloke from Robin Hood' to which I'll go, 'No I'm not'. Then it'll be, 'Sorry, Merlin' and they'll talk to me. Then I'll go, 'You see him?' and they'll look Colin square in the eyes and won't recognise him. I'm always amazed!"

Morgan says its mostly kids that know who he is: "I'm always asked, 'How do you do the magic?' and you can't very well turn round to a five-year-old and say, 'It's done with CGI in London'."

The new series began a year after the second series ended and it's already proving the darkest yet.
"The characters are a lot more mature and the story feels more complicated," says Morgan.

Many aspects, however, have remained the same. For one, Merlin is still not allowed to use a sword with gusto, much to Morgan's chagrin. And Arthur still has no idea it's the wizard who's forever saving the day.

"I think the creators are really happy to milk that one and continue the line of Merlin saving the day behind Arthur's back," says James. "I think once you lose that dynamic, the show will change."

Then of course there are Arthur's purely gratuitous, shirtless scenes."It's not something I go, 'Great, there's a chance to take my shirt off' but at the same time, I'm not naïve enough to think it's not something that people look for in the show," says James.

"All shows have a target audience and part of ours would get a kick out of that."

But he swears he's not down the gym buffing up on a daily basis: "I'm not a fan of gyms so fortunately for this, I just have to stay healthy and fit."

As for the rather more lean Merlin showing off his muscles, Morgan jokes, "They never ask me, do they? I don't know why that is!"

Top or no top, both receive hundreds of letters from fans from all over the world. "Mine are a bit intense," says James. "I get a lot from people of a certain age and mindset saying I'm their soulmate. I think they get confused and see a blonde hair, blue-eyed guy saving a kingdom," he adds. "The anticlimax would be phenomenal!"

Morgan also receives some "unusual things" but most of the time it's "really young kids who ask me to wave to them on the next episode".

Quite what the show's fans will make of Morgan's next role remains to be seen. In a world away from Merlin, he'll be playing a heroin addict in the movie Parked. It turns out it was a fan of the show who approached him in the first place. "I don't know what they saw," says Morgan, saying he never went searching for such a role.

"I don't think you can choose until you get to a certain level," he says. "Things just come along and as long as you're challenged and look at something and go, 'God it's a really good idea and I know what to do with this' then that's brilliant."


EXTRA TIME - MERLIN

* James says the most awkward place he's been recognised was in Leicester Square on the same day as a première. "A lot of the early bird fans had turned up and there was me with my ice cream, munching away. My mate couldn't believe it - he was holding all my stuff like a PA!"
* Morgan has always wanted to be an actor but when a careers councillor told him he couldn't do it, journalism was his back-up plan.
* James had dreams of being a professional footballer and says playing in a charity match at Old Trafford for was the "single greatest day of my life".
* Morgan would most like to play the role of Mort in Terry Pratchett's book about death's apprentice.
* Morgan is rumoured to be allergic to tomatoes and had to be coated in a protective cream before shooting a scene for Merlin, where he's put in the stocks.
* Merlin continues on Saturday nights on BBC One