Merlin's a fun series as long as you don't take it seriously because they don't half cock about with the legend! Merlin and Arthur about the same age? Pardon?
We have had a conversation like this before, but Merlin demonstrates exactly what I was trying to say. Although the Arthurian legend has never been done justice, Merlin at least is harmless and promotes the magic and romance of the story, whereas something like King Arthur seems determined to prove everyone wrong and undermine all the things that made the stories about Camelot so popular. In other words, the characters are all there, the setting is correct, it just sort of bunches it all up. It's got a lot of energy which is the most important thing.