Beeb turns legend into a bit of a damp squib

Ever since the Timelord regenerated onto our screens in 2005, Aunty has sought to find something to fill the gap until the Doctor says he can see you now.

First there was Robin Hood, which lasted for just three series. Hardly surprising given that Maid Marian had left by the end of series two and Jonas Armstrong – the Hooded Man himself – announced he would be going at the end of series three.

BBC bosses decided not to repeat the trick of 20 years earlier, when they replaced Robin with a completely different character, and the show was cancelled.

Then there was Merlin. After a dodgy start with terrible story-lines and sticky-back plastic special effects, it found its feet (noticeably when it focussed on Arthur's destiny, making something of a mockery of the show's title).

But with the demise of the Once and Future King, the powers at light entertainment were left to begin a new quest for the Holy Grail. Again they dipped into their Big Book of Myths and Legends, but decided not to read further than A.

They should have kept going.

The thing that grips the imagination about Atlantis is the legend of it sinking into the sea in a single day. It was this which informed the 1970s series The Man From Atlantis, starring Patrick Duffy of Dallas fame. In the new show it is ignored aside from a useful plot device to get not-what-he-seems Jason from the year 2013 to ancient Greece.

Presumably the island's sinking will be used to wrap things up once the series is cancelled. I give it a year.

Instead THIS Atlantis is actually based on the Minoan civilization.

In episode one we met sidekicks Pythagoras ('the triangle guy') and Hercules. The 'hilarious' gag with the latter being that he's an overweight coward. Ow. My sides.

History has it that Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos and didn't leave there until he was 40. Hercules should actually be called Heracles. Hercules is his Roman name. There's no mention of him being associated with Atlantis.

In that first episode Jason slays the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Which was on Crete. The Minotaur was killed by Theseus. Then again, this Atlantis IS ruled by King Minos. Of Crete. I suppose Crete: The Legend Begins doesn't really work.

But this is Saturday teatime fodder. We can overlook that, can't we? Okay then, let's.

Instead let's focus on the contrived plots (an episode on the theme of team work, where the aim is for each character to jump over a bull – surely an individual undertaking if ever there was one – and another with a subplot about a racing dung beetle). The poor acting (the main protagonists are okay, the supporting cast is not) and the lame gags (that Hercules thing? Par for the course). It's like Game of Thrones remade by the Teletubbies.

It may be that Atlantis is just having the same early problems as Merlin (its creators included Merlin alumni Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy). But it needs to get its act together pretty quickly, because currently it is wet in all the wrong ways.

And looming over the horizon? The 50th anniversary special of the show whose void it is designed to fill.

Carl Jones is away