The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired between 1955 and 1960 on ITV in the UK, and between 1955 and 1959 on CBS in the US. The show followed the legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.
The program was produced by Sapphire Films Ltd for ITC Entertainment, was filmed at Nettlefold Studios with some location work, and was the first of many big-budget shows commissioned by Lew Grade, who hoped to make large profits by selling programs to the lucrative American market.[citation needed] The series was shot on 35mm film to provide the best possible picture quality, and had fade-outs where US commercials were intended to slot in. Episodes may be viewed in television reruns and are available on DVD.
Characters
The show had a number of performers appearing in minor roles. Jonathan Bailey, Richard O'Sullivan and Peter Asher all played Prince Arthur while John Arnatt played the Deputy Sheriff of Nottingham. Ronald Howard played Will Scarlet, a member of Robin Hood's band in two episodes of series one while Paul Eddington played the character in series four. Eddington also played many other parts in series two and three. Victor Woolf and Patrick Troughton (who had played the title role in an earlier Robin Hood series) played a variety of roles in the show. On the distaff side, Jill Esmond played Queen Eleanor, Jane Asher played Prince Arthur's sister, and Anne Reid and Simone Lovell played barmaids at the Blue Boar Inn. Joan Sims guest starred in one episode. John Dearth played so many roles, he just about needs his own page. Many soon-to-be-famous faces pop up, including Robert Shaw (Jaws), Edward Mulhare ( The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (tv series)), and Leo McKern (Rumpole Of The Bailey), Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, both of Steptoe and Son fame with Corbett appearing in four episodes and Brambell in two.
Plot
Richard Greene stars as Robin Hood, a nobleman forced into the life of an outlaw, dwelling in Sherwood Forest with a band of men who right the wrongs committed by the rich and powerful against the poor and defenseless.
Archie Duncan, Bernadette O'Farrell, Richard Greene, and Richard Coleman
Robin Hood's enemy in the series is the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley) who, with his cohorts, schemes to capture the outlaw by any means possible. Maid Marian, a young noblewoman and Robin Hood's lover, keeps him informed of the Sheriff of Nottingham's whereabouts and intentions. Episodes are punctuated with manly deeds of derring-do, tense escapes and pursuits, princely tournaments, the thundering hoofbeats of powerful steeds, the clattering of flashing swords, and the whizzing of fatally-placed arrows.
One strong point of the show was the seamless history lessons. The producers hired English historians as consultants, which was a great help in plotting. For example, in "A Year and A Day", a refugee peasant explains that, under English law, a peasant who escapes serfdom and lives in a city for "a year and a day" is a free man, given the man lives openly, not in hiding. When Robin Hood helps the peasant move about the city, the Sheriff invokes "the law of hue and cry", explaining that any man within hearing must drop his chores and help apprehend the felon. In "A Christmas Goose", a boy's goose nips a lord's horse so the lord is thrown. The lord condemns the goose to death - for his Christmas dinner. But Robin Hood counters that under English common law, an accused animal is entitled to a fair trial, the same as a human. While Robin Hood drags out the trial, Friar Tuck gets the cook drunk and switches geese. When the deception is revealed, the lord relents and pardons the goose.
Another strong point were the supporting characters, who were clever and likable. In "The Goldmaker's Return", Robin Hood is away in France on a mission. Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, Little John and other Merry Men carry the day without the star of the show ever showing his face.
At least one episode "The Knight who came to Dinner" had two different versions. The basic plotline (Sir Richard of the Lea's castle being subject to forfeit due to a debt; remains the same, however in the Alpha video version the bondholder is a corrupt knight, while in the Mill Creek version of the episode the bondholder is a corrupt Abbot. The shots not directly involving the Abbot or the Knight are identical. The only other difference being that in the Mill creek version Sir Richard refers to Maid Marian by a different surname suggesting that it might have been a pilot. It is noteworthy that both versions have identical credits reflecting the Abbot and not the knight in the cast. The Fact that the Knight is played by a regular member of the troop of actors who appear in the series also suggests it was made later, perhaps for American audiences.
Production details
Blacklisted writers
The Adventures of Robin Hood was produced by Hannah Weinstein, who had left-wing political views. Weinstein hired many blacklisted American writers to script episodes of the series: these included Ring Lardner Jr., Waldo Salt, Robert Lees and Adrian Scott. Howard Koch, who was also blacklisted, served for a while as the series' script editor. The blacklisted writers were credited under pseudonyms, to avoid the notice of the House Un-American Activities Committee.[1]
After the blacklist collapsed, Lardner said that the series' format allowed him "plenty of opportunities to comment on issues and institutions in Eisenhower-era America". In addition to the redistributive themes of a hero who robs from the rich and gives to the poor, many episodes in the programme's first two seasons included the threat that Robin and his band would be betrayed to the authorities by friends or loved ones, much as the blacklisted writers had been.[1]
Theme song
Carl Sigman wrote the words and music for the theme song which was sung by Dick James and is still fondly remembered:
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, with his band of men
Feared by the bad, loved by the good;
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood!
He called the greatest archers to a tavern on the green,
They vowed to help the people of the king,
They handled all the trouble on the English country scene,
And still found plenty of time to sing...
(Chorus repeat)
The song was released as a single by Gary Miller and reached number 10 on the UK charts.
This song was parodied by Monty Python's Flying Circus in their Dennis Moore sketch, which depicted a masked highwayman from the 18th century (more like the Scarlet Pimpernel) stealing lupins from the rich to give to the poor.
Artistic details
Art director Peter Proud, an expert at wartime camouflage, hit on the idea of putting many props on wheels to facilitate quick set changes, since one 26 minute episode was shot every four and a half days. The show boasted "140 set pieces (baronial fireplaces, staircases, stone walls, entrance halls, and the like)". There was some outdoor location filming, mainly involving horse-riding doubles and stuntmen, and without dialogue recording. Sets were designed from parchments and sketches from the British Museum, and modeled on castles of Harlech, Farleigh, and Framlingham. Some of the 100 soldiers who manned the battlements of Nottingham Castle were miniature toy soldiers.[2]
Influence
The series was an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic, drawing 32,000,000 viewers per week[2]. Lew Grade continued to commission 35mm shows until the late 1970s, including The Saint, The Prisoner and Thunderbirds.
Merchandise
The series has been released by several companies, as under British copyright law, TV episodes are only eligible for a total of 50 years of copyright.
In Region 1, Mill Creek Entertainment released the all 4 seasons on DVD between 18 March 2008 and 25 August 2009. They also released a complete series set on 25 August 2009.[3]
Alpha Video has released fifteen DVDs' (Region 0) worth of material from The Adventures of Robin Hood, each containing four episodes (60 episodes in total).
In Region 2, Network DVD has released the complete series in the UK in four boxed sets, licensed from the holder of series trademarks, Granada. The first three series have 39 episodes each, and are on five-disc sets, while the last series has 26 episodes and four discs. All sets are encoded in PAL format and have no region encoding.
TMG (Timeless Media Group) has released a three DVD boxed set containing the first thirty episodes of the show. Other six episode DVDs are also available.
References
External links
