The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = The Adventures of Robin Hood


caption = Original title screen
genre = Drama
Adventure
Folklore
Period drama
picture_format =
runtime = 30 minutes
creator = Based on traditional legends
Lew Grade
starring = Richard Greene
Alan Wheatley
John Arnatt
Bernadette O'Farrell
Patricia Driscoll
Alexander Gauge
Archie Duncan
Donald Pleasence

country = UK
channel = ITV
producer = Sapphire Films
first_aired = 1955
last_aired = 1960
num_episodes = 143
list_episodes =
website =
imdb_id =
tv_com_id =

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" was a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes starring 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 dramatized 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.Fact|2-08|date=February 2008 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

*Robin Hood, a nobleman forced into living as an outlaw in Sherwood Forest. Played by Richard Greene
*The Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin Hood's enemy who schemes to capture the outlaw. Played by Alan Wheatley
*Little John, Robin Hood's trusted friend and his second in command. Played by Archie Duncan, Duncan was briefly replaced by Rufus Cruikshank for ten episodes after Duncan was injured saving two child actors from a runaway horse.
*Maid Marian, a noblewoman and Robin Hood's lover. Played in series one and two by Bernadette O'Farrell and in series three and four by Patricia Driscoll
*Friar Tuck, a member of Robin Hood's band. Played by Alexander Gauge
*Alan-a-Dale, a member of Robin Hood's band. Played by Richard Coleman
*Prince John, the scheming friend of the Sheriff of Nottingham and brother of King Richard. Played by Donald Pleasence

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 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.

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. 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, 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.

Production details

Blacklisted writers

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" was produced by Hannah Weinstein, a member of the Hollywood branch of the Communist Party USA, which helped to finance her production company, Sapphire Films. 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 as the series' script editor. The blacklisted writers were credited under pseudonyms, to avoid the notice of the House Un-American Activities Committee.cite news
first = Tom Dewe
last = Matthews
title = The outlaws
url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1888594,00.html
format = free registration required
work = The Guardian
date = 2006-10-07
accessdate = 2006-10-11]

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.

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 poor to give to the rich.

Artistic details

Art director Peter Proud hit on the idea of putting many props on wheels to facilitate quick set changes which was necessary with one 26 minute episode being shot every four and a half days. With production on a tight budget, one large fake oak tree and lots of foliage represented Sherwood Forest, while a long single floor building became a church, an inn and other buildings as needed. There was some location filming, mainly involving horse-riding doubles and stuntmen, and without dialogue recording.

Influence

The series was an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and Lew Grade continued to commission 35mm shows until the late 1970s including "The Saint", "The Prisoner" and "Thunderbirds".

Merchandise

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).

Mill Creek Entertainment has released the complete first season (39 episodes) in a three-disc DVD for Region 1.

Reviews on-line suggest that worn-out prints are used for both of these editions, under the mistaken belief that the episodes are in the public domain.

Network DVD has released the complete series in the UK in four boxed sets, licensed from the current copyright holders, 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.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robspot/greenerobin.html "The Adventures of Robin Hood": A Robin Hood Spotlight]
* [http://epguides.com/AdventuresofRobinHood/guide.shtml "The Adventures of Robin Hood" Episodes Guide]