''Robin Hood'' is a 1953 six-episode British television series starring
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...
as
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...
and
Wensley Pithey
Wensley Ivan William Frederick Pithey (21 June 1914 – 10 November 1993) was a South African character actor who had a long stage and film career in Britain.
Biography
Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the Univers ...
as
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is one of the legendary Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood.
History
The figure of the jovial friar was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centur ...
. It was written by
Max Kester
Max Kester Dodgson (11 December 1901 – 14 December 1991), known professionally as Max Kester, was a British scriptwriter and lyricist.
Biography
He was born in Leeds, the son of James Dodgson, an artist who drew cartoons for ''The Yorkshire ...
, and produced and directed by
Joy Harington
Joy Harington (22 February 1914, London - 22 October 1991, Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the no ...
for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
. The 1953 series was the first TV production of Robin Hood, although the 1955 series,
The Adventures of Robin Hood
''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Technicolor swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de H ...
, remains better known.
The 30-minute episodes were transmitted live, and only eight minutes from the second episode, ''The Abbot of St. Mary's'', the earliest surviving footage of Troughton's television career, exists (as a 16mm
telerecording
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...
). Troughton's son
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
mistakenly claimed in his father's biography that the full episode survived. Short clips of this material appeared in 2007 documentary, presented by
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...
, covering Robin Hood from its beginnings to the more recent BBC production (2006), and were also shown as an example of television production in the BBC documentary series ''Children's T.V. On Trial The 1950s''. The surviving footage was also included on the 2020 DVD and Blu-Ray release of an animated reconstruction of the ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' serial ''
The Power of the Daleks
''The Power of the Daleks'' is the completely missing third serial of the fourth season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 5 November to 10 December 1966. It is ...
'', which also starred Patrick Troughton.
Cast
*
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...
as
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...
*
Wensley Pithey
Wensley Ivan William Frederick Pithey (21 June 1914 – 10 November 1993) was a South African character actor who had a long stage and film career in Britain.
Biography
Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the Univers ...
as
Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck is one of the legendary Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood.
History
The figure of the jovial friar was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th through 17th centur ...
* Kenneth Mackintosh as
Little John
Little John is a companion of Robin Hood who serves as his chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men. He is one of only a handful of consistently named characters who relate to Robin Hood and one of the two oldest Merry Men, alo ...
* Dudley Jones as
Much
* John Breslin as
Alan-a-Dale
Alan-a-Dale (first recorded as Allen a Dale; variously spelled ''Allen-a-Dale'', ''Allan-a-Dale'', ''Allin-a-Dale'', ''Allan A'Dayle'' etc.) is a figure in the Robin Hood legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a ...
*
David Kossoff
David Kossoff (24 November 1919 – 23 March 2005) was a British actor. In 1954 he won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for his appearance as Geza Szobek in '' The Young Lovers''. He played Alf Larkin in TV sit ...
as
Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood. He is generally depicted as an unjust tyrant who mistreats the local people of Nottinghamshire, subjecting them to unaffordable taxes. Robin Hood fights against him, ...
*
Philip Guard
Philip John Guard (born 29 November 1928 in Rochford, Essex) is an English stage actor.
Guard has appeared occasionally in film and TV, but has been more prolific on stage.
He was married to the actress Charlotte Mitchell who died in 2012; they s ...
as
Will Scarlett
Scarlet (also Scarlett, Scarlock, Scadlock, Scatheloke, Scathelocke and Shacklock) is a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He is present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son.
The confusion of surnam ...
*
David Markham
David Markham (3 April 1913 – 15 December 1983) was an English stage and film actor for over forty years.
Markham was born Peter Basil Harrison in Wick, Worcestershire and died in Hartfield, East Sussex.
In 1937 he married Olive Dehn (1914 ...
as
King Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
Episodes
# ''Gathering the Band'' (17 March 1953)
# ''The Abbot Of St. Mary's'' (23 March 1953)
# ''Who is Robin?'' (31 March 1953)
# ''The Silver Arrow'' (7 April 1953)
# ''A King Comes To Greenwood'' (14 April 1953)
# ''The Secret'' (21 April 1953)
References
External links
*
1950s British drama television series
BBC television dramas
Robin Hood television series
Period television series
1953 British television series debuts
1953 British television series endings
British drama television series
Lost BBC episodes
{{UK-tv-prog-stub