The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)

''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes broadcast weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood, and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. 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 were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

The programme was produced by Sapphire Films Ltd for ITC Entertainment, filmed at Nettlefold Studios. In 1954, Grade was approached by American producer Hannah Weinstein to finance a series of 39 half-hour episodes, at a budget of £10,000 an episode, of a series she wished to make called ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''. She had already signed Richard Greene to the project as Robin Hood and been given the backing of US distribution company, Official Films Inc, who were confident of selling it to the US market. Grade was so impressed by her proposal that he agreed immediately to back the series, hoping to make large profits by selling programmes to the lucrative American market. In the UK, the series premiered on ATV London, on Sunday 25 September 1955. ATV Midlands began the series on Friday 17 February 1956, with a staggered start across other regions from 1956 to 1961 as the ITV regional stations came on-air for the first time in the UK. The US premiere was on Monday 26 September 1955 by CBS. 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 (the series was sponsored in the US by Johnson & Johnson (baby products, Band-Aid) and Wildroot Cream-Oil.

In Australia, the show aired on TCN9 in Sydney NSW and HSV7 Melbourne Victoria, actually being the first drama series broadcast by this station and CBC in Canada, and on CBS in the US. In France, RTF1 aired the show from 1965 to 1969 and RTF2 from 1969 to 1972. In Italy, Rai 1 aired the show from 1959 to 1964 and Rai 2 from 1965 to 1967. In Malaysia, RTM aired the show from late 1974 to early 1978. In the Philippines, ABS-CBN aired the show from 1963 to 1967, RBS (now GMA Network) from 1967 to 1972. In Indonesia, TVRI aired the show during the 1970s. In Romania, TVR aired the show from 1966 to 1980.

Characters

Main characters

* Robin Hood (Robin of Locksley), a Saxon nobleman returned from the Crusades and forced into outlawry in Sherwood Forest. Played by Richard Greene.
* The Sheriff of Nottingham, a Norman baron and 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 when a horse bolted toward the spectators, mostly children, watching the location filming of the episode "Checkmate" on 20 April 1955. Archie Duncan grabbed the bridle, stopping the horse, but the cart it was pulling ran him over, causing a fractured kneecap and cuts and bruises. He received the Queen's Commendation for Bravery (Lady Marian Fitzwalter), a Norman-Irish 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, a member of Robin Hood's band. Played by Ronald Howard (two episodes, series 1) and Paul Eddington (series 4).
* Derwent, a member of Robin's band. Played by Victor Woolf. Woolf played several other guest roles in the series such as villagers, villains and other outlaws. Excepting Richard Greene, he appeared in the most episodes of the show, a total of 112.
* Joan, the barmaid at the Blue Boar Inn, a friend of Robin and his band. Played by Simone Lovell.
* Sir Richard of the Lea, a friend of Robin and his band. Played by Ian Hunter. Hunter had earlier played King Richard the Lionheart in the 1938 production ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' starring Errol Flynn.
* Lady Leonia, wife of Sir Richard of the Lea. Played by Patricia Burke in five episodes.
* The Deputy Sheriff of Nottingham, (the Sheriff's replacement in series 4), played by John Arnatt.

Minor characters

* Alan-a-Dale, a member of Robin Hood's band. Played by John Schlesinger (two episodes), Richard Coleman (three episodes, series 4).
*Ethel, Derwent's wife played by Paula Byrne

Historical characters

* Queen Eleanor, the mother of King Richard and Prince John. Played by Jill Esmond (two episodes, series 1)
* King Richard the Lionheart, the King of England, elder son of Queen Eleanor and older brother of Prince John. Played by Patrick Barr (two episodes, series 1)
* Prince John, the scheming friend of the Sheriff of Nottingham and younger brother of King Richard. Played by Donald Pleasence, Hubert Gregg, and Brian Haines.
* Princess Avice of Gloucester, the first wife of Prince John, played by Helen Cherry
* Isabella of Angoulême, the second wife of Prince John played by Zena Walker before her marriage to John though not played as a 12-year-old.
* Prince Arthur played by Peter Asher (three episodes, series 1 & 2), Richard O'Sullivan (one episode, series 3) and Jonathan Bailey (one episode, series 4)
* Constance, Duchess of Brittany (Prince Arthur's mother), played by Dorothy Alison (three episodes, series 1 & 2), Pamela Alan (one episode, series 3), and Patricia Marmont (one episode, series 4)
* King William the Lion of Scotland played by Duncan McKintyre.

Other actors

Actors appearing in the series who later became better-known included: Lionel Jeffries, Leslie Phillips, Jane Asher, Anne Reid, Edward Mulhare, Patrick Troughton (who in 1953 had been the first actor to portray Robin Hood on TV in a live BBC series), Irene Handl, Nicholas Parsons, Desmond Llewelyn, Sid James, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, Leo McKern, Alfie Bass, Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell (''Steptoe and Son''), Billie Whitelaw, Paul Eddington, Ronald Allen and Gordon Jackson. John Schlesinger appeared as an actor in three episodes as singing minstrels (Hale and Alan a Dale (series 2)). A number of well-known actresses appeared as Saxon or Norman ladies, including Greta Gynt and Brenda de Banzie.

A number of actors appeared in supporting roles in most episodes: in series 1 these included: Victor Woolf, Willoughby Gray, and John Longden, and for later series included: Paul Hansard, Morris Barry, Nigel Davenport, Kevin Stoney, Ronald Hines, and Max Faulkner, who also did stunt/double work. Frank Maher (later Patrick McGoohan's stunt double) played many small non-speaking parts, and stuntman Terry Yorke, who doubled for Richard Greene, played many small roles throughout all four series. In Series 3, Paul Eddington played a different character in many episodes, before settling down to Will Scarlett.

Plot and writing

The series is set in the 12th century, during the reign of King Richard the Lionheart.

Robin, Earl of Locksley, a Saxon nobleman, returns from the Crusades to find a Norman lord living in his ancestral home, Locksley Hall. He is forced to go to the Sheriff of Nottingham, who represents the law, seeking to reclaim his land. But the Sheriff, another Norman, sides with the usurper. Robin is tricked into signing a document fatal to his claim, but when the plot to then murder him goes wrong Robin ends up as a hunted man. In the forest he meets a peasant (Alfie Bass), who is due to have his hands mutilated for killing his lord's deer, but Robin rescues him. The hunter tells him of outlaws living free in the forest. When they meet the outlaws, Robin drops his title and asks to just be called Robin. As he is hooded, they call him Robin of the Hood.

He is thus 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 Normans against the poor and defenceless Saxons. He is given the name Robin Hood by the outlaw band's original leader, Will Scatlock, who is fatally wounded in the second episode. Robin Hood's enemy in the series is the Sheriff of Nottingham who, with his cohorts, adherents of the tyrant, Prince John, schemes to capture the outlaw by any means possible. Lady Marian Fitzwalter (Maid Marian), a young noblewoman and Robin Hood's lover, keeps him informed of the Sheriff's whereabouts and intentions. Episodes are punctuated with manly deeds of derring-do, tense escapes and pursuits, princely tournaments, the thundering hoof-beats of powerful steeds, the clattering of flashing swords, and the whizzing of fatally placed arrows.

In "A Year and A Day" (series 2), 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, provided 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" (series 3), 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. Two episodes, "Brother Battle" (#84) and "To Be a Student" (#90) emphasized the Catholic Church's struggle to educate commoners, and even the children of the Saxon serfs, despite laws forbidding the practice and in the face of opposition from the Norman nobility.

The writers created supporting characters who were likeable and occasionally resourceful. In "The Goldmaker's Return" (series 2), Robin Hood is away in France on a mission. Lady Marian, Little John and the other Merry Men carry the day without the star of the show ever showing his face. Most of the time, however, Robin is required to save the day single-handed, following the usual comment that "sending many men would be noticed, only one man going in alone will be overlooked", etc. Despite the simplistic plotting required by the 26-minute format, the writing was both professional in its handling of situations, and pointed in its dialogue.

Anachronisms abounded: the lipsticked girl with modern hairdo in the "Friar Tuck" episode, for instance; wine cups for each occupant at a table in "Checkmate", when that only became the practice hundreds of years later; the 20th century school implements in "Brother Battle"; the use of Guineas from the 1700s as coinage; written tavern signs when most people were illiterate; and a "bard" in "The Challenge" episode who sings a song to the late 17th-century tune of "Lillibullero" in 12th-century England. All this is typical of every series of historical fiction, but the show's producers pointed with pride to their accuracy, courtesy of hired consultants.

There was an element of self-parody at times, that sat uneasily on the series. For instance, in one episode, "The Challenge", the plot (as such) finished halfway through the show, and the remainder became a comedy as the hapless Richard of the Lea and his wife worried whilst their larder and wine cellar were emptied, during a siege, by Robin, Little John, and Tuck eating and dancing all the day and night.

Episodes

A total of 143 episodes were filmed in four series.

Production details

Blacklisted writers

''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' was produced by Hannah Weinstein, who had left-wing political views. The series was explicitly created by Weinstein to enable the commissioning of scripts by blacklisted American writers. Among these were 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 attention of studio executives.

(The sponsored prints of the first five episodes of series one, screened by CBS in the US on its first run, had no writer credits on their end title sequences; writers were only credited on sponsored prints from episode 6 onward, only later non-sponsored US re-run prints of series one have writer credits for these episodes, some of which differ from writer credits on UK prints. As an example, Lawrence McClellan is credited as writer of "The Coming of Robin Hood" on US prints, for the UK the pseudonym used is Eric Heath.)Mill Creek Entertainment set of DVD's (US).

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"; presumably "A Tuck in Time" was such an episode, in which a twin of Friar Tuck arrives boasting of his willingness to sell a weapon that could destroy the world. 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. For example, the third season story "The Angry Village" had paranoid villagers turn on each other when they think a traitor is in their midst. But the half-hour length episodes and broad-target market precluded any political criticism that went beyond the generalities of 19th century Robin Hood revival books.

Filming

Whilst interiors were filmed at Nettlefold Studios

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