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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.[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.
[edit] 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 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. John Dearth played so many roles, he just about needs his own page. [edit] PlotRichard 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, 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. [edit] Production details[edit] Blacklisted writersThe 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.[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] [edit] Theme songCarl Sigman wrote the words and music for the theme song which was sung by Dick James and is still fondly remembered:
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. [edit] Artistic detailsArt 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. [edit] InfluenceThe 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. [edit] MerchandiseAlpha 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.
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