Robin Of Sherwood - Complete (Box Set) (DVD)

...all know the story of Robin Hood, woodland freedom fighter, man of the people, stealing from the rich, giving to the poor, etc, etc, etc. We also all know that its just a story and its one that's been told to death over the hundred years of film and TV making. Most films home in on the cliché of the tale and stick rigidly to the storybook portrayal of the plot, but in the early to mid eighties a ground breaking version was launched on British TV ...
...taking a story such as Robin Hood and setting it down in film is that they try to make the story too big. The ideas portrayed in renditions such as "Prince of Thieves" are just to far-fetched. Large bands of well equipped and well fed outlaws living in the woods of medieval England is just untenable and seems to exist only in the minds of Hollywood moguls. What was so appealing about Robin of Sherwood was that it was small scale and grubby ... more

We all know the story of Robin Hood, woodland freedom fighter, man of the people, stealing from the rich, giving to the poor, etc, etc, etc. We also all know that its just a story and its one that's been told to death over the hundred years of film and TV making. Most films home in on the cliché of the tale and stick rigidly to the storybook portrayal of the plot, but in the early to mid eighties a ground breaking version was launched on British TV which not only gave us a half believable take on the whole event but helped kick start the career of more than one struggling actor. One of the traps that film makers fall into when taking a story such as Robin Hood and setting it down in film is that they try to make the story too big. The ideas portrayed in renditions such as "Prince of Thieves" are just to far-fetched. Large bands of well equipped and well fed outlaws living in the woods of medieval England is just untenable and seems to exist only in the minds of Hollywood moguls. What was so appealing about Robin of Sherwood was that it was small scale and grubby but still managed to portray a sense of heroics and mysticism as well as great story lines.

The premise differs little from the traditional storyline initially, Robin is a disenfranchised noble who, in order to hide from the local barons becomes an outlaw and retires to the forest to clear his name, overthrow the injustices of society and generally put the world to rights. What is added to the story at this point is one of the unique flavours of the show. Robin meets Herne the Hunter, god of the forest and a last link to the pagan beliefs of ancient times. Herne turns out to be not a god but a man, a priest of the old religion who tells Robin that he is the rightful receiver of the position of guardian of the old ways, champion of the forest laws and must defend against the tyrannies of the church and state and the black arts that they often resort too. These black arts featured in a number of episodes when the occasional wizard, all done in low-key fashion, pitched his might against Robin and his cause. Robin rallies his followers around him, a small gang of outlaws and misfits, who though they don't put much store by his powers as a green holy champion, do acknowledge him as a good leader and someone who can help them stay alive.

His main adversaries are the age-old enemy, the aristocracy and the church, this is after all medieval England and the feudal system was all the rage. The kings appointed representative is one, Robert de Rainault, the sheriff of Nottingham and his "man that does" is Guy of Gisborne, both downright bad eggs and out for themselves. Most of the storyline involve the balance of power between these two barons and the outlaws, one well armed and with no morals, the others doing the right thing using the support of the people and a few clever tricks, the age old underdogs against the establishment.

The settings for the show were always well thought out. Maybe due to a small budget the towns and villages were always fairly basic, but that actually made them more believable, the same went for the costume, the low cost get ups made for a good overall feel to the show. No Lincoln green, no hats with feathers and no tights in sight, just a mishmash of rags and cloth that suggested the life that these people were living. You knew that if you could get close to them they would small bad, really bad. There was always a nice historical touch woven into this medieval tapestry, whether they were helping persecuted Jews escape the bad guys or falling foul of the Knights Templars it was always good to see a bit of realism creeping in. All of this was set against the historical realities of the struggle of John Lackland brother of Richard, the rightful king, to take the throne for himself.

The cast, although fairly unknown at the time, were fantastic. Two actors through the course of the series played Robin. Michael Praed was the one that is best remembered and managed to make the role believable whilst looking like the guitarist with an American metal band. He possessed the right blend of romantic quality and power to give him that otherworldly feel that a pagan warrior should possess and made him a big hit with the ladies. Jason Connery took over the role a couple of years later and although there was nothing wrong with his portrayal, Praed was a hard act to follow. Judi Trott was the young Marion, love interest and political pawn in the scheme of things. In this rendering she had a practical nature and grew into her role as outlaw until she was as much a man as the rest of them, if you know my meaning. The band of not so merry men were made up of a young Ray Winstone , ex-soldier and well hard thug (no typecasting there then), Clive Mantle as the walking mountain John Little (work it out), Phil Rose as the jolly Friar Tuck, Peter Williams as the timid Much and Mark Ryan as Nasir the Saracen , a sort of medieval Bruce Lee.

Nicholas Grace as the Sheriff was notable, portraying the same aloofness and bile that Alan Rickman managed to bring to the role in the Hollywood version. Richard O'Brien, he of Crystal Maze fame, was also a semi-regular guest as a deranged mystic who was pitched against Robin's gang from time to time, and he's fairly worrying in real life so his role was just perfect.

The whole show had a mystical and shadowy quality as well as a believable and small-scale battle at its core. The sets were good and some of England's finest castle were employed, Bamburgh and Alnwick in particular to help in that respect. One of the criticisms that many people levelled at it at the time was the same one that was levelled at the Sharpe series that came a few years later and that was the small scale of the fights and battles. Whereas in the case of Sharpe, set as it was in a time of mass rank and file set piece conflict, suffers from this, in Robin of Sherwood's case this is almost refreshing and adds realism, after all how much of his resources would a medieval baron spare on a bunch of forest outlaws when he was also trying to keep the peace, collect taxes, raid Scotland and recapture Jerusalem all before lunchtime.

Lastly I must mention the fantastic sound track, Clannad at there finest. Whatever you think of the band in general, the music they produced for the show was the icing on the cake, a great mix of emotive old world celtic harmony and modern instrumentation.

If you want a great take on the whole Robin Hood thing, then this is for you, forget the storybooks, forget Hollywood and forget men in tights. Robin Hood is just a myth, but if he had of existed this would have been close to the truth.

 

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