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.

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 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.