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Cquote1

Robin Hood! Robin Hood! Riding through the glen!
Robin Hood! Robin Hood! With his band of men!
Feared by the bad! Loved by the good!
Robin Hood! Robin Hood! Robin Hood!

He called the greatest archers to a tavern on the green!
They vowed to help the people of the king!
They handled all the trouble on the English country scene!
And still found plenty of time to sing!

Cquote2


The Adventures of Robin Hood is a British television series that ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1959, starring Richard Greene in the title role. Produced in the very early days of commercial television in the UK, The Adventures of Robin Hood was the brainchild of Hannah Weinstein (an American producer living in the UK having been blacklisted for her leftwing views) and was commissioned by the Russian-born media mogul Lew Grade. Grade hoped to profit by selling the series to the United States, and so Robin Hood became the first of many big-budget British series to be produced with the American market in mind.[1] Episodes were based both on existing legends and original stories, often written by blacklisted Americans screenwriters, who had to used pseudonyms to avoided problems when the series was sold in the US.[2]

The first three seasons are currently[when?] available on Hulu.

The show's cast of characters included:

  • Robin Hood (Richard Greene): The Hero, naturally. A crusader who returns to his ancestral home to find it's been taken over by a Norman nobleman. Framed for his murder, he becomes an outlaw.
  • Little John (Archie Duncan): A servant who escaped his cruel master and subsequently becomes Robin’s loyal second-in-command.
  • Maid Marian (Bernadette O'Farrell (series 1-2), Patricia Driscoll (series 3-4)).
  • Friar Tuck (Alexander Gauge).
  • The Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley): The Affably Evil Big Bad. Occasionally shows that Even Evil Has Standards.[3]
  • Joan (Simone Lovell): Barmaid at the Blue Boar in and an ally of the outlaws.
  • Derwent (Victor Woolf): Possibly counts as Ascended Extra, since he appears in more episodes than anyone except Robin Hood himself.

Not to be confused with the Errol Flynn film of the same name. Or with Mel Brooks When Things Were Rotten.

Tropes used in The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series) include:
  1. Other series commission by Grade included The Saint, The Prisoner and various Gerry Anderson productions.
  2. Weinstein’s political activities weren’t limited to hiring blacklisted screenwriters. Her company, Sapphire Films, was allegedly partly funded by the US Communist Party
  3. Interesting note: the actor went on to become the first person to be killed on screen by a Dalek.
  4. Possibly also a Casting Gag, as the actor, Ian Hunter, had previously played Richard the Lion Heart in the Errol Flynn film.