The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

The Adventures of Robin Hood was a popular, long-running British television series (143 half-hour, black and white episodes, 1955–1960) starring Richard Greene as Robin Hood.

The programme was made by Sapphire Films Ltd for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network in the UK. Repeats can usually be seen on ITV3. It was also sold to CBS Television in the United States. It was the first of many big-budget shows commissioned by Lew Grade, who hoped to make big profits by selling programmes to the lucrative American market. Consequently 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.

Most of the action was filmed at Nettlefold Studios. Art 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.

Contents

[edit] Cast

In addition to Greene as Robin Hood, recurring cast members in the series included:

[edit] Blacklisted writers

The 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 tune

Carl Sigman wrote the words and music for the theme song which was sung by Dick James was later released on a record, where it was sung by Gary Miller, is still fondly remembered:

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!

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] Influence

The series was an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and Lew Grade continued to commission 35mm shows until the late 1970s. If it had not been for the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood the world might never have seen The Saint, The Prisoner or Thunderbirds.

[edit] Trivia

Archie Duncan was replaced by Rufus Cruikshank for ten episodes, after Duncan was injured saving two child actors from a runaway horse.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Matthews, Tom Dewe. "The outlaws" (free registration required), The Guardian, 2006-10-07. Retrieved on October 11, 2006.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/h/e/The_Adventures_of_Robin_Hood_%28TV_series%29_9f41.html"
In other languages