The
lowdown: 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' is one
of many television series based on the legendary outlaw who
robs from the rich and gives
to the poor. It starred Richard Greene as Robin of Locksley, who was accompanied
on his
adventures by Little John,
Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale. Maid Marion was played by two actresses, Bernadette
O'Farrell
and Patricia Driscoll. Alan
Wheatley played Robin Hood's arch nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham, who
was constantly
scheming to bring Robin
and his band of Merry Men to justice. A total of 143 episodes were made,
and broadcast on
ITV1 between 26 September
1955 and 12 November 1960. The series was shot on 35mm film, and used what
was a
then-revolutionary technique
of using a limited number of sets mounted on castors so they could be wheeled
into place
quickly. This drastically
reduced the amount of time needed to produce each half-hour episode. While
the series may
lack the big budget and
action of the BBC's 21st century take on Robin Hood, it makes great viewing
for nostalgia buffs
and those who watched it
when they were young.
The
episode: 'The Dream' was the 16th episode of the second
season, and was first broadcast on 14 January 1957.
Maid Marian's city-dwelling
cousin Sir William Fitzwalter (Patrick Troughton) comes to visit her for
the first time since
he was young. He asks to
meet the outlaw Robin Hood, and hopes that Marian knows someone who can
point him in
Robin's direction (Marian
of course pretends that she does not know Robin). Sir William had fought
with Robin against
the Saracens during the
Crusades, and now reveals to Robin that he has been sent by Eleanor, the
Queen Mother, to
ask Robin to join him on
a mission to Austria. King Richard is being held hostage by the Austrian
emperor, and while
the ransom has been paid,
Richard has not been released. Robin agrees to accompany Sir William to
rescue the king,
although Marian and his
men want to go with them. Marian has a strange dream the night before the
two men are set
to depart, in which she
has a vision of Robin and his men during the Crusades, with William in
the guise of a Saracen,
and believes it is a premonition
that
William will betray Robin. Sure enough, Sir William intends to hand Robin
over to
Prince John in return for
a large parcel of land. Robin soon finds himself in the ship's brig, but
Marian and the band of
merry men come to his rescue.
Who
connections: This was the second of eight appearances
by Patrick Troughton in the series, although he was in
the same role just once.
Roger Delgado was in an episode titled 'The Minstrel', while the series
featured several other
actors who will be familiar
to Doctor Who fans, including John Dearth (Lupton in The Planet
of the Spiders), Joan Sims
(Katryca in Trial of
a Time Lord), Geoffrey Bayldon (Organon in The Creature from the
Pit), Graham Crowden (Soldeed
in The Horns of Nimon),
Jack Watling (Professor Travers in the two Yeti stories), Kevin Stoney
(Tobias Vaughn in
The
Invasion) and Michael
Gough (The Celestial Toymaker).
Video: Sir
William 12.0mb
Robin and William
11.0mb
Robin
betrayed 8.1mb
Escape
bid 4.8mb |
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