New BBC Robin Hood off target

26 April 2007

Gerard Wood

It's no easy thing to do something original with the legend of Robin Hood, and it is perhaps a measure of the scarcity of originality that movie and TV studios keep on doing something with it. Frequently. It's no surprise, of course. When there's nothing original to say, the same old things keep on being repeated. Every five or six years it seems there is another attempt to breathe life into the Robin Hood legend on film, whether in a movie or a TV series, with the results falling neatly into three categories: the Good, the Bad and the very, very - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

(Just for the record, the Good definitely include the 1976 classic Robin and Marian, which very untypically picks up the story when the protagonists are well aged - starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn, alongside an incredible cast, the movie is driven by utterly convincing relationships, particularly between Robin, Marian, John and the Sheriff. The relationship between Robin and the Sheriff (Robert Shaw), based on respect and a shared nostalgia for the past, is truly original and a highlight.)

Am I being unfair in criticising studios and writers on the whole for a lack of originality when it comes to Robin Hood? He is, when all is said and done, an archetype, a legendary, semi-mythical character, and isn't the point in telling the tale of an archetype to retell the tale? And let's face it, as archetypes go, Robin Hood has more staying power than pretty much any other. There is an enduring appeal to popular consciousness in the stories of his rebellion and struggle against unjust authority. Unlike King Arthur, Robin Hood is more truly the people's hero. Not because he is a peasant or an aristocrat who throws his lot in with the common man (depending on the version), but because he resists unjust authority. He is the archetypal rebel with a cause.

But this does not excuse a lack of originality! While we shouldn't necessarily expect something new to be said about Robin Hood, I for one would appreciate the story being told in an original way. Otherwise, why bother? The last time that was done successfully was the 1980s TV series, Robin of Sherwood, written by the highly talented Richard Carpenter. Here was a fresh take on the legend. It introduced elements of theme and characterisation that have since been adopted willy nilly by other writers as if they were part and parcel of the source legend. A case in point was Carpenter's addition of a Saracen to the band of merry men. Kevin Reynold' s dire Prince of Thieves poached that one, and the new BBC Robin Hood, starring Jonas Armstrong has Djaq, although the oh so politically correct writer's cleverly made their Saracen a female.

That's not to say I dislike the new series; it's watchable and while it might not tell the tale in a particularly original way, it does do some things reasonably well. For a start it looks good. The action and effects are fine. And its most appealing quality is that it addresses contemporary issues without being out of step with the times depicted - topical without being anachronistic. An underlying theme is that of terror and terrorism - how resistance to injustice is defined as terrorism by the perpetrator when the perpetrator is the State, and how the State can exploit the fear of terror for its own ends, namely control of the populace.

Then there are the characters. They are... Well, we've seen them before. Jonas Armstrong's Robin, looks very mod, and follows closely in the footsteps of Michael Praed's new romantic Robin in Robin of Sherwood; Lucy Griffith's Marian is, naturally, feisty, headstrong and a fighter, much like Judi Trott's Marian in Robin of Sherwood; and Keith Allen's Sheriff is sinister, cruel and yet somehow comic, much like Nicholas Grace's Sheriff in, you guessed it, Robin of Sherwood. (Actually, I quite enjoy Allen's over the top performance.)

All 'n'all it's an ok series with little in the way of originality to recommend it (and a seriously annoying way of signalling a change of scene that involves an arrow streaking across the screen). My advice though if you're looking for a dose of Robin Hood, you'd do better to dust off old episodes of Robin of Sherwood.

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