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© Companions of the Longbow
Robin of Sherwood. A 1984 TV show reviewed by Mark Tustian.
The Merry Men are perfectly written and acted and every member of this young cast brings their character to life. The show ran for three series in which for the first two Michael Praed took the title role playing Robin of Loxley. Michael Praed for me at least, is the better Robin Hood. His swansong in "The Greatest Enemy" is one of the best episodes of all the series and it's from here on in that Jason Connery had the huge job of filling the Robin Hood shoes for the third and final outing (or should it be filling the Robin Hood, hood?)
Third Season “Merry Men” with Robert of Huntingdon, played by Jason Connery
How do you have two totally different actors play the same role? Well there are two myths on the origins of Robin Hood; one that says he was the son of a commoner, one that says he was the son of nobleman.
They managed to introduce the character of Robert of Huntingdon who was the son of a nobleman to replace Robin of Loxley who was the son of commoner. This mirrored the real life situation where by Jason Connery, as the son of the big international star Sean Connery, had to replace the popular young actor Michael Praed. This meant that both on and off screen Jason had the job of getting on and being accepted with the Merry Men. This comes out in the third series and really highlights how well the cast really did get on well with each other.
Nickolas Grace, is a fantastic Sheriff of Nottingham who clearly enjoyed the role (and openly admits to being extremely pleased to be the only Sheriff of Nottingham to kill Robin Hood). Other cast members worth a mention include Robert Addie, who played Sir Guy of Gisburne (as a superb horseman, look out for him purposely swinging his horse's head around to whack one of the village 'serfs'), Mark Ryan as a Saracen called Nasir (a last minute addition to the Merry Men and in a mastermind piece of Homer Simpson laziness, it was suggest by Mark to be a character that didn't speak much. No lines to learn. Genius!), Clive Mantle as Little John (the tallest actor to play the role), Judi Trott as Maid Marion (an ex-ballet dancer who was perhaps not the greatest actress), Phil Rose as Friar Tuck (who shaved the top of his head for the show), Peter Llewellyn Williams as Much (who was the same age as the rest of the cast but plays a much younger character), a rat called Arthur and a very young Ray Winston.
Ray plays Will Scarlett and is uncannily similar to his character of Bors in Antoine Fuqua’s 2004
King Arthur. If like me you enjoyed his portrayal of Bors, this may endear you to his portrayal of Will Scarlett. If you didn’t though ...