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© Companions of the Longbow
Robin of Sherwood. A 1984 TV show reviewed by Mark Tustian.
All of the Merry Men got on extremely well with each other and the cast still meets up regularly as friends. This off screen chemistry clearly shows up on screen (bar of course for the Sheriff of Nottingham and Sir Guy of Gisburne!)
One of the documentaries which comes on the DVDs also tells us that because the show was known as being such great fun they managed to attract some of the big names of the time to act in guest spots. I spent quite a bit of my time puzzling over where I'd seen so-and-so before. And it's especially hard 20 years after they were really famous (remember Max Headroom? The actor who played him is in it, but I'm not telling you which episode).
“Old Religion” in the form of the god of the forest, Herne the Hunter
The show's creator and main writer was Richard Carpenter and his knowledge of both the legend of Robin Hood and beliefs in England at that time clearly show here. The addition of the "old religion" certainly spices up would could have been a week in week out "let's rescue so-and-so from Nottingham Castle … again".
If you get a chance rent, borrow or buy them (each disc can be picked up for around £9 new, £5 used, online) then I recommend you do.
The entire three series comes on four double disc set boxes (series three is split over two boxes because it has 13 episodes to cover). Each comes with a host of excellent additional extras in the form of commentaries, bloopers, music videos, stills and "making of" documentaries (For example, there’s a nice one of Mark Ryan who played Nasir showing off his still fondly remembered double sword moves on his garden patio!)
OK, now the longbow bits. Stop reading if you're put off by extreme nerdiness because I'm going to talk about the archery side of the show in a slightly tongue in cheek way.
Also, please don't get me wrong, I loved the series and some of the idiosyncrasies I'm going to highlight in no way detract from how much I enjoyed "Robin of Sherwood".
If you'd like to play a little game, stop reading, watch the shows and then see if you've spotted the same things as I have ...
