Maid Marian and Her Merry Men

MAID MARIAN AND HER MERRY MEN
Made by: BBC
Shown on: BBC1
Years shown: 1989-94

Theme tune: “Why don’t you carry on with what you’re doing/Cos there’s always trouble brewing/You’ve got to find a way to make a better day/Oh, Marian…”

Maid Marian makes an entry in here by the width of a well-placed arrow, as it seems just yesterday when I saw it (it probably was, knowing the BBC’s repeats schedule.) Devised and written by Tony Robinson (of Blackadder fame), this was a twist on the story of Nottingham’s most famous man in tights - the twist being that Robin Hood was a lazy, yuppie coward, and it was his feisty girlfriend who did all the work.

The cool-talking, tomboyish Marian (Kate Lonergan) lived near the peasants’ village of Worksop, with her band of Merry Men, a group of assorted and easy-going mercenaries. Technically, she was going out with Robin (Wayne Morris), but with his long hair and fear of any kind of conflict, the romance factor was nil. He was actually a tailor from Kensington who seemed to be an early Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen prototype. The rest of the gang were Barrington, a Rastafarian (Danny John-Jules); slow-witted, foul-smelling Rabies (Howard Lew Lewis) and Little Ron, a tough dwarf (Mike Edmonds.) Together they fought the forces of evil, and robbed from the rich, namely the vicious King John (Forbes Collins), and those who did his dirty work: the conniving Sheriff of Nottingham (Tony Robinson) and his guard henchmen, Gary (Mark Billingham) and Graeme (David Lloyd.) To be honest, the Sheriff never stood a chance, especially as he was constantly having to take time out to placate the King’s nephew, the incredibly childish/camp Guy of Gisborne (Ramsay Gilderdale), who was the royal, medieval equivalent of Violet Elizabeth Bott.

Maid Marian and Her Merry Men was an award-winning programme, and deservedly so. It was like Blackadder for kids, and it had a fantastic range of characters. Marian was the ultimate example of female empowerment, and Robin was the perfect example of why some women consider themselves better off alone. Barrington was always on hand to provide a rap interpretation of events, and the Sheriff was so venal and so driven that you almost wanted him to succeed. Tony Robinson’s portrayal of Worksop as a village of idiots (including Gladys, played by Hilary Mason, and Snooker, played by Robin Chandler) with nothing for industry but mud, and the odd chicken, was effortlessly funny, and no doubt pretty accurate too.

SQUARE EYES RATING: 8/10