A modern take on a very old story.
As every generation has adapted and interpreted Robin Hood to their own situation, so has ours. The metaphors here are well, let's say subtlety is not something this program does well. Although to be fair, they're clearly not aiming for it.
What they are aiming for is a fun, enjoyable and entertaining program that everyone can understand. They don't have the technique of creating a level of seriousness or complexity aimed at adults the way Russell T Davies' Doctor Who does. What they have done, and done well is to make it with such a wry sense of humour that makes it very enjoyable. It's a very self aware program, they don't try to stop being obvious or silly, instead they do it in a way that makes you smile.
It's not without merit either. It would have been very easy to turn this into a boy's club and have Marian the helpless woman, swooning over the hero. Oh, no. Marian is not impressed with Robin and she has as much grounds to claim the title "hero" as he does, she may even be that little bit better.
Robin is a brave and flawed character. Much, mainly the comic relief, is played with such a broken innocence by Sam Troughton that - when you don't want to hit him for his repetitive lines, which the kids will love - you just want to hug him. The Sheriff of Nottingham is in no way anything other than a villain pure and simple. He is however immensely fun and has some cracking liners that will go right over kid's heads and have you laughing.
Mildly predictable in the warm BBC family TV way, which is just what has been missing from our screens for so long. Sit down with the family and enjoy it for what it is - a fun, enjoyable family series courtesy of Auntie Beeb.
As every generation has adapted and interpreted Robin Hood to their own situation, so has ours. The metaphors here are well, let's say subtlety is not something this program does well. Although to be fair, they're clearly not aiming for it.
What they are aiming for is a fun, enjoyable and entertaining program that everyone can understand. They don't have the technique of creating a level of seriousness or complexity aimed at adults the way Russell T Davies' Doctor Who does. What they have done, and done well is to make it with such a wry sense of humour that makes it very enjoyable. It's a very self aware program, they don't try to stop being obvious or silly, instead they do it in a way that makes you smile.
It's not without merit either. It would have been very easy to turn this into a boy's club and have Marian the helpless woman, swooning over the hero. Oh, no. Marian is not impressed with Robin and she has as much grounds to claim the title "hero" as he does, she may even be that little bit better.
Robin is a brave and flawed character. Much, mainly the comic relief, is played with such a broken innocence by Sam Troughton that - when you don't want to hit him for his repetitive lines, which the kids will love - you just want to hug him. The Sheriff of Nottingham is in no way anything other than a villain pure and simple. He is however immensely fun and has some cracking liners that will go right over kid's heads and have you laughing.
Mildly predictable in the warm BBC family TV way, which is just what has been missing from our screens for so long. Sit down with the family and enjoy it for what it is - a fun, enjoyable family series courtesy of Auntie Beeb.