Autumn is entering the home straight, and with it comes a piece of fantasy/folkloric tomfoolery set in the days of yore: the BBC's new Robin Hood series. It ticks every box you could wish for in olde worlde trash, including Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham and faerie smut, with not a bad wig in sight.
The show opens with a caption that sets out exactly where we are and what is happening, without the need for dialogue. It reads: 'Many years have passed since the Norman Conquest. England is ruled by Henry II. Norman laws and Christianity have been forced upon the Saxon people who must pay taxes and give deference to their new masters.' The caption continues with more about forest law and outlaws before the action begins.
The series ticks all the boxes: chainmailed Norman soldiers felled by honest Saxon arrows, faerie boobs, and Hugh of Locksley teaching his young son Robin archery. Speeches about Saxon tenacity and the Locksley lands stolen by the earl-to-be of Huntingdon ensue. Prepubescent Robin meets prepubescent Marian and feels a spiritual connection, and the duo grow up hot and start feeling other connections. The production gets round the fact that Robin is an innately unheroic name by calling him Rob.
Hugh is soon in trouble thanks to Huntingdon and a treacherous fellow Saxon, and the ruthless Sheriff of Nottingham behaves ruthlessly. There is also the Sheriff's daughter Priscilla, a medieval nymphomaniac who seduces guards and listens at doorways. The Spirit of the Greenwood, along with faeries with boobs, is called upon to protect Robin by his mother on her deathbed.
The drama does not quite move at a galloping pace, giving viewers more time to admire the CGI castle and other settings. By the end of the first two episodes, Robin is still only just beginning to contemplate outright outlawry. Still to come are Connie Nielsen as Eleanor of Aquitaine and the introduction of Little John.
