The definitive screen version of the English folk hero, a swashbuckling adventure serial that became a global television phenomenon.
Returning to England after the Crusades, Sir Robin of Locksley (Richard Greene) finds his lands confiscated and his people oppressed by the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley), the local enforcer for the usurper Prince John. Declared an outlaw, Robin takes refuge in Sherwood Forest, where he assembles a band of “Merry Men” to wage a guerrilla war against the Sheriff’s authority. His key followers include his loyal second-in-command Little John (Archie Duncan), the jovial Friar Tuck (Alexander Gauge), and his beloved Maid Marian (Bernadette O’Farrell, later Patricia Driscoll). Together, they rob from the rich to give to the poor, fighting injustice while remaining loyal to the absent King Richard.
The Adventures of Robin Hood was a landmark production in British television history, establishing the template for a generation of ITC adventure serials. Produced by the American expatriate Hannah Weinstein, the programme was shot on 35mm film with extensive location work, giving it a cinematic quality that ensured its lucrative sale to the American network CBS and markets worldwide. Its most significant legacy, however, was political. Weinstein’s production company, Sapphire Films, became a sanctuary for writers blacklisted in Hollywood during the McCarthy era. Working under pseudonyms, figures like Ring Lardner Jr. and Ian McLellan Hunter infused the medieval tales with a potent anti-authoritarian ideology. The scripts are a direct indictment of corrupt authority, celebrating collective action and championing the common man, a clear parallel to the writers’ own struggles against political persecution.
Broadcast: ITV, 143 Episodes, 25 September 1955 – 24 May 1959
Executive Producer: Hannah Weinstein
Associate Producer: Sidney Cole
Writers include: Ring Lardner Jr., Ian McLellan Hunter, Ralph Smart, John Dyson, Leon Griffiths
Directors include: Ralph Smart, Terence Fisher, Bernard Knowles, Don Chaffey, Robert Day
Theme Music: “Robin Hood” by Carl Sigman
Main Cast: Richard Greene (Robin Hood), Alan Wheatley (Sheriff of Nottingham), Bernadette O’Farrell (Maid Marian), Patricia Driscoll (Maid Marian), Archie Duncan (Little John), Alexander Gauge (Friar Tuck), Ronald Howard (Will Scarlet), Paul Eddington (Will Scarlet)
