Robin Hood

Presented under the Children's Television banner Robin Hood was the first serialised TV outing for Sherwood Forest's most famous inhabitant. 

Written by Max Kester and broadcast over six weeks in 30-minute episodes from 17th March 1953, Robin Hood was thought to be, like many series of the day, broadcast live, shown once and then lost forever. However, the BBC was just beginning to experiment with a method whereby televised material could be preserved by filming it from a specially adapted monitor. As a result of this, in what is possibly the earliest example of these 'telerecording' experiments, an entire episode ('The Abbot of St Mary') exists in the BBC archives. 

The series was completely studio based (filming in Studio G at Lime Grove). Short clips appeared in a 2007 documentary, presented by Jonathan Ross, covering Robin Hood from its beginnings to the most recent BBC production as an example of television production in the BBC documentary (BBC 4) series Children's TV On Trial. 

Future Doctor Who Patrick Troughton played Robin, with Kenneth MacKintosh as Little John, Wensley Pithey as Friar Tuck and David Kossoff as the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Published on January 25th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.