Maid Marian & Her Merry Men ( 1989 - 1994 )
Plot
Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's sitcom created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC One and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an incompetent ex-tailor.
The programme was much appreciated by children and adults alike, and has been likened to Blackadder, not only for its historical setting and the presence of Tony Robinson (as well as early, uncredited, script editing work being undertaken by Richard Curtis), but also for its comic style. It is far more surreal than Blackadder, however, and drops even more (deliberate) anachronisms. Like many British children's programmes, there is a lot of social commentary sneakily inserted, as well as witty asides about the Royal family, buses running on time, etc.
Many of the plots featured, included or revolved around spoofing particular things, including films such as Jurassic Park and It Came From Outer Space, and television programmes, including The Crystal Maze and the long-running televised fundraiser Comic Relief. There were also frequent references to other Robin Hood incarnations, most notably ITV's Robin of Sherwood (and in particular a parody of that series' Clannad soundtrack is lampooned in the episode "The Whitish Knight") and the contemporary film adaptation Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The latter actually features Howard Lew Lewis (Rabies) among its cast - hence his doubly witty line in the episode "They Came from Outer Space", which episode also passingly satirises the film for casting the lead with an American accent (Kevin Costner).
The show was such a success, there was an adaptation produced for the stage, a cartoon strip by Paul Cemmick which was serialised in the Daily Telegraph's children's paper "The Young Telegraph" (also available as a series of collections) and the programme was repeated on BBC One in 2001. Series 1 was released on video in 1990, with three episodes each on two tapes (a couple of slight variations in cover design exist for each), and all four series are available on DVD.
Character Guide
Maid Marian (Kate Lonergan): a passionate and idealistic freedom fighter. Although the most intelligent of the gang, she often lets her idealism blind her to the realities of situations, most notably the rest of the gang's incompetence. She also isn't very patient, but she will always defend anyone who she feels is wronged. She often has mud in her hair.
The Sheriff of Nottingham (Tony Robinson): a devious plotter obsessed with collecting taxes. Given the first name 'Arnold' in the episode "Keeping Mum", ostensibly only to produce a later pun. While he is dedicated to stopping Marian, they sometimes find themselves in sympathy with each other regarding the complete stupidity of everyone else.
Robin of Kensington (Wayne Morris): an extremely vain tailor and a yuppie. Became seen as the leader of Marian's gang by accident, and remains because he sees it as a cool image to cultivate. His most significant contribution to the outlaws was nevertheless to insist they all wear green to "co-ordinate with the trees".
Barrington (Danny John-Jules): the resident Rasta Merry Man, who would often rap during the episodes' songs. He often acts as a kind of semi omniscient narrator (in a similar manner to Alan-a-Dale in more traditional versions).
Little Ron (Mike Edmonds): a very very short, insanely angry and violent Merry Man. Known to face the wrong way in ambushes. A parody of Little John.
Rabies (Howard Lew Lewis): another Merry Man, very strong, and very stupid, although with his heart in the right place.
King John (Forbes Collins, who also played John's brother, Richard the Lionheart, in the episode "The Whitish Knight", and Queen Eleanor, Guy of Gisbourne's mother): a violent and unstable monarch. He is narcissistic and insecure, and becomes very angry at the thought of being unpopular with the peasants. His brother, who was thought to be a wise ruler who would bring England back to a Golden Age, is identical.
Gary and Graeme (Mark Billingham and David Lloyd): guards of the King's castle, and the Sheriff's henchmen. They're "bestest mates" and extremely affable, but in the tradition of clever villains with idiot sidekicks, not very clever most of the time. They are often very friendly with the Merry Men, who tend to return the sentiment - except when Gary and Graeme are doing what they're paid for. Graeme has a brother called Kevin. Graeme tends to enjoy things like torture and teasing the villagers more than Gary does, though Gary will challenge Graeme for the chance to do executions.
Guy of Gisbourne (Ramsay Gilderdale): the king's wet-behind-the-ears nephew, village idiot, and mummy's boy. Aged 27 but acts like a 4-year-old, has an imaginary friend and occasionally dresses in a tutu.
"Rotten" Rose Scargill (Siobhan Fogarty): rival to Maid Marian and both Marian's best friend and worst enemy. She's Robin Hood's biggest fan.
Episode Guide
Series One
Series One is the most faithful to the original legends being parodied and probably the series with the fewest anachronisms. Originally transmitted from 16 November to 21 December 1989, with How The Band Got Together repeated on 20 April 2001.
How The Band Got Together: A young villager, Marian, is enraged by the treatment given to her pet tadpole Edwina by the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham and his henchmen. Together with cowardly tailor Robin of Kensington, Rastafarian black marketeer Barrington, congenital moron Rabies and violent dwarf Little Ron, she forms a "ruthless band of freedom fighters". Robin earns his more famous nickname of "Robin Hood" by being told to pull his hood over his head when threatening to set fire to King John's underpants.
Robert The Incredible Chicken: Marian attempts to teach the gang to shoot longbows, a skill Robin is incapable of learning. Robin's arrow is wide of the target but gives the Sheriff a near-death experience adding to the belief that Robin is a wonderful marksman and the leader of the gang. This results in a plan by the Baddies to stage an archery contest to trap Robin. Unable to resist the boost to his (false!) ego, Robin enters... in disguise as a large chicken and giving his name as "Robert, Robert the Incredible Chicken" when asked. Marian saves the day just before Robin's brilliant subterfuge is discovered. The Baddies still believe that she should stay in her kitchen, and that Robin is the leader of the gang.
A Game Called John: Pancake Day celebrations make King John realise that he isn't recognised by the people of Worksop, and he therefore commissions the Sheriff to come up with ways of being remembered. The Sheriff's suggestion is that he invent something - a task promptly delegated to the Sheriff, who comes up with a new game to be called "John". This game suffers teething problems when the large number of balls required to play simply roll off the table, hence the requirement for green cloth. The cloth is stolen by the Merry Men for their uniforms and the Sheriff gives the rights to the game to a local peasant, mistakenly believing the man's name to be "Stinker". The new owner of the game, however, is actually known as "Snooker".
The Miracle of St Charlene: The Merry Men need to build a bridge to cross the river in order to steal from the rich, a task which is not made any easier by Robin's literal adherence to Marian's instructions. King John's uncle, meanwhile, has died, leaving him only a hot water bottle, which the Sheriff is to sell for a grossly inflated price. Of course, the contents of the bottle prove a nice nest egg...
The Sharp End of a Cow: Robin's popularity with the peasants has driven King John to distraction, resulting in his firing the Sheriff (who promptly goes undercover) and chasing the outlaws himself. Likewise, Robin's early-warning system for the Merry Men's hideout has driven Marian to distraction as well.
The Whitish Knight: A mysterious white knight is seen around Worksop. Well, perhaps he's more of a creamy-beigy sort of colour. Or whitish, at any rate. Is it King John's brother, returning from the crusades? And what is to be the fate of Rip-Off, the giant teddy bear?
[edit] Series twoSeries Two, despite the appearance of Guy of Gisborne (who is almost the opposite of the character of the same name from the legends) begins to veer away from them and instead move towards a more creative style. Originally transmitted from 15 November to 20 December 1990, and repeated from 27 April to 1 June 2001.
The Beast of Bolsover: A rival gang of outlaws, led by the Australian stereotype Beast of Bolsover (and his nephew, the Nuisance of Nuneaton) attempt a takeover of Sherwood Forest, much to the disgust of Marian and friends.
The Worksop Egg Fairy: The "Worksop Egg Fairy" has blessed the highly superstitious villagers with eggs, which is good because King John wants one. The Merry Men are in the position of having to work around village superstition in order to protect the locals.
Little Brown Noses: In an effort to boost revenue, the Sheriff arrests Gladys' chicken, Colin, for illegal parking. Marian tries to inspire the villagers into raising the fine by staging a charity event which brilliantly apes Comic Relief's Red Nose Day charity fundraiser. King John, meanwhile, has been saddled with his nephew, the immature Guy of Gisborne, to look after. (Richard Curtis, the man behind Comic Relief encouraged the creator and writer of Maid Marian (Tony Robinson) to write. Robinson has appeared in multiple Comic Relief broadcasts since its inception, including a notable appearance as Baldrick on CBBC in 1991.)
Rabies in Love: Marian's fundraising is working well, since nobody can beat Rabies in an arm wrestle. Nobody, that is, except Fergi, with whom Rabies promptly falls in love. The Merry Men attempt to help, but are hampered by the fact that King John's plan for getting Guy off his hands is to marry him off to Fergi, a satirical, tongue-in-cheek reference to Fergie.
Rotten Rose - Part 1: Marian's old classmate, Rose Scargill, is one of the many Worksop citizens with her eye on Robin (who has not exactly dispelled the belief that he is the brains behind the Merry Men). Rose gets her hands on some of Robin's possessions, and discovers that she could make good money by turning him over to the authorities. Thus, in a series of deceptions, Robin finds himself in King John's dungeon believing Marian to be a traitor.
Rotten Rose - Part 2: Despite the notable handicap of their own stupidity in the absence of the jailed Robin (who isn't particularly intelligent anyway) and Marian, who has also been jailed, the Merry Men devise a plan to free both and save the day. It certainly isn't Barrington's suggestion that they break into the castle, find Marian, ask her how to break into the castle and save everyone.
Series Three
By Series Three, the surrealism and anachronisms were well entrenched and the plots had very little to do with the historical setting. More overt parodies and references can be seen here, including the song in Episode 3 "Call The Dentist" (a direct parody of the Ghostbusters theme) and almost all of Episode 5. The supposed conflict between King John and the Sheriff on one side and the Merry Men on the other is often downplayed in favour of a general comedic situation. Originally transmitted from 7 January to 11 February 1993, and repeated from 8 June to 13 July 2001.
The Big Baby: Barrington develops his line in impressions, leading to the concern among some of the Merry Men that he might have actually swallowed other people. King John, meanwhile, decrees that his people should give him presents, resulting in the appearance of a life-size jelly baby looking vaguely like the king. The jelly baby is captured, leaving the Sheriff to devise the new holiday of "Bloopy" to justify the need for presents. The Merry Men, meanwhile, put Barrington's talents to use.
Driving Ambition: In order to cheer up the locals of Worksop, Marian establishes a (Eurovision-esque) singing competition, which Rose promptly hijacks. The Sheriff, too, has a vested interest in the money - which he needs to pay off King John's driving instructor. Since Guy has entered and has bet against himself, some crooked judges are required to make sure the money goes in the right direction. Barrington, being quite a good singer, wants to enter himself and Marian singing a duet, so they need bent judges too. Both the Sheriff and the Merry Men are bound to clash.
Keeping Mum: Marian's mother, labouring under the misapprehension that her daughter is a dental receptionist, comes to visit. The Merry Men are only too happy to join in the charade of being dentists. The Sheriff, meanwhile, views the new arrival as the perfect bait to trap and arrest Marian.
They Came From Outer Space: A mysterious fireball is seen over the village and Guy begins to talk about his invisible alien friend, Plop-Bop. The peasants and the Merry Men are also thinking about life on other planets, while King John is concerned about the defence implications, which means that the Sheriff has to raise more money from the peasants to defend against invasion by space carriage. The only things the peasants have left to lose are the clothes on their backs, which are promptly taken, causing Marian to harness the alien mania herself.
Robin and the Beansprout: Robin's excuses, bearing remarkable resemblances to last night's bedtime story, have driven Marian to distraction. In his quest to find dinner, Robin only finds a beansprout, but a series of events uncannily like Jack and the Beanstalk transpire to have him return triumphantly with takeaway Chinese food.
The Great Mud Harvest: The peasants of Worksop are broke; there is simply no more money to tax. With the job done, The Sheriff sacks Gary, before being threatened with the sack himself by King John unless he can find another source of wealth in Worksop. Marian attempts famine relief, which does no good with the fatalistic peasants, until Robin appears with his new white suit, which he keeps singing about. Marian bets him that he cannot keep it clean "until the end of the episode". Little does she know exactly what Worksop is sitting on top of.
Christmas Special
Maid Marian and Much the Mini Mart Manager's Son
After his tap-dancing lesson, Robin foolishly reveals his identity to the Sheriff, but Much (the Mini Mart Manager's son) has a word and persuades the Sheriff to disperse his guards. Marian is further unimpressed at Much's manipulation of the peasants fear of "the Giant Toad Monster of Stoke-on-Trent" to sell tacky toys. When Guy threatens to leave, King John promises to catch Robin Hood and his gang for him if they could only strengthen their forces. Originally transmitted as one 50 minute episode on 24 December 1993, repeated as two 25 minute episodes on 20 July and 27 July 2001. This episode can be found as an extra on the series 3 DVD release.
[edit] Series FourSeries Four, the final series of the programme, is in many ways the most bizarre. On one hand, the comedy became more sophisticated: the roleplaying references in Episode 1, the parodies of English seaside culture in Episode 3 and the Beatles references in Episode 4 are jokes aimed over the heads of a juvenile audience. The appearance of Clem Costner is a reference to the Robin Hood movies - and the fact that the Costner character is Robin's antithesis is perhaps unsurprising - while the inversion of the entire culture in the final episode demonstrates that nothing is sacred. On the other hand, the comedy also became more juvenile, and there was more slapstick and pie gags than in the other three series combined. Originally transmitted from 5 January to 16 February 1994, with five of the seven episodes repeated (The Wise Woman of Worksop and Voyage to the Bottom of the Forest were not included) from 3 August to 31 August 2001.
Tunnel Vision: The Sheriff and King John have cooked up a scheme to build a tunnel to Scunthorpe. Meanwhile, Sherwood Forest is in the middle of a gaming craze - with the Merry Men playing "Chronic the Hedgehog" and "Dungeons & Dragons". Rose kidnaps Guy just as his mother appears, Gary and Graeme wade through a spot-on parody of The Crystal Maze with Richard O'Brien stand-in "Robin O'Hood", which leads to the Sheriff losing track of reality and fantasy when presented with the Used Tissue of Invisibility.
Bouncy Sheriff: King John wants Guy's toys out of the castle, or else he will turn the Sheriff into a Bouncy Sheriff for his nephew's enjoyment. Marian, meanwhile, quits the gang over their sexist attitudes and starts selling home improvements with Rose. Rose conspires with the Sheriff to deliver Marian, the Merry Men and a brand new flat-pack extension on the back of Nottingham Castle to King John.
Raining Forks: A cold virus (or The Plague) is sweeping through Worksop like the Plague (a different plague). Even King John catches it and decides he needs a break by the sea. The Sheriff rounds up the peasants and gets them to build a seaside holiday camp. As luck would have it, the Merry Men are on holiday not far from the new camp and devote their energies to infiltrating it and stopping the forced labour so that everyone can celebrate High Forks Night.
The Wise Woman of Worksop: The Merry Men are suffering from insomnia and keeping everyone else up with their raves. Only wise old Gladys knows what to do, mixing up some of her Sleepy Cake. Unfortunately, things go wrong, leaving the Merry Men looking like the Beatles, and the gang have to free her father, who has been locked in King John's dungeon. Rabies, of all people, devises a plan to resolve this situation, featuring an appearance of "Pixie Paul and his little wife Linda" and it actually works. (This episode was not repeated in 2001 due to the death of Linda McCartney since the original transmission.)
Robin the Bad: Clem (Kevin) Costner, a man who looks exactly like Robin, is wreaking havoc in Worksop, even (apparently) killing the King. The villagers, dismayed at this change in his character, transfer their affections to the Sheriff. It's all down to Barrington, Rabies and Little Ron to prove Robin's innocence.
The Nice Sumatran: Marian attempts to scare off King John, who is actually scared off, surrendering his crown to Guy. He takes refuge with the Merry Men, who reluctantly decide to follow the example of the Nice Sumatran towards unfortunate rich people and agree to let him stay. Unfortunately, relations with the new guest deteriorate and Marian realises she has to scare Guy into surrendering the crown to King John again, which requires an unlikely alliance with the Sheriff.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Forest: Rabies is lazy, so much so that many of the Merry Men's plans simply don't work because of him. However, the robbery of a battleship and its subsequent launch take the Merry Men to the parallel universe of Engyland, where Rabies's arrival has been eagerly awaited by the good people of Workflop, particularly the Nottyman, to save them from the wicked witch.
