Robin of Sherwood vs. Robin Hood BBC

Okay so I have now seen both “Robin of Sherwood” (a British tv show from the 80s) and “Robin Hood BBC” (also British, from 2000s). The two shows are very similar, and not just because they’re both about our favorite bow-and-arrow wielding outlaw or because they both got cancelled after 3 seasons. 

In this post I’m going to try and convince you that watching “Robin of Sherwood” is definitely worth your time if you’ve seen “Robin Hood BBC,” and then below the cut I’m going to continue the comparison but with spoilers for both shows. Let’s have at it!

“Robin of Sherwood” season 3 cast

“Robin Hood BBC” season 1 cast

The biggest reason that I’ve got for watching both shows is that they both take the same approach to the characters in Robin Hood’s gang. Both are small groups (I think both shows make the same joke about there being 5-7 in the gang) which allows for plenty of focus on their individual interactions. Most Robin Hood movies show just about hundreds of men and only introduce you to a couple of them, but both of these shows go in depth to the 6 or so characters they create. It’s a wonderful change of pace.

“Robin of Sherwood” Much

“Robin Hood BBC” Much

Beyond that, the characterizations of the outlaws are rather similar. There is no way that “Robin Hood BBC” didn’t take some ideas from “Robin of Sherwood” which I’m going to get into more under the cut. But I think the best example of this is with Much. Your typical Robin Hood adaptation doesn’t have any particular connection between Much and Robin, usually Much is just kinda around or something. Both of these shows make Much and Robin very close. With “Robin of Sherwood” they are adoptive brothers as Robin was raised by the miller after his father’s death. In “Robin Hood BBC” Much is Robin’s loyal servant who went with him to the Holy Land and back. Either version expands Much more than is typically done (pun only a little intended heehee).

“Robin of Sherwood” Sir Guy and the Sheriff

“Robin Hood BBC” the Sheriff and Sir Guy

Then there’s the Sheriff of Nottingham and Sir Guy. I’ll be honest, I think “Robin of Sherwood” wins for the gayest of the two. There are scenes where the two are literally in tubs next to each other, or the Sheriff giving Guy orders from the tub. There’s even an instance where the Sheriff makes Sir Guy dry him off after a bath! In “Robin Hood BBC” the Sheriff definitely harasses Guy, but not to the same extent, probably because of the GuyxMarian love triangle they were going for. It’s freaking hilarious to see what happens to their relationship as soon as that disappears though!

“Robin of Sherwood” Marian

“Robin Hood BBC” Marian

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Marian. I adore the Marian in “Robin Hood BBC” and the fact that she is a vigilante in her own right. But the thing that frustrates me SO MUCH about her character is that she never truly leaves the castle to join Robin Hood in the woods. “Robin of Sherwood” skips all that BS, Marian spends the bulk of the show out in the woods with the outlaws and it’s awesome. She’s a total badass, and the best part (to me) is that the love triangle isn’t a thing! So no Guy creeping around her (he creeps around other ladies)! Both shows present an excellent version of Marian and they compliment each other super well.

“Robin of Sherwood” Nasir

“Robin Hood BBC” Djaq

Finally I want to talk about the inclusion of a Saracen in the gang of outlaws. In “Robin Hood BBC” that’s Djaq, the incredibly clever and strong Saracen lady who is taken over as a slave and then joins the gang. But the thing is that Djaq would not exist if it weren’t for Nasir, the Saracen from “Robin of Sherwood.” This show was the first instance of a Saracen joining the gang. Basically he clicked really well with the cast, and didn’t look too bad either, so they kept him around for the rest of the show. And now almost every Robin Hood adaptation has a Saracen included in the group of outlaws as well, it’s such a cool example of how this myth is still growing and changing even in the present day. So if you’re a Djaq fan (and you better be) you should definitely check out Nasir because he’s the reason she exists.

One last point about the shows in general before I hide the rest. A major complaint about “Robin Hood BBC” is how it really isn’t that historically accurate. The show just didn’t have the budget for it, so they made do with what they could. The result is… entertaining at the least. “Robin of Sherwood” is the opposite where the writers made a point to try and make it as true to history as they could. So costumes and props are all accurate, and actual events that happened during the 12th century are peppered throughout. The result is a beautiful version of what “Robin Hood BBC” could have been with a little more money.

Alright, plot comparisons and spoilers below. You have been warned. I hope though that if you’ve only seen one of these shows that I have convinced you to check out the other!

There are numerous similarities between the plots of both shows. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “Robin Hood BBC” definitely took several of their ideas directly from “Robin of Sherwood” and you cannot convince me otherwise. Lack of images due to a lack of decent screencaps, but you’ve probably seen the episodes already.

Let’s start with the season 1 finale. I’ll go over “Robin of Sherwood” first and then “Robin Hood BBC.” In “Robin of Sherwood” King Richard returns to England, befriends Robin Hood, and pardons the outlaws. He even tries to make Robin part of his court. By the end Robin bails because he doesn’t want to be the king’s pawn, Marian gets shot as they run away, but is miraculously brought back to life!
In “Robin Hood BBC” they get news that the king is returning to England which means that Marian must now marry Sir Guy. She decides to rob him first, leading to her getting stabbed and nearly dying. Somehow she miraculously survives. They expose the king to be a fraud, stop the wedding, and save the day!
The similarities are obvious, both involve King Richard returning to England (which is then revealed to be not as great as the characters initially thought) and Marian dying and then coming back to life. Now you would be correct to point out that a Robin Hood story only has so many big cards to pull for an emotional season finale, and naturally two of them are the king returning and the audience’s love of Marian. But this is basically the same plot at the same point in both of the shows, you can’t tell me that that’s just a coincidence.

Moving on to the emotional wreckage that are the season 2 finales. “Robin of Sherwood” ends season 2 by killing off Robin Hood himself. The actor wanted to move on to other projects, so they killed him off in an emotional standoff.
“Robin Hood BBC” ends it’s season 2 by Guy killing Marian who was trying to protect the king. It’s also brutal and emotional and horrible ugh thanks guys.
Alright so they both decide to go balls to the wall and kill off a major character. To be honest, I think that there’s less ripping off going on here, “Robin of Sherwood” did this out of necessity to let the actor leave while “Robin Hood BBC” I think did it for more plot-related reasons. But it is still a fascinating parallel, and how “Robin of Sherwood” handled the title character leaving I think is much more interesting.

So “Robin of Sherwood” decided to keep the show going by turning the figure of Robin Hood into a legacy character. Another man takes his place as the outlaw hero. (Sidenote: this also means that they can resolve the conflicting theories about how Robin could be either a common man or a noble, and similarly how he has connections to both Locksley and Huntingdon. The first Robin in a commoner from Locksley and the second is the Earl of Huntingdon’s son. It’s really quite elegant.) And that is definitely what they planned on doing at the end of season 3 of “Robin Hood BBC.” Again, the actor wanted to leave and do something else so they had to kill him off. But they set up Archer as the next man to be in charge of the gang. I’m a real big fan of not giving “Robin Hood BBC” a season 4 since season 3 sucked soooo bad, but I’m almost certain that it would have played out similarly to season 3 of “Robin of Sherwood” when they have to pass that mantle onto a different actor as well. Additionally, I think both shows have a scene where Robin points to members of the gang and says that if he were to die, they would all carry on without him (”you are Robin Hood! and you are Robin Hood!”) so the idea that this is about more than one man is present in both. It’s a cool theme for both shows.

Finally one last point that is unrelated to a season finale. Both shows reveal at some point that Robin Hood and Sir Guy are related. They are half-brothers in “Robin of Sherwood” and they share a half-brother in “Robin Hood BBC.” Quite honestly I find this hilarious, mainly because it’s handled so poorly in “Robin Hood BBC.” But if you watch the “Robin of Sherwood” episode, there’s a subplot where Will and Much think they’ve come into contact with leprosy. And in the “Robin Hood BBC” version Guy’s father is a leper. It’s like the BBC writers only understood half of the original episode and then wrote “Bad Blood!”

Feel free to hmu if you’ve seen both shows and want to add to this list! I love discussing different adaptations of stories.