After having seen Tom Riley and co. in the Doctor Who episode "Robot of Sherwood", I really, really sighed that we didn't get this sort of fun-but-respectful interpretation of the Robin Hood legend on TV in the 2000s or this decade. What I'm missing in the modern day is a Robin Hood based TV series that's family-friendly, funny, and has that old-fashioned sense of adventure about it, without any unnecessary added pretention. There's just a complete dearth of that kind of adaptation around right now.
I think plenty of people here will agree with me that the Robin Hood series made by Tiger Productions that started airing about a decade ago, was basically a mistake. I've never understood who that show was supposed to appeal to, aside from a certain segment of the teen viewership (which it also didn't service that particularly well, IMHO). The anachronisms were also so increasingly bad and the set design so cheap and poor, I think even Costner's old RH film looked downright believable and faithful in comparison.
So, while I doubt the BBC would try to do something as gritty-minded as ITV's 1980s Robin of Sherwood nowadays, I think a more traditional, storybook-style, semi-comedic series about the famous outlaw could have actually worked. I think it could have garnered quite an audience, if done well. Especially in the family show crowd that seems to have been revived during the last decade. Get some good writers, give it to BBC Cymru Wales, ditch doomed-to-fail attempts at shows like Atlantis, and it might attract a pretty good viewing audience.
The OTL 2000s Robin Hood tried to appeal to teens far too hard and too clumsily, and started coming across as ridiculous really early on for it. From what I've seen in reviews, that sort of pandering, and some of the more ridiculous decisions made later on for shock value (killing off Marian, just overall derailing of characters, etc.) alienated even the established viewers.
So, what about a more "family show" take on the legends, without going either "grimdark" or "ironic, postmodern, too kiddy" in terms of tone ? Could it be pulled off, given a better precedent ?
I think plenty of people here will agree with me that the Robin Hood series made by Tiger Productions that started airing about a decade ago, was basically a mistake. I've never understood who that show was supposed to appeal to, aside from a certain segment of the teen viewership (which it also didn't service that particularly well, IMHO). The anachronisms were also so increasingly bad and the set design so cheap and poor, I think even Costner's old RH film looked downright believable and faithful in comparison.
So, while I doubt the BBC would try to do something as gritty-minded as ITV's 1980s Robin of Sherwood nowadays, I think a more traditional, storybook-style, semi-comedic series about the famous outlaw could have actually worked. I think it could have garnered quite an audience, if done well. Especially in the family show crowd that seems to have been revived during the last decade. Get some good writers, give it to BBC Cymru Wales, ditch doomed-to-fail attempts at shows like Atlantis, and it might attract a pretty good viewing audience.
The OTL 2000s Robin Hood tried to appeal to teens far too hard and too clumsily, and started coming across as ridiculous really early on for it. From what I've seen in reviews, that sort of pandering, and some of the more ridiculous decisions made later on for shock value (killing off Marian, just overall derailing of characters, etc.) alienated even the established viewers.
So, what about a more "family show" take on the legends, without going either "grimdark" or "ironic, postmodern, too kiddy" in terms of tone ? Could it be pulled off, given a better precedent ?