Today, it’s Saturday, and I’ve got another two copies of Robin Hood – Sheriff Got Your Tongue?
The Sheriff is looking for Robin, so he goes to Locksley to question the villagers. He starts cutting peoples’ tongues out, one an hour, until somebody reveals where Robin is hiding.
Robin is hiding in Sherwood Forest with Much, Will and Allan, where they have just been set upon by some other bandits, led by Gordon Kennedy. They leave with the horses and clothes and Will, who was hiding, frees Robin and friends, who go after the bandits.
Robin takes back their stuff, and has a go at them for stealing from poor people. He has a better plan, he tells them. “Well, you can’t stop a Sheriff. Only the crown can withdraw his licence.” “When the King returns he will have his comeuppance. Until then, we will scupper his sadistic punishments. We will stop his insane taxes and give them back to the poor, where they belong.”
But the other gang have more people we haven’t met yet, and Robin and Co are captured again. And now they know he’s Robin of Locksley, they’re taking him there to claim the reward. But the next person who’s going to have her tongue cut out is Alice, who happens to be the wife of the leader of the bandits. “You’re Alice’s John? She thought you were dead.”
Robin shoots the shears out of the guard’s hands, and then shoots them apart in the air. Then he hands himself in to stop any more torture. The Sheriff tells him he’ll hang in the morning.
Back at the bandits’ camp, there’s some frankly interminable dialogue where one of them starts talking about how the phrase “Cat got your tongue” could be replaced by “Sheriff got your tongue” literally explaining the “joke” in the episode title in the most boring way imaginable.
John learns that he has a son he didn’t know about. I thought I recognised him watching this, as he played Milo in the Doctor Who episode School Reunion. He tells John that Robin is a hero who will help them all, and who makes sure they’re fed.
None of the bandits seem to want to help free Robin, so Much goes on his own, bring a slightly inadequate ladder. Then a barking dog appears and he’s stranded up the ladder.
In the morning, he’s woken by Allan, Will, and John and his men, who have all finally realised that Robin needs to be freed. When it’s on John’s shoulders, the ladder is high enough to reach the top of the wall.
Much and the gang find Robin and Free him, but Robin needs to see the Sheriff. The Sheriff thinks the Robin has become weak after the war, and Robin needs to show him he’s not. As they talk, one of the Sheriff’s guards creeps up on Robin, who spins round and shoots him dead. Then he forces the Sheriff to order his men to stop fighting John and the gang, but as the Sheriff is making the speech, Robin vanishes.
We see the guard who Robin shot dead get up. It’s John’s man Roy (William Beck) who was there to let Robin pretend he was a killer. This Batman mode of Robin Hood is interesting, but appropriate for the 7pm Saturday audience.
There’s a stunt on a zipwire.
Back at Locksley, they’ve started redistributing the wealth to the villagers.
Media Centre Description: Drama series which gives a contemporary feel to the classic Robin Hood legend. The humiliated Sheriff storms into Locksley village, threatening dreadful revenge until Robin Hood surrenders. In Sherwood Forest, Robin, Allan, Will and Much are having a some outlaw trouble in the formidable shape of Little John and his gang. The Sheriff makes good his threats to cut out a villager’s tongue each hour and when Little John realises his estranged wife Alice is next, Robin gives himself up to save her.
BBC Genome: BBC ONE Saturday 14 October 2006 19:00
VHiStory 