Maid Marian And Her Merry Men was a children's
Sitcom made by
The BBC, based on
Robin Hood and written by Tony Robinson, who also played the Sheriff. Calling it a kids' version of
Blackadder is trite and obvious, but also, to a certain extent true. Only much more surreal.
The concept was that Robin wasn't a noble outlaw hero at all, but a clueless yuppie who had inadvertently got involved with the revolutionary schemes of Maid Marian, presented here as the real brains behind the operation. Joining them were Little Ron (a violent dwarf), Rabies (a large and very stupid peasant) and Barrington (a Rasta, despite Rastafarianism not existing yet). Much to Marian's exasperation, none of them were particularly reliable, least of all Robin, who spent most of his time designing their outfits (except when he started believing the hype and thinking he
was the leader).
Prince John, technically the leader of the forces of opression (or "Ye Baddies", as the credits had it), was usually portrayed as an unstable raving lunatic, leaving the actual scheming to his
Dragon, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff's two
Mooks, Gary and Grahame, were almost as stupid as Rabies.
Since Marian and the Sheriff were the only intelligent people within walking distance (the villagers were just as bad), they were usually the only ones the other felt they could talk sensibly with, even though they were on opposing sides. Somehow, this never made the Sheriff look like a
Punch Clock Villain; he was just biding his time til he could catch the whole gang.
Later seasons added two new Baddies: Rotten Rose Scargill, Marian's
Rival Turned Evil with a crush on Robin, and Guy of Gisbourne, John's childlike, and borderline deranged, nephew.
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