Maid Marian and her Merry Men: Series One, Two, Three & Four

Preamble

Robin Hood is arguably England's greatest folk hero. A man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, lived in Sherwood Forest with his Merry Men and rescued Maid Marian from the clutches of the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham. He is the subject of many films, but none have told the true story until now.

Far from a courageous outlaw, Robin of Knoxley was actually Robin of Kensington, a cowardly tailor who inadvertently ended up on the wrong side of the Sheriff and ended up living in the forest with the real hero, Maid Marian. The Merry Men were a Rastafarian named Barrington, Little Ron the dwarf and Rabies, an idiot. Together, they combat King John and the Sheriff's evil machinations and try to help the good, though strange, people of Worksop.

Written by and starring Tony Robinson, Marian and her Merry Men ran for four series between 1989 and 1994 and are presented here in a box set.





Series 1
It's a little known fact that Robin Hood was a complete wimp who took all the credit for the grit in Maid Marian's guts. It was, in fact, she who assembled and fought oppression with a bunch of prats known as the Merry Men; a dwarf called little Ron, a Rastafarian, an ugly dolt by the name of Rabies and a yuppie called Robin of Kensington. Doing incredibly brave things like piercing their ears and rescuing tadpoles, Marian and her men combat the cruelty of a mad, bad, king called John and his villainous Sheriff of Nottingham.

Series 2
Prepare to be horrified by the beastly Beast of Bolsover and the foul things he does to our beloved Sheriff. Laugh your hands and feet off as the stupid villagers don brown noses in aid of charity. Learn to loathe Maid Marian's nemesis, Rotten Rose, she's scheming, manipulative, revengeful and a bit of a slapper. This is entertainment at its nauseating best!

Series 3
Six spanking episodes of Maid Marian in which our heroine struggles against aliens, wrestles with giant jelly babies and gets really hacked off with very thick villagers. Also, featuring an additional hour-long episode in which she falls in love with a complete plonker. Not so smart now, are you, Marian?

Series 4
In this, the final series of the muddy extravaganza that is Maid Marian and her Merry Men, Rabies grows wings, Robin turns nasty and the peasants celebrate High Forks night, "Remember! Remember! the 27th of April." To quote Robin Hood himself, this series is "as funny as Russell the Abbot."

Picture

Considering its age, I expected Marian and her Merry Men to look terrible, but was pleasantly surprised. The image is a little soft and there is some minor luminescent flare from torches and fires, but otherwise it's perfectly fine and gets better over the four series. The costumes are excellent and the location shooting in Exmoor National Park looks great.

Acoustics

Perfectly clear Dolby Digital stereo, with optional English HoH subtitles. The show has the odd song in each episode and although it seems that Danny John-Jules can't rap, they are funny and quirky.

Sundries

Audio Commentaries
Quiz - Written By Tony Robinson
Maid Marian Karaoke
Trailers
How The Germans Saw It - featurette
Hunt The Chicken - interactive game
Christmas Special
Tony Robinson, Mark Billingham and David Lloyd on creative writing - featurette
Improvised sketches
Exclusive booklets written by Tony Robinson
Easter eggs

Wrapping Up

Post Blackadder and pre Time Team, Tony Robinson created and wrote every episode of Maid Marian and her Merry Men, also starring as the Sheriff of Nottingham and his humour is evident here. With heavy doses of slapstick, obvious gags and some clever digs at popular culture of the time (Smash Hits, The Royal Family, Kylie and Jason etc) there's something for everyone here.

Nostalgia is a funny thing as you can sometimes be dreadfully disappointed and wonder what you ever saw in a something in the first place, but this is thankfully not the case with Maid Marian and her Merry Men. I remember watching this when I got home from school and enjoying it then (I thought Kate Lonergan was cute and still do!) but I didn't expect to find it as funny as I did second time around.

If you loved this as a kid, you'll still love it now and if you have kids, chances are they'll like it too. It's funny, witty, brilliantly acted by some fine comedy performers and there's a fine array of extra features for all age groups to boot.

An excellent set and fun for all the family.