First today, there’s a double episode of Robin Hood – A Good Day to Die / We Are Robin Hood which probably explains when I didn’t have a recording from last Saturday.
It’s Robin’s birthday, and Much has arranged a surprise party in Nettlestone Village.
“And besides, this way the people of Nettlestone can join us and, you know, say thank you.” This turns out to have been a mistake, since some of the people of Nettlestone have decided to blab to the Sheriff about the party, and the barn they’re in is surrounded by mercenaries.
Djaq keeps them away with a bit of black powder in a pig’s head. They make the mercenaries think they’ve got a lot more, despite that being their only charge, but the soldiers don’t want to approach just in case, so they just wait, expecting Robin and his men to starve.
Since it was his surprise party that got them trapped there, Much tries to distract the soldiers, but thinks better of it immediately.
Marian learns that the Sheriff and Gisborne are travelling to Portsmouth, and thinks that must mean the King is landing there, and they mean to kill him. Marian tries to find Robin, and when she can’t, she decides it’s up to her to kill the Sheriff. But he spots her and avoids her blow.
Gisborne has to admit that he know Marian was the Nightwatchman. The Sheriff orders that Marian goes with them to Portsmouth, and Allan learns that they’re heading to the Holy Land to kill the King.
The psychological warfare continues at the barn.
As they settle in for the night, Djaq suggests they play a game. “Kalila and Dimna night you remember for your whole life. You must speak only the truth. You must ask all your questions, share all your dreams, confess all your secrets.” “It’s just talking?” “Yes. But it’s real talking. And if you are too boring, someone shouts, “Kalila,” and you lose.”
Stopping off at an Inn on the road to Portsmouth, the Sheriff tells Marian (and Allan) about Robin’s situation. “it’s Robin Hood’s birthday today. Did you know that? He’s having a party in Nettlestone village. And somebody has invited 100 of my fiercest mercenaries. And they’ve got him surrounded, so… So Robin Hood is no more.”
Djaq tells the men how much she admires them. But then says there’s one who she loves. “You, Will Scarlett, are strong and true and you fight for what you believe in. And that’s why I love you.” Will replies “And I love you. I love the way you say what you mean. I love your silly voice.” “Silly voice? That’s it. I take it back, all of it. I hate you.” “And I love the way you fight. Like a man. Ferocious. And the way you will always, always be a woman.”
John says he still loves Alice his wife, and his son Little Little John. “Leaving Alice, running to the forest was wrong. Wrong. That’s why I’m a huge, ugly, stupid, useless coward. John! That’s why I’m always saying it, Much. “Today is a good day to die”? Because for me, it is! I deserve to die! I left the people that loved me. The two people that should’ve depended on me! My own child! Oh, God! What was I thinking?!”
Much has his say. To Robin. “Just because I love you, it doesn’t mean I can’t hate you, too. And I hate you. Because, in the Holy Land, there was two of us and we were a team, and the things we went through, and the horrors we saw… Went through them together! And when we came home, we were like brothers, brothers in arms. And where is that now? Eh? It’s gone! That’s where! You never talk, you just don’t. You made me a free man. We’re meant to be equals. We’re not equals. The only thing that’s changed around here is you still treat me like a servant, you don’t treat me like your friend.” “That’s not true. Is it true?”
Allan visits Marian. She tells him to leave her, and go and save Robin.
Finally it’s Robin’s turn to speak. He talks of Marian. “The woman who makes me believe that, by a twist of fate, we might just be able to see this through. And, Much, I have betrayed your friendship. But I think you know why. You see, I can’t face the terrors we saw. I can’t. Because I’m not as strong as you. I have to put them out of my mind because, if I don’t, then I wouldn’t be able to lead. I wouldn’t even be able to shoot!”
“In the Holy Land, the men we saw, in bits. Screaming. Every time I raise my bow, I see them. I hear them. And I know now, whether it was right or wrong… ..what we did in the Holy Land, it makes no difference. So I have to try not to kill. I have to avoid killing. I mean, God gave me a gift with bow. I can kill with my eyes closed. I can kill a man from 1,000 yards. And I have to try EVERYTHING in my power not to. And that’s why I wasn’t there for you in your hour of need, my friend, because I have to let those memories go. I just have to be free.” Yes, again, it’s all about the hugs.
Just as the sun is rising, and Robin and the men are getting ready to make one last stand against the army outside, Allan arrives to tell the mercenaries that he’s there to escort them back to Nottingham so the Sheriff can interrogate them.
But as he’s leading them out, the head of the mercenaries brings a messenger from the Sheriff who’s told him that the Sheriff left the castle yesterday.
There’s a bit of a fight, then Robin grabs some handy horses and they all get away. Once they’re safe, Allan tells them about the Sheriff’s plan to kill the King, and that they’ve got Marian with them.
That’s the end of the first episode.
The next episode starts with the Sheriff meeting some conspirators, and Robin and the gang arriving in the Holy Land. How long, exactly, does it take? Not that I wanted to see a six week journey. And they were just behind the Sheriff. But it does feel like we’re missing an “X Weeks Later” caption. Also, this isn’t the most convincing bit of compositing I’ve seen.
Marian begs Gisborne to kill the Sheriff, saying she’ll marry him if he does.
As Robin and the gang are finding their way to a safe house, they unknowingly pass by where Marian is being held. She thinks she hears them, but thinks it must be her imagination.
Djaq leads them to Bassam, who was the man who trained the homing pigeon in the episode Lardner’s Ring.
The Sheriff’s fake envoy meets with the King’s party – first with Carter, again from a previous episode.
The envoy is brought to the King, who seems to bear a strong resemblance to Kier Starmer. He says Prince Saladin will meet the King, alone, outside the town. Then he tells the King that Robin is working for the Black Knights, and intends to kill him.
Gisborne, meanwhile, chooses not to kill the Sheriff, and tell him that Marian asked him. “My lord, I’ve demonstrated my loyalty and now I’d like your blessing. For what? I will still have Marian. When we return to England, I will take her by force.” “Dear boy, I’ll sing at your wedding.”
Robin meets the king, but the King thinks he’s a traitor. Carter vouches for him but it’s not enough. The King asks why, when Robin is such a marksman, he couldn’t merely kill the Sheriff? He orders Robin and his gang executed.
OK, I’ll admit, sometimes it’s not about the hugs.
The King leaves them tied up in the desert. He tells them he’s going to make peace with Saladin, then return home.
It gets worse, as the Sheriff finds them, and ties Marian up with them. He’s brought his spy in the King’s camp too who we saw earlier looking shifty.
Things are looking bleak. So Marian tells Robin to “Say the words. ‘I, Robin, take you, Marian…'”
But their nuptials (which were making Much cry, as well as me) are interrupted by the arrival of Carter. “He’s not crying. He’s laughing out the wrong side of his face.”
The Sheriff and Gisborne are hidden, watching the place where the King is going to meet their assassin pretending to be Saladin.
But Robin has taken the King’s place, and there’s a fight.
The King and Robin’s gang pursue the Sheriff and his men into an empty town, and there’s more danger. Robin is saved from a killer by a well thrown sword from the King.
The Sheriff shoots the King in his back.
He also manages to kill Carter pretty easily. Honestly, I don’t know why the Sheriff bothers to employ all those killers when he’s this efficient on his own.
The King collapses in the town square. As Gisborne approaches, Marian stands in his way. “Stop! It is over, Guy.” “Get out of the way.” “All this time I have been fighting for England, do you think I am going to let you kill England?” “Marian, GET OUT OF THE WAY!” “You’ll have to kill me first.” “No. We’re going to get out of this. I’m going to do this thing and then I will have power beyond measure and we will be together.” Finally Marian tells him the truth. “I would rather die than be with you, Guy of Gisborne.” “No!” “I’m going to marry Robin Hood. I love Robin Hood.” So Gisborne kills her. This was fairly shocking, but as soon as she said that, I knew that he would kill her, because this is what men do to women who reject them. Only this week, as I write this, there was a horrible story of an ex boyfriend who kill three women in the same family. It’s too common. And I wish it weren’t true because I do prefer happy endings.
Marian knows she will die when the sword is removed. So she tells Robin to finish what he started earlier. And in the presence of the King (whose injury was presumably not bad) they finish their vows, giving me another chance to cry.
The only acknowledgement of Carter’s death is the grave with the shield alongside Marian’s which seems a little harsh.
Will and Djaq decide to stay. There’s a lot of characters leaving. Was this a contractual thing, that they couldn’t do a future series?
There’s a lot of hugging in this scene. I’m not complaining.
Robin bids the King goodbye. “‘For every man there is a purpose which he sets up in his life… Let yours be the doing of all good deeds.'” Much tells the King “The Koran.” The King replies “Then do those deeds in my name. You are my representatives in England. You are King Richard.” Robin asks the King “And you?” “Us? We are Robin Hood.”
Media Centre Description: Double bill of the Robin Hood legend. In a Good Day to Die, Robin and the Outlaws find themselves surrounded by the Sheriff’s mercenaries and won’t be let out alive. Marian takes it upon herself to stop the Sheriff from trying to kill the King. Allan must choose his allegiance. In We Are Robin Hood, the Sheriff, Gisborne and Marian are in the Holy Land. It is up to Robin to to save the King’s life as the battle for England is on.
Recorded from BBC ONE on Saturday 29th December 2007 18:00
BBC Genome: BBC ONE Saturday 29th December 2007 18:00
The next recording starts with the end of Dara O’Briain doing his stand-up show.
There’s a trail for Three Men in Another Boat and for FA Cup Football.
Then, another Comedy Connections – The Young Ones.
Rik Mayall talks about the early days. “The whole idea of anything straight was a joke. The idea of wanting go on television? I don’t think so.”
Nigel Planer talks about the early says of the Comic Strip in Soho. “Fantastic moment in time. Suddenly there was this place where everybody could do things like that. People were generally obsessed with writing new material for next week, trying new stuff out, and most of it was shit.”
Paul Jackson saw them all at the Comic strip when he was an aspiring TV producer. “I really thought, this is fantastic, this is different, it really made me laugh. And so I went back a couple of times, and then the second and third time I went and had a drink with them and said, is anybody from television talking to you guys?”
Lisa Mayer was co=writer of The Young Ones. “R-I-K, Rik’s character, Rick, R-I-C-K, was based on aspects of his own personality. And that was one of his great skills, finding his inner monstrous qualities and turning them into comedy creations.”
Rik brought in Ben Elton to help write the show because he “needed someone who could churn out the gear.”
Geoff Posner was the director of some of the greatest comedy of the 80s.
Suggs from Madness remembers their appearance. “And I uttered the immortal line… You hum it, I’ll smash your face in. Which, funnily enough, people still stop me in the street today, and if I’d become a stand-up comedian, that possibly would have been my catchphrase, but unfortunately, I never made it that far.”
Media Centre Description: Series celebrating great British comedy shows. Julia Sawalha looks at The Young Ones, which in the early 1980s transported a new generation of comedy writers and performers out of the clubs and into the nation’s living rooms. Contributions from Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, writer Lise Mayer, producer Paul Jackson and director Geoff Posner.
Recorded from BBC TWO on Saturday 29th December 2007 23:58
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Sunday 30th December 2007 00:00
After this there’s a trail for Finding Neverland and a promo for iPlayer.
Then the recording stops with the start of Red Dwarf – Confidence & Paranoia.