‘I wanted to play the polar opposite of Baldrick’ – Tony Robinson on making Maid Marian and Her Merry Men
The Blackadder star loved playing the villain in this Robin Hood spoof – but Kate Lonergan had to get checked for bites between shots as her yellow underwear kept attracting ticks
Tony Robinson, creator/writer, played the Sheriff of Nottingham
I did a Jackanory Playhouse and got slightly drunk after the recording. I said: “It’s not real storytelling, is it? We’re reading off an Autocue.” The senior BBC figures said: “Well, what would you do?” My daughter was 10 at the time, tiny, feisty, but crap at football. I watched her charging around the playground yelling at the boys and thought: “If there really was a Robin Hood and he’d met my daughter, it wouldn’t have been him who was in charge of the gang.”
My collaborator was the producer and director Dave Bell. Initially, we’d talked about me playing Robin Hood, because if an actor writes a series, why wouldn’t he give himself a big part? But I realised it would be more useful if I played the baddie, the Sheriff of Nottingham. Villains dictate the pace of a story and – having spent so many years as Baldrick in Blackadder, who’s a sweet, charming, braindead cutie – I wanted to play the polar opposite.
I’d left school at 16 and had no education worth boasting about, so I was worried when I first began writing. People probably thought I had the same background as the rest of the Blackadder gang, who had all gone to public school, then spent three years being witty in Cambridge Footlights. But I hadn’t had that kind of life at all. So I asked Richard Curtis to give my writing the once-over. Luckily, he never saw our Little Brown Noses episode, which spoofed the showbusiness nature of Comic Relief, which he co-founded.
They were very sweaty summers filming in Minehead, on the Somerset coast. Makeup designer Christine Powers created the black goatee the Sheriff wears. It was really itchy – getting a brush handle up the inside of it for a scratch between takes was an absolute joy. I always wanted the show to feature contemporary music, particularly because the Robin Hood legend lists one of the Merry Men as being a musician called Alan-a-Dale. Danny John-Jules, who played Rasta spiv Barrington, was a great dancer, but a terrible rapper. I’m glad the It’s Pancake Day rap became an earworm, though. Tens of thousands of people still join me in celebrating this ridiculous confection.
About three years ago, I was invited to a convention with the rest of the Maid Marian cast. So many women in their 30s and 40s turned up with their kids – they’d been passionate fans. As a bloke in today’s climate, to be thanked for making a small contribution to the way women are portrayed on TV was just about the nicest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Kate Lonergan, played Marian
I can’t lie: some mornings the set stank. You’d go down to shoot and find the mud had settled and the whole place was crawling with flies. Not nice when you’re all in pigskin shoes. Also, my underclothing was this particular shade of yellow that kept attracting ticks. I had to be checked between shots for bites.
I loved where the script was coming from, though, empowering young women. It’s worth remembering that this was pre-Spice Girls. I’d done my thesis at college on the status of women in theatre, so I was driven by the idea of it. Adam Morris was cast as Robin of Kensington, a costume designer who people mistake for a heroic outlaw. I’d known Adam at drama school and the roles were a massive deal for both of us.
At one point, Marian makes a speech in which she declares: “One day, pubs will be named after us, and we won’t have to pay unfair taxes.” That was the linchpin moment of the first series and it’s my favourite scene. I was incredibly nervous as we were filming it – there must have been 50 crew members watching from the clearing. Ramblers passing through Porlock Forest would sometimes wander on to the set. There’d be cries of: “Get a costume on them!”
When I gave up acting to become a garden designer, there were a lot of articles about “the maid leaving Sherwood Forest to work among plants”. In some ways, though, it felt like a natural transition. My dad had been a gardener and I did it as a hobby when I wasn’t acting. Eventually, it felt right to go full-time.
But Marian was great fun. I mean, what other job lets you go to the loo on a big hill overlooking the Devon coast, and then ask: “What are we doing today? Oh yeah, having a sword fight and jumping off trees attached to ropes.”
• Maid Marian and Her Merry Men is streaming on BritBox.
