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Behind the scenes of Robin Hood
Welcome to England – where citizens are torn over an unpopular war in the Middle East, where politicians and law enforcement officials are held in suspicion, where millions live in run-down estates.
We speak, of course, of an England of long ago: a place of castles and maidens, longbows and quarterstaffs, and criminals hiding in forests. And one of these criminals is Robin of Locksley, aristocrat turned outlaw. A former soldier in the Crusades, Robin returned from that brutal conflict to find Nottingham in the grip of the corrupt and sadistic Sheriff.
Dispossessed and desperate, Robin must now wage a guerrilla war against the Sheriff's forces, while at the same time wooing back his former fiancée, Lady Marian. Which won't be easy, as she's become the obsession of the darkly handsome Sir Guy of Gisborne – a sort of psychotic Mr Darcy who works for the Sheriff. Things aren't going to be pretty, even the stars themselves are rather on the gorgeous side.
The man behind the new Hood
The mastermind behind the show is Dominic Minghella – and if his name sounds familiar, it's because he's the brother of Anthony Minghella, famed director of The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley.Dominic knew he had to retain the traditions of the Robin Hood legend while at the same time making it fresh and vibrant for a 21st Century audience. He immediately dispensed with tights, junked the phrase "merry men" and even renamed the heroine "Lady" Marian (as she's too old to actually have been called "Maid"). The biggest challenge was Robin himself, and how to distinguish him from previous versions of the character. They actually toyed with the idea of making him a bit rubbish with the bow and arrow, but realised this would be a bit too revolutionary. Instead, they opted to make their new Robin a war-weary pacifist, passionately opposed to all violence except as a last resort.
Jonas Armstrong's inspiration
Two very different real-life people inspired Jonas Armstrong's portrayal of the Hooded One. The first was Colonel Tim Collins, the Iraq war veteran who shot to fame after delivering an inspirational speech to his troops on the eve of battle. Collins actually visited the Robin Hood cast on location, and taught Jonas how to carry himself like a military leader.The second, rather more unlikely inspiration was Jamie Oliver. As Dominic Minghella explains, he's a champion for change and "a bit of a geezer" – just like the new Robin.
Keith Allen, meanwhile, says none other than Gordon Brown inspired his portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Presumably because he's powerful and single-mindedly ambitious, and not because he's a gruesome wisecracking sadist.
Location, location, location
Robin Hood wasn't filmed in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham or anywhere else in the UK for that matter. The series was actually shot on location in Hungary, where chief writer Dominic Minghella had previously worked on an adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper. The sprawling, foreboding forests of the region struck Dominic as the perfect setting for a new Robin Hood, so the cast and crew duly flew over to make it happen.Recreating medieval England in Budapest was no easy thing, particularly as many of the local workmen had a patchy knowledge of English. The production team sometimes had to resort to brandishing diagrams and pointing a lot – a method that really should have doomed the programme but somehow resulted in some of the most impressive outdoor sets in British telly history.
The Hood Academy
If you thought the cast of Robin Hood were just a bunch of pretty faces, think again. For these guys and gals are grizzled veterans of the "Hood Academy" – the nickname ruefully given to a Budapest boot camp set up to train the stars in the art of medieval combat.For several weeks leading up to filming, the actors were put through their paces by Bela Unger – athlete, champion showjumper, expert fencer and all-round hard man. He and a group of shaven-headed minions taught the stars how to ride horses, duel with swords and shoot arrows. They all emerged in one piece, but actually filming the show proved painful for Keith Allen, who had a tooth knocked out in a fight scene. Now that's Method acting for you.
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