Please lighten up

This bit of puff for the new series of Robin Hood appeared on the BBC internal website appeared this afternoon. Could it be that this series takes itself too seriously? To illustrate my point, I have dug out a load of pictures from the Robin Hood adaptation that I was on TV when I was growing up: Maid Marion and her Merry Men.

"And after the death of his wife Marian, the green-clad hero is growing up, becoming darker and brooding over avenging her tragic end at the hands of Guy of Gisborne (Richard Armitage).

A new beacon of hope arrives in the form of a travelling monk called Tuck (David Harewood), a man of vision and imagination, who has a very hands-on approach when it comes to justice and freedom.

Meanwhile, the wickedness of the Sheriff (Keith Allen) continues unabated. A spirited Locksley girl named Kate (Joanne Froggatt) objects to her brother's forced conscription. As a result she inadvertently gets caught up in the cause of Robin Hood and joins the gang.

An unexpected addition to the Gisborne family, Guy's little sister, Isabella, played by newcomer Lara Pulver, arrives and becomes a complication both Robin and Gisborne can do without.
As the threat of Prince John (Toby Stephens) looms larger Robin and Gisborne have to reach an uneasy truce as it emerges that they may have rather more in common than they thought. "