Post by Dennis of Ravenscar on May 15, 2014 15:36:37 GMT
Robin of Sherwood: Series 1, Episode 4
Seven Poor Knights from Acre
Original Transmission Date - 12th May 1984
Written by Richard Carpenter
Story
A figure is seen running in the darkness, through woods and fields. Knights on horseback appear and pass by him in the dark.
In the daylight the knights dismount and start praying. They have with them a standard with a large gold crest on top.
The outlaws are having an archery contest with a moving target, a leather bag suspended on a piece of string. Scarlet and Robin discuss where they should stay as they had to leave the last camp since Gisburne had been there. Scarlet thinks they should have killed him when they had the chance but Robin argues that he’s more valuable to them alive as his actions increase the resentment of the people, who will then turn to them. The outlaws can then have spies in every village, and in Nottingham, and places to hide.
Scarlet: “You’ll get too big for your boots, you will.”
Robin: “Then I’ll get bigger boots!”
As they are talking each of the outlaws in turn fails to hit the target until Marion has a go and hits it. It is then Robin’s turn and he shoots right through the string.
Scarlet and John hear something and grab hold of a man who was hiding in the bushes near by them. He’s a scruffy-looking man with one eye and he says his name is Siward, a peddler who is heading for Nottingham. The outlaws tell him to be on his way when, suddenly, the knights appear and attack them on horseback. The outlaws try to escape without much success. They then try to fight them. James gets killed and John pulls one of the knights from his horse and kills him. They eventually escape, but only after the knights have captured Much and ridden off with him.
Marion recognises them as Knights Templar.
Tuck: “Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon.”
Scarlet: “Poor? I’d hate to see the good ones!”
The Templars are fighting monks who take a vow of poverty. However, they have a cruel reputation. In the Holy Land they put whole towns to the sword. Nasir follows them when they leave.
The Templars go to a village where they appear to have already set up their tents and pennants. (The village is Bystead, according to the novelisation.). Their leader is French, Reynald de Villaret, his second is a German, Heinrich von Erlichshausen, with a nasty scar. They tie up Much, and Robin starts out to try and rescue him. Then the Sheriff and Gisburne arrive at the village, on the annual tour of the county, and are very surprised to see the Templars there. They speak to the knights and ask them what they are doing.
Sheriff: “I’m High Sheriff of Nottingham and I represent the King.”
De Villaret: “And I the King of Kings.”
De Villaret says they will be leaving soon but Gisburne tells them to leave now. He pulls his sword on them but is outnumbered and the Sheriff tells him to put his sword away. Then he notices Much and the Sheriff asks them if they’ve crossed paths with Robin Hood. The Templars don’t know who Robin Hood is, but they realise they’re talking about the same group of outlaws. De Villaret says that they have sworn to kill the outlaws for committing an outrage against them. The Sheriff is happy to leave them to it and let the Templars get rid of the outlaws for him.
The Templars burn their dead brother on a pyre and pray for him. Meanwhile, Robin sneaks into the village and tries to rescue Much. However, de Villaret notices him and they start fighting with swords. De Villaret bests him and asks where he stole Albion from. He threatens to torture him to find out where the others are and says that they have taken something very valuable from the Templars. Robin says he doesn’t know what he is talking about, but the Templar doesn’t believe him and decides to put him on trial - trial by combat.
Robin has to fight von Erlichshausen with morning stars and small shields, while the outlaws look on from the trees. Despite his unfamiliarity with the weapons, Robin manages to beat the German, but the other Templars close in on him. Robin escapes into the forest, realising that Siward must have stolen something that is sacred to them. The Templars call to him, saying that they will give him until dawn to return it, or they will hang Much.
At the market in Nottingham a man chases after Siward, accusing him of being a thief. They crash through the market, knocking over a stall full of pottery, before Siward is captured. He is brought before the Sheriff, who finds that he has the crest of the banner of the Templars on him. It is the symbol of the ‘poor’ Templars, showing two knights sharing a horse. Siward explains how he stole the crest and says that he lost his eye because he was caught thieving. The Sheriff sentences him to lose the other one, and explains to Gisburne that without the crest to their banner the Templars will be expelled from the Order: “Just think of it, Gisburne. They fight all over the Holy Land carrying the blessed thing with them. They guard it against sandstorms, Saracens, every damn thing. Then they have it stolen by a one-eyed cut-purse from Nottingham!”. He intends to keep it, and thinks that it is very amusing that Robin and the others will die because of it.
Robin, Scarlet and Marion come to Nottingham asking about Siward. They go to a potter, who they seem to know, to see if he has any information about him. (In the novelisation they found the potter in Sherwood after he had been beaten and robbed by mercenaries and Marion nursed him until he was well enough to go back to Nottingham.) Siward broke the man’s pots and he tells them that the Sheriff has him. They doubt that they will be able to get him out of Nottingham Castle, but as the Sheriff is touring the county, the potter tells them that he is at Leaford Grange. Marion knows how they can get in there as it was her home before her father died.
That evening they go there and sneak into the courtyard. They attack the guards and Tuck and Nasir take their places. Cue funny bit, with Nasir trying to make Tuck look more convincing. The rest of them make their way inside the Grange to the cellars where Siward is chained up. The Sheriff has the crest and takes it to his bedroom and into bed with him.
Gisburne notices Tuck and Nasir, but doesn’t realise who they are and just tells them to close the gates.
The outlaws release Siward, who goes into the Sheriff’s bedroom and gets the keys to his chest. He tries a few of the keys without success, but the Sheriff is awake. He comes up behind Siward with a knife but is himself grabbed by one of the outlaws.
Back at the village the next morning, the Templars are preparing to hang Much. The villagers are not happy about this and try to protest, but they don’t have much hope against the knights, and de Villaret threatens to burn the village. Much is sure that Robin will come for him, but then he becomes more scared and starts calling desperately for him. To his relief Robin appears with the crest and the Templars release him. He runs to Robin who unties him. Robin gives the crest to de Villaret and asks for his sword back, but the Templar just calls him a thief. Robin replies, “Evil to him who thinks evil.”
Robin and Much walk away from the village but the Templars follow them and prepare to charge. They start to run and get into the woods with the Templars following. The other outlaws pull a rope between the trees and the knights are all knocked from their horses. Nasir goes to kill one of them, but Robin stops him and gets his sword back from de Villaret. They give the crest to the villagers to melt down and pay their taxes with, and they send the Templars off, without their armour, two to a horse.
Comments
The first fight with the Templars at the beginning of the episode is really quite scary. The outlaws do very badly against the highly trained knights who are expert at fighting on horseback. The outlaws make several mistakes. Originally they make for the clearing instead of scattering straight away into the trees. They are not a very cohesive fighting group, they are very new outlaws, and suddenly being attacked in their camp surprises them. They really should have had someone on guard duty, particularly considering that Scarlet doesn’t think it’s a very good camp. It doesn’t appear to be deep in the middle of Sherwood like the previous one so they needed to take adequate precautions against ‘unwanted guests’. I do like the ‘letterbox format’ effect given by looking through the Templar’s helmets.
I’m always surprised at how dirty Robin is after the fight with old Heinrich. One moment he’s just a bit grubby, the next it looks like he’s auditioning for “The Black and White Minstrel Show”!
Speaking of Heinrich, although Duncan Preston plays the part very well, I can’t help thinking of all the sketches he’s done for Victoria Wood’s TV show when I watch this episode, especially the one about a bra for men! Of the other guest actors, Simon Rouse (Siward) became popular, on the right side of the law, as DCI Meadows in The Bill.
Best Lines and moments
The confrontation between the Sheriff, Gisburne and the Templars is great. Gisburne is so stupid, driving the Sheriff to distraction.
Gisburne, spotting Much: “The half-wit, my Lord, the half-wit!”
Sheriff, looking at Gisburne: “Which one?”
At least the outlaws can see that it’s a bad idea to mess with the Templars, unlike Gisburne, who draws his sword on them.
Little John: “What’s going on?”
Scarlet: “I don’t know, but my money’s on the Templars."
The point at which Much is brought out to be hanged is very poignant. He is so innocent and trusting, sure that Robin will rescue him. When he realises that he might not he turns to de Villaret for the only kind of comfort he can get: “Will I feel it? Will death hurt?”
Review
Another great, solid episode and the first one to be completely non-magical. The Templars are a frightening enemy, partly because of their skill at fighting, particularly on horseback, but also because of their extreme arrogance. It is almost agonising watching what the outlaws have to go through, for something they had nothing to do with. The Templars decide they are guilty of stealing their crest on the flimsiest of evidence, mostly due to the fact that they are clearly outlaws, so they must be guilty of something. They might have got their crest back if they’d bothered to find out about Siward and gone to the Sheriff about him, but their shortsightedness eventually cost them everything. In contrast, the Sheriff is extremely clever. He sizes up the situation at the village and doesn’t allow Gisburne to get into a fight he can’t win. The Sheriff rarely lets his emotions get the better of him and always has an eye for the main chance. Maybe he doesn’t get what he wants by the end of the episode, but he doesn’t lose anything either. His comments to Gisburne about whether they are English or Norman also shows how perceptive he is.
As for the outlaws, this episode really belongs to Robin. He is shown to be very much in control of the situation for much of the episode. At the start he has quite ambitious plans for a network of spies and sympathisers throughout Sherwood and Nottingham. Even when they are initially attacked by the Templars and thrown into disarray, he does his best to organise the others and get them to safety, and he manages to remain calm after the Templars have taken Much. The others want to go right after them but he stops them: “That’s what they want.” He doesn’t lose his cool when he is accused unfairly - he obviously senses that this would have no effect on the Templars. He also does well in the fight against the German, considering he doesn’t know how to fight with those weapons, although the strain of trying to rescue Much from such implacable enemies is starting to show when he escapes back into the forest and snaps at Marion. However, he clearly gets their measure, which he uses to his advantage at the end. He knows that the Templars are not honourable and that they will try and kill them even though they have brought back the crest, which proves, literally, to be their downfall.
Cast in order of appearance
Siward...Simon Rouse
Reynald de Villaret...Yves Beneyton
Will Scarlet...Ray Winstone
Nasir...Mark Ryan
Robin Hood...Michael Praed
Marion...Judi Trott
Little John...Clive Mantle
Tuck...Phil Rose
Much...Peter Llewellyn Williams
James...Steven Osborne
Martin...Martin West
Heinrich von Erlichshausen...Duncan Preston
Sheriff of Nottingham...Nickolas Grace
Guy of Gisburne...Robert Addie
Potter...Colin Rix
Fat Merchant...Peewee Hunt
Executive Producer...Patrick Dromgoole
Producer...Paul Knight
Director...Ian Sharp
Episode Guide written by Lucy of Ravenscar
First appeared in Nothing's Forgotten newsletter issue 3, April 1996