Post by Dennis of Ravenscar on May 15, 2014 20:54:59 GMT
Robin of Sherwood: Series 1, Episode 5
Alan a Dale
Transmission Date 19th May 1984
Written by Richard Carpenter
Story
John goes into Wickham at night to see a girl. They kiss, and go into her house, where we hear her say, “Tell me, why do they call you Little John?!”
At Nottingham Castle that same evening the Sheriff is speaking to Gisburne about a man called Gervaise who is buying corn before it goes to market so that the bailiff is losing his custom. There is to be a court at Wickham the next day and the Sheriff says the man should be tried then. Gisburne suggests hanging him, but the Sheriff just wants him publicly flogged. The Sheriff then goes off to bed.
The next morning John and the girl are talking. She wants to hear about Robin Hood and says she has heard that he can make himself invisible. John quickly says that they all can. She asks him to demonstrate, but he says he has to be in Sherwood forest to do it. She wonders if she would be able to do it if she lived in Sherwood and he says he’ll teach her.
Back at the camp Robin is surprised to hear that John has gone fishing that night and asks if he went fishing the night before. Much innocently mentions that he didn’t catch many fish.
Lying in the straw together, the girl asks John if he would marry her if she lived in the forest. He coughs awkwardly.
“Go on, say you would, just say it.”
“I would.”
“We’d jump through a fire at midnight, with flowers in our hair, wouldn’t we? Go on, say we would.”
“Course we would.”
Just then, Gisburne arrives at Wickham, shouting at the villagers to get up. John tries to sneak away but trips over some barrels and is spotted by Gisburne, who sends his men after the outlaw. John runs into the woods and grabs a rope on which he is hauled up into the trees by Scarlet and Nasir, effectively disappearing so the soldiers give up their search.
Robin, Marion and Tuck are trying to work out if they’ve got enough money to pay the taxes for the local villagers, but they don’t think so. The others arrive, with Scarlet teasing John about what he’s been up to. Robin asks where he was and what he was doing and John sticks to his fishing story. Robin then says, “What’s her name?” to which John decides to come clean and tells him she’s called Meg. Robin asks John if the soldiers caught him with her. He says they didn’t, but Robin tells him not to see her again. John is annoyed, but understands when Robin reminds him that it’s the villagers that suffer if an outlaw is seen in their village.
On a couple of logs over a river Tuck is challenging the others to a quarterstaff fight. He knocks Martin and Marion off in quick succession. Robin is easily keeping his balance until Tuck tricks him by looking off to one side and knocking Robin in when he does the same. As Much is helping Robin out of the water he gets pulled in as well. John then gets ready to have his turn but instead lifts up one of the logs, unbalancing Tuck so that he falls in.
On their way back to their camp they hear someone singing a mournful song. They see a young man riding a rather old horse so they stop him and demand his money. However he doesn’t have any as he has spent it all on his ‘steed’. He tells them he is a minstrel.
John: “Well, that accounts for it.”
Scarlet: “Accounts for what?”
John: “The bad voice and the empty purse.”
He is called Alan a Dale. Robin tells him he can go, they won’t harm him and as he is leaving Marion asks where he is going.
“Nottingham.”
“To seek your fortune?”
“To kill the Sheriff.”
The outlaws all run after him to find out why. He starts going on about a flower crushed in a mailed fist but they eventually find out that the Sheriff is going to marry the girl he loves, Mildred, Baron de Bracy’s daughter. They think that Alan’s aiming a bit high, but as he says, Amor vincit omnia, Love conquers all things. The outlaws are very surprised that the Sheriff would marry as he hates women.
In Nottingham Castle the Sheriff is having a bath and asking Gisburne about the outlaw that was seen in Wickham. Gisburne tells him he had all the villagers whipped to get information but he couldn’t get anything out of them. He suggests that they drive all the villagers into the forest and burn Wickham to the ground, as an example. The Sheriff then works himself up into a rage:
“As an example of what? Hmm? I’ll tell you, Gisburne, shall I? Since you’re obviously incapable of answering my question. As an example of your stupidity! An example of your ignorance! An example of your total inability to control the people of Sherwood and to destroy the power of Robin Hood! Leave me alone! Those people are my property. The fields they work are my fields. And your masterly plan is to drive them into the forest to join up with that wolfshead. Get me a towel! A fine Gisburne, a heavy fine. A hundred pence from every man. The value of six month’s work. Rub me dry. Harder Gisburne! And at the same time I’ll double my reward for every outlaw brought into Nottingham, dead or alive. The way to a man’s obedience is through his pocket... Baron de Bracy’s son-in-law. Why on earth did I agree to be united in the unholy bonds of matrimony with a pansy-faced sixteen year old virgin? That’s if she still is a virgin of course. Do you think it’s worth the money, Gisburne? Could it possibly be worth ten thousand marks? Why don’t you answer?”
“I assumed the question was rhetorical, my lord.”
“Never assume anything, Gisburne. Except an occasional air of intelligence. Well, you’d better go and fetch her, hadn’t you? And that ghastly man who’s supposed to have fathered her, though that’s a matter of some doubt, considering the amount of time he spends riding about on horseback. Hah! Well, you should get on famously together. All he ever talks about is halters and harnesses. No wonder his coat of arms is a rampant boar!”
“And when will the ceremony take place, my lord?”
“When I’m drunk enough to go through with it. Good night Gisburne.”
Alan tells the outlaws how he and Mildred fell in love. Her father was always out, fighting in tournaments so he spent all his time with Mildred, singing to her.
Alan: “She was lonely.”
John: “And a bit deaf!”
Then one day the tournament finished early, the Baron caught them together and Alan was dismissed.
Robin thinks he should be realistic and forget her but Marion feels sorry for Mildred, being stuck with the Sheriff. They realise that the Sheriff must be getting a very large dowry for marrying Mildred and that the money would come in useful for paying the villagers’ taxes.
They spot Gisburne going to fetch Mildred and the next morning they set up an ambush for the returning entourage. They shoot all the guards, but Gisburne rides off with Mildred. Robin grabs a horse and follows them. He manages to pull Gisburne off his horse and they both end up at the edge of a river, deep in the mud. They try to fight one another but they are slow and awkward in the mud and when the Sheriff arrives with his men Robin gets into the water and swims away. The soldiers shoot at him but miss. The Sheriff is not happy. “Gisburne, stop playing around in the mud and come up here. You look like a decaying dung heap! Keep down wind of me for the love of Christ!”
The Sheriff greets Mildred and asks where the Baron is. He has been injured in a tournament and has taken to his bed. He then asks Gisburne where his men are and Gisburne tells him about the attack. He is surprised that the Sheriff isn’t worried about the wagon being taken, but the Sheriff reveals that he had the dowry brought via Newark and it is now safe in Nottingham.
The outlaws discover they have been tricked when they open up the chests and find only Mildred’s clothes. The men are angry about this but Marion is still worried about the girl. Then Meg appears, very upset, to tell them about the fine the Sheriff has imposed on Wickham and to ask for their help.
Back at Nottingham Castle the Sheriff, Gisburne and Mildred are having dinner. She isn’t eating anything and cries whenever the wedding is mentioned. The Sheriff is also unhappy. He can’t think of anyone to invite as most of his relatives are either dead or living in Normandy, “which amounts to the same thing”, and Hugo has gone on a pilgrimage to Walsingham to avoid buying him a present.
Meg arrives at the castle and tells the Sheriff that she will help him catch the outlaws if he will pardon the village. When the Sheriff refuses to make a bargain she bursts into tears which annoys him even more. She tells him that Robin Hood and his men are coming to the castle the next day, when he is getting married. The Sheriff says he doesn’t believe her and has her thrown out, but he covers all his options, telling Gisburne to be on his guard. Mildred leaves and the Sheriff taunts her about the following day’s consummation.
Meg is back with the outlaws in Sherwood and Robin explains the plan to get the dowry money. Marion and Much dress up as nuns, to the amusement of the other outlaws, to drive the cart into Nottingham. They ambush the priest who is to perform the ceremony and Alan puts on his robes while Robin and Nasir dress as monks. Then they put beehives into the cart and Tuck, John and Scarlet hide in the back amongst the straw.
At Nottingham Castle preparations are being made for the wedding. Gisburne explains what is happening to his soldiers and then gets them to rehearse a cheer which they will perform once the ceremony is over, at a signal from Gisburne. The first attempt is very half-hearted and on the second the Sheriff appears, “Are you trying to be funny, Gisburne?”
The priest and the two monks arrive at the castle. Alan has to quickly explain why Father Giraldus hasn’t come, blaming his absence on something he ate whilst dining with the Sheriff two days previously.
The cart comes through the castle gates and Marion explains to the guards that she is bringing a gift of honey for the Sheriff as well as news of Robin Hood. She says they have seen him and his men coming out of Sherwood.
Mildred is in a chapel preparing for her wedding when Gisburne comes to fetch her. She tells him that she’ll obey the Sheriff and she won’t weep anymore but that she’ll always remember the man who loved her for herself and not just for her dowry.
Gisburne and Mildred come into the main hall and she recognises Alan, who then stutters his way through the wedding ceremony, making the Sheriff even more annoyed. “Good God man, I know it better than you do!”
Scarlet, dressed as a guard, sneaks into the back of the hall and, as they continue with the vows he shouts out that there are outlaws in the castle grounds. Gisburne and his men then rush out and Robin grabs the Sheriff, holding a sword to his throat. Scarlet leads the cart in, they unload the beehives and then they put the chests with the dowry into the back of the cart.
Gisburne by this time has realised that there are no outlaws in the rest of the castle and rushes back into the hall. Robin and Nasir shoot the tops off the beehives and the bees come pouring out, attacking the Sheriff, Gisburne and his men while the outlaws make their escape.
Once they are back in Sherwood Tuck marries the happy couple. However, when the chests are opened they are full of nothing but rocks.
The Sheriff and Gisburne are bathing, trying to soothe the pain of the stings. The Sheriff is very pleased with himself because he has fooled the outlaws and kept the dowry when Baron de Bracy will think it has been stolen. Best of all, he hasn’t had to marry Mildred.
The outlaws are disheartened, wondering how the villagers will pay their fine, when Mildred gives them a gold necklace that the Sheriff gave her. She doesn’t want it and the villagers can use it. She and Alan then ride off on his trusty steed to a new life.
Comments
The big question is, what happened to Alan and Mildred once they left Sherwood? In the novelisation it says that they went to Scotland, where Alan found service with the king. To be quite honest, it’s hard to imagine what kind of service he would take. He didn’t appear to be a very good singer, although that could have been a result of his distress. Mildred would probably be the stronger and more practical of the two, despite first appearances, so I think that whatever happened, she would probably manage to keep them going.
The one thing wrong with this episode is the bees. They don’t look too bad when they rush out of the hives, but the big black dots swarming around the soldiers just look ridiculous. RoS is never at it’s best when it tries to do special effects.
Best lines and moments
The whole episode is full of great lines, most of which I’ve already quoted, including the Sheriff’s speech/rant and his put-downs to Gisburne. The outlaws also have a lot of fun making rude comments to Alan, especially John.
Alan: “To save the lady of my heart I would ride through fire!”
John: “What, on that horse?!”
I also like it when Scarlet tries not to show his ignorance.
Alan: “I gave all I had for my steed”
Scarlet: “Steed?”
John: “His horse”
Scarlet: “mumble mumble I knew that”
There are a lot of great moments as well, but I particularly like Alan when he’s pretending to be the priest. You begin to see the minstrel in him when he makes up the story about Father Giraldus and starts going on about “a vehement griping of the bowels” and so on. Then when he’s trying to do the wedding ceremony, being hassled by the Sheriff and stumbling over his words, he’s very funny, especially when he says to Mildred incredulously, “Will you take this man to be your wedded husband?”
It took me a while to notice this but just after the outlaws have released the bees and are escaping from the castle, John carries the Sheriff under his arm over to where the hives are and then runs away. It looks very funny, but it’s easy to miss it.
Review
This is probably the most light-hearted and humorous episode of all three series. There is no use of magic, relatively few deaths, and everybody seems to win in the end. (Except for Gisburne, but he never wins.) There are a great many funny lines, from the outlaws’ teasing to the Sheriff’s ranting - he in particular seems to be even more sharp-tongued than usual, obviously as a result of his forthcoming nuptials.
This is the first episode in which Meg appears, and it is amusing to see John’s discomfort at her ideas of love and marriage. Despite her dreams however, even she seems to realise that she is never going to live in Sherwood with him.
The version of Alan a Dale that Richard Carpenter has created here is an interesting slant on the normal portrayal. At least we don’t have to put up with him singing to any great extent and his naivete and romanticism make him an unusual hero of the story. He may be almost completely useless, but his heart’s in the right place, and his love of Mildred is very touching. Mildred also appears to be a rather useless character, but I think this is just a result of her upbringing. She is only sixteen and she has always known she would be unlikely to marry for love, so I think her passivity was due to the fact that she had resigned herself to her fate. Alan could dream foolishly about impossible things, but she was more realistic. Marion certainly felt a great deal of sympathy for her - she had been in a similar situation and it was only extreme circumstances that got her out of it.
It was quite unusual for Gisburne to show a more sympathetic side to his character, in the scene in the chapel with Mildred. He’s not usually very good with women, but I think in this case that he had some fellow feeling for her, in that she was going to be stuck with the Sheriff as well.
The Sheriff, of course, is probably the best thing about this episode. Nearly every comment he makes is vicious or unpleasant and nearly always extremely funny. He lashes out at everybody, especially poor old Gisburne, and all the while that he’s bemoaning his impending marriage, he’s going to great lengths to ensure that the dowry is safe. I just love the way that he effectively uses the same trick twice to deny the outlaws his money, despite their extremely clever plan.
Cast in order of appearance
Little John...Clive Mantle
Meg...Claire Toeman
Sheriff of Nottingham...Nickolas Grace
Guy of Gisburne...Robert Addie
Robin Hood...Michael Praed
Tuck...Phil Rose
Much...Peter Llewellyn Williams
Marion...Judi Trott
Martin...Martin West
Will Scarlet...Ray Winstone
Nasir...Mark Ryan
Alan a Dale...Peter Hutchinson
Mildred...Stephanie Tague
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 4, August 1996