The Legend of Robin Hood: A BBC Radio Collection

An epic full-cast play about Robin Hood, plus an episode of In Our Time setting him in his historical context and four dramatic interpretations of his story

Robin Hood has captured the English imagination for centuries. His tale has been told in ballads, novels, plays, TV shows and films – and with each retelling, it has evolved and transformed. We know Robin today as a forest-dwelling outlaw who led a gang of merry men, loved the beautiful Maid Marian and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But there are many facets to this folkloric hero, as this collection reveals. Featuring drama, documentary and monologue, it blends fiction with fact to take a thrilling, immersive look at the man and the myth.

The Legend of Robin Hood – Deep in England’s great Greenwood, a hooded master bowman and his band of faithful companions live outside the law, fighting to right wrongs and defend poor Saxon peasants against their cruel Norman lords... John Fletcher’s action-packed play draws on the original medieval ballads to chart Robin Hood’s adventures, from May Day revels in Sherwood Forest to crusading battles in the Holy Land and life-or-death struggles with sinister enemies. Starring John Nettles as Robin, with Gerry Hinks as Little John, Michael Tudor Barnes as Friar Tuck, Carolyn Backhouse as Maid Marian, Norman Rodway as the Sherriff, Peter Meakin as Will Scarlett and Tamsin Grieg as Alice.

In Our Time: Robin Hood – Melvyn Bragg and guests Stephen Knight, Thomas Hahn and Juliette Wood discuss the malleable myth of this most iconic of outlaws, asking why his story has gone through so many changes and where the truth really lies. Was Robin a yeoman, an aristocrat, an anarchist – or the figment of a collective imagination?

The Adventures of Robin Hood – In this quartet of tales, told from the points of view of four key characters and performed by distinguished actors, we learn how young Robin became an outlaw; how Friar Tuck’s outrage over the King and the Crusades led him to turn renegade, how a prioress’s greed led to her attempt to seize Robin’s land, and how love changed the course of Maid Marian’s life. Included are ‘Robin Hood’s Story’ by Adam Thorpe (read by James Frain), ‘Friar Tuck’s Story’ by Philippa Gregory (read by John Sessions), ‘The Prioress’s Story’ by Wally K Daly (read by Imelda Staunton) and ‘Maid Marian’s Story’ by Sara Maitland (read by Anna Massey).

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