Esta Charkham, casting (series 1) producer (2 and 3)
Richard “Kip” Carpenter, the writer, wanted our outlaws to be young. I’d once directed Michael Praed and had cast Ray Winstone in Scum. So Michael played Robin and Ray was his brotherly companion Will Scarlet. Then I spotted Clive Mantle and Phil Rose at a birthday party and said: “You two – Little John and Friar Tuck!” Marion was harder to find, until I suggested making her a redhead and thought of Judi Trott, who I’d cast in a terrible American TV film about Charles and Diana. They went for it straight away. She looked like she’d stepped out of a Millais painting.
A deal between HTV and Goldcrest got us a decent budget. We made it using 16mm film and it looked great. Our production designer, John Biggs, knew that if you built a Saxon village on one side of a farmer’s field, you could just move it to the other side to make a new village for a different episode. And because HTV was based in Bristol, we had easy access to lots of Welsh castles. We’d invite famous actors to guest, and established a top fee of £3,000 – there was no negotiation. We’d say: “Come and have some fun!” Nobody ever turned the opportunity down.
Mark Ryan was only supposed to be in one story, as Nasir the Saracen, but got on so well with the boys that our producer, Paul Knight, said: “Why don’t we get him to join the Merries?” Some years later, our stunt coordinator Terry Walsh did some work on Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He phoned me and said: “Esta, they’ve got a Saracen!” There was no Saracen in the legends – they were copying us. Nickolas Grace, our wonderful Sheriff of Nottingham, also congratulated Alan Rickman for impersonating him so well.
The night Michael told us he was leaving, Paul, Kip and I went for dinner and said: “Oh God, how do we get out of this?” But reading my Robin Hood books, I picked up on the character’s varied origin stories. I thought, “We’ve had Loxley – where does Robert of Huntingdon fit in?” And so we had Huntingdon take up the mantle. I felt a bit sorry for Michael, because we were parading potential Robins in front of him, including Neil Morrissey and Paul McGann. It was my sister who suggested Jason Connery.
For the theme tune, Paul wanted something very different from the Dick James “riding through the glen” approach. He loved the music Clannad had composed for the series Harry’s Game. It’s difficult to think of Robin of Sherwood now without hearing their Hooded Man song. Kip was a mystic – and Clannad’s incidental music really enhanced the magical, mysterious folk essence that made the series one of a kind. Many medieval adventure series have since been influenced by its style. We weren’t conscious of breaking new ground at the time, though. We were just having fun.
Judi Trott, played Lady Marion of Leaford
We spent a fortnight at Pinewood Studios having lessons in riding, swordplay and archery, which helped us get in character. Marion lived in the forest and fought alongside the outlaws. I’d lived a fairly sheltered life and trained as a ballerina before turning to drama. I’m amazed I got cast, but I got on straight away with the rest of the Merries. They were like brothers.
We were filming a series two episode, featuring Gemma Craven as an enchantress, when Michael told us he was leaving for New York to appear in The Three Musketeers musical. There was a scene where Gemma’s seducing Robin and the outlaws burst in and break the spell – but during one take, we danced across the set singing Give My Regards to Broadway. There were a lot of little stunts like that over the three years. It was a very happy shoot.
I never enjoyed shooting arrows with burning tips. When we pulled them back, the flames got uncomfortably close to our faces. After Michael’s Robin is killed, there’s a scene where the Merries stand in a line and fire arrows into a lake. We did it in one take and I was last. Under pressure, with the camera rolling, my hands would shake and the arrow would fall off. Otherwise, my technique was pretty good – though I started to notice members of the camera crew building things to shield themselves. On one occasion, I shot an arrow and hit a car. The boom operator was inside having his lunch. After that, arrows with rubber tips became mandatory.
Jason must have been nervous taking over, but the scripts cleverly included scenes where he had to win over each of the outlaws individually. We took to him quickly, and having a new Robin gave me more to play on in series three. Marion has loved and lost and starts out guarded. Although she does fall in love with Robert slowly, the series ended with her going to Halstead Abbey and becoming a nun. I had decided to move on to other things.
At the time, maybe I took it too lightly. Looking back, I feel incredibly blessed to have been part of the series.
• Clannad’s 40th anniversary edition soundtrack album, Legend, is out now
