Sir Tony Robinson on ‘very different’ reboot of Maid Marian And Her Merry Men

Sir Tony Robinson has said he is in talks to do a reboot of Maid Marian And Her Merry Men.

The BBC series, a reimagining of the traditional Robin Hood tale with Maid Marian at the helm of the team of Merry Men, aired from 1989 to 1994.

Written and created by Sir Tony, 74, it won several awards including the 1990 Bafta for Best Children’s Programme.

Sir Tony told the PA news agency: “We’re talking about the possibility of rebooting the series for a modern audience.

“It would be very, very different, it would be more Fleabag than the initial Maid Marian And Her Merry Men. But those talks are taking place”.

The series, which starred Kate Lonergan as Maid Marian, is being shown on BritBox as part of the Old School collection featuring children’s TV shows, including episodes from The Borrowers , The Demon Headmaster,  Rentaghost,  Grange Hill and more.

Sir Tony, known to audiences globally for playing bumbling Blackadder character Baldrick, also told how Maid Marian was also partly inspired by one of his children.

He explained: “I had an 11-year-old daughter at the time who was tiny and feisty and only wore trousers and wouldn’t wear a dress.

“She was captain of the school playground football team and she would charge around the playground vaguely somewhere near the ball with this bunch of boys looking like a swarm of bees racing along behind her and just yelling at them every time they missed a goal, it was just brilliant.

“So I remember saying to the kids’ mum at the time, if Robin Hood had been around now he wouldn’t be the leader of the merry men, and that really just, that little one liner to pitch the whole series…”

Sir Tony, who enjoyed a long spell presenting Channel 4’s Time Team, was knighted in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

He said lockdown had been a chance to spend more time at home with his partner as well as their latest addition, a rescue dog.

Sir Tony said: “As someone who has hardly been at home my whole life, I started as an actor when I was 13 and I’m 74 now, so my whole work life has been defined by travel and my home was just somewhere I came back to as like a little cave.

“So having spent two or three months at home has been absolute glory for me and having spent all  that time with my partner and my new dog has been just wonderful.”

Sir Tony and his partner rescued a westie (West Highland terrier) called Holly Berry who came from the RSPCA in Derby.

BritBox is the BBC and ITV’s joint online video subscription service, which launched in the UK in 2019.

Maid Marian And Her Merry Men is now available on BritBox as part of the Old School Collection.