BBC Axe Robin Hood

[Bob The Skutter]

I know it's not too popular round these parts, but there's a few who enjoy it, but the BBC announced this morning that they've decided to axe Robin Hood.

I won't post the article because it contains a spoiler at the bottom of it, for those watching in other countries.
link

I think it's a shame, because they apparently had a new showrunner ready to take over series 4 and give it a fresh coat of paint, but because of low ratings they decided to axe it. I would have liked to see what she had in mind, but oh well.

 

[Deckerd]

It was dead in the water at the end of the second season. I'm amazed they kept it going for another one but it was running on life support.

 

[ITL]

What else am I going to not-watch of a Saturday evening now?

 

[Starkers]

I gave up after about 6 episodes.

Never nice to see a genre show canned but I'd be more annoyed if they were axing Merlin tbh.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

......Man did i read that wrong, i thought the BBC had sacked some TV presenter or News person........now after clicking on the link i see its the TV series Robin Hood.

I didn't not even know they had a RH tv series on at the moment.

 

[Deckerd]

What else am I going to not-watch of a Saturday evening now?

Graham Norton?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I won't miss the show, but I do think it's a shame Sally Wainwright didn't get her shot at it because I think there could be a decent show made of it.

The BBC has enlisted At Home With the Braithwaites writer Sally Wainwright to lead a creative overhaul of its family drama series Robin Hood.

Wainwright, whose other credits include The Amazing Mrs Pritchard and ITV’s new drama Unforgiven, told The Stage she had been asked by both the BBC and the show’s production company, Tiger Aspect, to act as a showrunner on all series following the third outing of the Saturday night drama, due to be screened in the spring.

She said her role would be similar to that of Russell T Davies on Doctor Who, meaning she is the lead creative force on the series and responsible for overseeing its writing team.

The writer promised her Robin Hood would be “very different” from previous outings.

“The BBC has asked me to take over Robin Hood in a way Russell does on Doctor Who. They have a third series going out in the spring which I have had nothing to do with, but they have asked me to reinvent it and they want it to be very different, which is why they have come to me. It’s going to be a completely different show,” Wainwright said.

She added: “I want to model Robin Hood more on Doctor Who, in terms of quality of script and quality of direction.”

 

[Starkers]

That does seem a shame, although maybe they'll give her a go with some other show?

Maybe the BBC should buy Primeval!

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That does seem a shame, although maybe they'll give her a go with some other show?

Maybe the BBC should buy Primeval!

I've said that, buy it, and have a whole year round genre slot on saturday, but now that part wouldn't work...

Another part from the article I quoted has me wondering about her doing another show

Wainwright said she had been approached after submitting an idea for a 13-part Saturday night family show to the BBC called The Ballad of Black Nell, which was never commissioned.

oh and here's a link to it.

 

[Jax]

Well the show was dead anyway since Robin Hood actor wanted to leave after the 3rd season, personally I stopped watching mid 2nd season because I got bored of every episode being sneak in the castle and fight your way out

Spoiler: Series Finale spoilers

Not surprised to see the BBC change the supposed written fate of Robin Hood, they got posion bit right but not a sword and not as his age.

 

[captcalhoun]

i wasn't going to watch season 4 any way. after the season 3 finale, it was over for me.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I'm guessing Archer was going to take up the mantel of Robin Hood in series 4 if it'd have continued, but I don't see how they were going to continue it as the same series with 3/4 of the original cast gone.

 

[wamdue]

this is really no surprise, the ratings at the end of the run were awful.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I love the comment in The Stage from the showrunners that they wanted to revamp it to DW quality levels in series 4.

Er, guys, wouldn't it have been a good idea to aim for high quality *from the start*? Then maybe you'd still have a show instead of your turkey having a mercy killing

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I love the comment in The Stage from the showrunners that they wanted to revamp it to DW quality levels in series 4.

Er, guys, wouldn't it have been a good idea to aim for high quality *from the start*? Then maybe you'd still have a show instead of your turkey having a mercy killing

Yeah, but she was supposed to be taking over, she wasn't actually involved in the show at any point.

 

[Teelie]

Kind of glad it's over. I was ready to quit watching it after this season had ended. It was much lower in quality, and gone to stupid lengths after their return from the last season's events. This way I don't have the false promise of a better season to keep me coming back just to quit watching it in disappointment a few weeks later.

Just read the article, and they pulled a "Fox" on it? Moving it to another timeslot, it gets dismal ratings, so they can it? While I found the quality went down, it could at least have been canceled on it's own (de)merits instead of a low handed timeslot move.

 

[Tulin]

Don't care.

I heard it was, as the Poms say, "shite".

 

[Broccoli]

I didn't read the entire thread as I live in the states and we haven't gotten Season 3 yet (I don't want spoilers - I was inadvertently spoiled on the season 2 finale and I was irked that I was, because of a surprise that was completely taken away).

Robin Hood is probably one of my favorite shows, but a cancellation announcement doesn't surprise me at all, especially since Jonas Armstrong was planning on leaving the show after season 3 and the season was being labeled with the suggestion that it would be the last year.

I heard rumors that someone was going to come in and retool the show for a potential 4th season, but I never knew how that would actually work.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I didn't read the entire thread as I live in the states and we haven't gotten Season 3 yet (I don't want spoilers - I was inadvertently spoiled on the season 2 finale and I was irked that I was, because of a surprise that was completely taken away).

Robin Hood is probably one of my favorite shows, but a cancellation announcement doesn't surprise me at all, especially since Jonas Armstrong was planning on leaving the show after season 3 and the season was being labeled with the suggestion that it would be the last year.

I heard rumors that someone was going to come in and retool the show for a potential 4th season, but I never knew how that would actually work.

Not to spoil too much, but it does end on what kinda feels like a natural point, and there's a character introduced who I think was probably introduced to be a replacement in the potential series 4.

 

[diankra]

[SNIP]
Just read the article, and they pulled a "Fox" on it? Moving it to another timeslot, it gets dismal ratings, so they can it? While I found the quality went down, it could at least have been canceled on it's own (de)merits instead of a low handed timeslot move.

Not really; it was in the same slot, but instead of running in September (which was taken over by the first run of Merlin) it's run from April to now, when Doctor Who would usually run.
But last Saturday there was an over-running sport event, a Wimbledon tennis match where a British player looked like winning, so the BBC shifted Robin Hood from the main channel BBC1 to the less mainstream BBC2. So the finale's ratings were low, but fairly OK for BBC2 at that time.