Honking Box Review: Robin Hood

It would appear Auntie Beeb is incredibly lucky indeed. Spanking new shiny idents, a lucrative England game, the return of Strictly Come Dancing, and the arrival of a big-budget hard-sell drama ALL ON THE SAME NIGHT? What are the chances?!

Sadly for the Corporation, The Sloppy Dog’s Honking Box was tuned tensely to The X Factor (which, FYI, gutted) meaning we only caught a brief glimpse of the above mezze. Robin Hood, supposedly crafted for an audience only detected when Doctor Who annihilated the ratings, has been inescapable hype-wise. Hype which we certainly fell for, but ultimately hype which led to a complete lack of substance.

Aside from the campest Sheriff of Nottingham feasible, an overcast Eastern European bleakfest doubling as Sherwood Forest, the creepy priest out of Hex portraying some sort of backwards kitna child, and Robin himself owning absolutely no trace of heroism, the show overall was just incredibly, hopelessly boring.

Robin Hood should be a cocky yet lovable rogue with a razor-sharp tongue and a glint in his eye, not a small child with an unkempt beard lording it up over the muddy paupers. Perhaps our opinions have been tainted by the Disney version (like, when did Robin stop being a fox?!), but surely both the legend and the Saturday night family viewing remit demand at least a slight sense of fun?

Don’t get us wrong, we weren’t expecting a chorus of Father Bloopy or the first incarnation of the Hamster Dance, but grim ‘n’ grey is not the way forward. Had Jonathan not been criminally turfed out of The X Factor, we’d have categorically boycotted this show. As it stands, we may give it one more chance – if there aren’t any updates from Sunday 15th onwards, it’s safe to assume it drove us to suicide.