Alan A Dale
BBC Series Robin Hood
This is one of the funniest episodes in the series. It features Alan A Dale as an eloquent but out of tune minstrel who has fallen in love with the baron's daughter. Of course the Sheriff is currently in line to marry Mildred, to get her dowery. In the series of "featured cast members", this is Little John's episode.
Little John is in love with Meg, from a nearby village, and nearly gets her entire village destroyed because he's caught there. Robin issues an ultimatum - "don't see her again". That's pretty jerky of Robin Hood, as Robin already gets a girl with him every night. Why doesn't Robin say "bring her here to keep her safe?" Why does he say "you have to live celibate, ditch the girl?" In any case, along comes Alan A Dale who is great as the love-sick guy going on and on about his dream. Robin, again being a jerk for some reason, seems fixated on Alan not deserving this girl because Alan is "only" a minstrel and the girl is a "Baron's Daughter". Ah ok so it was fine for Robin, a simple villager without parents, to go after Marion, but nobody else could do this? Again it really bugs me how selfish he is portrayed in some of these episodes.
In any case they decide they want the dowery money. They sneak in for the wedding, which true to medieval times was done in their "best normal clothes", not in long white gowns. They set loose a group of bees which show up as really awful "killer black dots" on the screen. I laughed out loud at that!
In the end, Alan and Mildred ride off together sharing a horse, in poverty just like the monks in the previous episode, but quite thrilled about it. Also, Meg and Little John are there, and they make it seem like John has been lying to Meg this entire time about agreeing to marry her and live with her. Which does bug me. Still, at least John was shown as being the best "logger" at the episode's beginning, which is something.
One issue I had here is that Alan rides into Sherwood, obviously poor. Do the Robin Hood band leap out and offer to help him? No, they try to roust him and rob him! What happened to the "help out the downtrodden"??
BBC Series Robin Hood Episode List
Robin Hood Information, Movies and Legends