Richard Armitage in Robin Hood Series 3

Robin Hood Series 3

Jane Hudson

Tom Mullens

Episode 1 – Total Eclipse aired 28 March 2009

Guest Starring: Lee Ross as Sir Jasper

The outlaws return from the Holy Land but only one thing is on Robin’s mind – avenging Marian’s death. Robin races to Locksley Manor to confront Gisborne and immediately a fight ensues. The outlaws arrive as Guy throws Robin off a cliff into the river and Much is captured by Guy’s guards. Sir Jasper arrives at the castle with a message from Prince John. He blames the Sheriff for the bungled assassination of King Richard and demands 1,000 crowns a month and the body of Robin Hood. At that point Guy enters the room to announce he has killed Hood. Sir Jasper needs proof and wants Hood’s body.

Tuck, a travelling monk, saves Robin from the river. Tuck tells him that Robin Hood is the only hope the people of England have left. Meanwhile Sir Jasper suggests they try to locate Hood’s loot and so the Sheriff tortures Much to find out where it’s located. When Much takes the Sheriff to a false location Little John and Allan rescue him.

Tuck takes a massive risk telling Guy that Robin was buried in secret and that the outlaws will meet at Dead Man’s Crossing, then he tells the outlaws that Robin is alive and wants to meet them at the same place. Tuck watches as Guy captures the outlaws, and Robin realises he must save his men.

Cue beautiful landscape on a moonlit hill as Tuck and Robin conspire to rescue the gang. With the help of Tuck and the confusion that the eclipse brings, Robin saves his men. He then confronts Guy but, instead of killing him, Robin realises a far worse punishment is to leave him living in hell. (Collective sigh of relief!)

Episode Two — Cause and Effect aired 4 April 2009

Guest Starring: William Houston as Finn, Martin Delaney as Tiernan

The Sheriff agrees to sell all local men to Finn, the rightful King of Ireland, who wants them to help liberate his country. During conscription which Gisborne oversees, a village girl, Kate, tries to hide her younger brother Matthew but he is found. She escapes the guards and is protected by Robin.

The outlaws try but fail to save the conscripts and Robin is caught, shackled and taken to the Castle. but his identity remains unknown. Tuck takes control and decides to launch an ambush when Robin is transported. Kate, however, sneaks inside the Castle but she’s recognised by Guy who says her brother will hang. To save him, Kate tells Guy that Robin is with the conscripts.

Robin leads the village men in a fight for freedom but are trapped. Guy kills Kate’s brother and goes for Robin, but the Sheriff wants Robin to suffer a slow death and locks him in the vault. Finn is impressed by Robin and he asks him to join forces to destroy Prince John but Robin declines. Finn still tries to help him escape only to be betrayed by his brother, Tiernan.

The Sheriff and Tiernan leave to transport the conscripts to the coast. Meanwhile, in the dungeon, the appearance of a mouse shows Robin a loose stone, which he and Finn manage to dislodge in order to escape. They speed to the coast road to help rescue the conscripts where the outlaws launch an arrow attack. Guy and the Sheriff meet Prince John’s men who are expecting payment. Instead, the Sheriff gives them Gisborne.

Episode Three — Lost in Translation aired 11 April 2009

Guest Starring: David Hayman as the Abbot

The Sheriff learns that the Abbot is guilty of heresy and so he blackmails the Abbot, forcing him to help bring down Robin Hood. The Abbot demands that the villagers of Locksley turn Robin in and Tuck tries to confront the Abbot but he is arrested.

The Sheriff displays the tortured Tuck, announcing that if the villagers don’t want the same fate they must turn Hood in. The Sheriff tells the Abbot to persuade Tuck to betray Robin, but Tuck remains resolute and is amazed to discover why the Abbot has abandoned the fight for good. The Abbot’s heresy is that he is translating the Bible into English – an act which will change the whole world. But not even this wonderful act will make Tuck betray Robin.

Robin and the gang rescue Tuck from the rack and escape. Tuck explains why the Abbot is seemingly working with the Sheriff and the outlaws decide to steal the Bible. Robin, Much and Little John confront the Sheriff and Robin appeals to the Abbot to tell the truth in front of his congregation but he refuses and they are arrested. The gang are tied to the stake and about to be burned but finally the Abbot confesses to the crowd and in the diversion the outlaws escape, but alas the Sheriff throws the Bible into the fire.

Episode Four — The Sins of the Father aired 18 April 2009

Guest Starring: Bill Ward as Rufus, Liam Boyle as Edmund, Kevin Eldon as Scrope

The Sheriff hires a new tax collector, Ruthless Rufus, who arrives with his son, Edmund, to witness Robin and the outlaws attack the Sheriff’s men. To prove his hard-man credentials, Rufus storms into Locksley village and smashes up Kate’s family’s pottery and kiln. Kate fights back and is forced to accompany Rufus to Locksley Manor, his new home since Gisborne is still absent. Much and Robin arrive and save her, but now she is an outlaw like them.

Robin decides they will have to kidnap Rufus, although their ambush doesn’t quite go to plan. Kate and Allan are taken captive by Rufus but Robin captures his son Edmund. Rufus demands that his son is returned by midday or his outlaw friends will die.

Kate and Allan are held prisoner in the butcher’s shop, which Rufus has claimed as his own. Robin searches Locksley Manor, while Tuck interrogates Edmund. A meat hook reminds Little John how he recognises Rufus. Rufus forces Scrope, the Sheriff’s treasurer, to secretly work for him. Scrope persuades the Sheriff to loan his troops to the Earl of Northumberland, allowing Rufus to raid the treasury. The Sheriff discovers he’s been robbed and, without a second thought, kills Scrope and charges off to the butcher’s shop.

Meanwhile, back in the forest, Edmund reveals to Tuck that Rufus’s father was killed by the Sheriff and confesses that the butcher’s shop is where his father is holding Kate and Allan. A confrontation ensues between Robin and his gang, the Sheriff and Rufus and Edmund in Nottingham. The Sheriff realises that Rufus’s father was his first execution, killed for stealing, however it was Rufus who was the real thief. Edmund confronts his father and Rufus is about to attack him when Robin fires an arrow, some CGI wizardry follows and Rufus dies. Kate is invited to join the outlaws.

Episode Five — Let the Games Commence aired 25 April 2009

Guest Starring: Denise Black as Bertha

Guy has returned triumphant (and clean) from the court of Prince John, armed with elite soldiers and instructions from the Prince to kill Robin Hood. With the Prince’s backing, Guy no longer needs the Sheriff and he sets up camp with his soldiers in the forest.

Before long, Guy’s troops battle with the outlaws. Little John is separated from the others and goes undercover with Bertha of Bath, a larger-than-life but questionable promoter of a group of gladiators who are on their way to perform in Nottingham.

Guy corners Robin and the gang, but then Isabella reveals that she is his sister and Robin gets away. Guy is incensed with Isabella for fraternising with the enemy, but she pleads innocence and throws herself upon his mercy.

Little John performs in the gladiator ring and is almost killed but manages to fight his way out of the ring and rescue the ophaned children that followed Bertha. As a humiliated Guy returns to Nottingham Castle to face the Sheriff’s wrath, it becomes clear that all is not well between Guy and his little sister. Isabella returns to the forest to find the wealth she had hidden but Robin confronts her about hiding her true identity. Then Robin takes her money.

Episode Six — Do You Love Me? aired 2 May 2009

Guest Starring: Toby Stephens as Prince John

Prince John, pretender to the throne of England, has travelled to Nottingham while greasing the palms of noblemen in a bid to win their loyalty and the throne. Gisborne is dragged from his bed to the Prince’s camp and during a wonderfully camp, petulant and ostentatious monologue the Prince asks for Guy’s loyalty, demanding that he kills the disloyal Sheriff in order to take his job. How can Guy refuse?

Prince John basks in the adoration of the crowds in Nottingham, but his mood changes when he realises that Robin is still alive. He notices Guy’s beautiful sister, Isabella, who immediately flatters the devious Prince and pledges her loyalty to him.

Robin and the gang set about robbing the gold Prince John has amassed. They undermine the Prince’s right to the throne in front of a gathering of nobles he is entertaining at Nottingham Castle, by faking an illness that the Prince thinks he can cure, stealing his wealth from under his nose and humiliating him in the process.

Meanwhile, the Prince has set the Sheriff and Guy against each other, both must kill the other to prove their loyalty to the Prince. After a dramatic sword, fist, and dagger-in-the-leg fight, Guy believes he has killed the Sheriff. But wait, was that a twitching finger?

Episode Seven — Too Hot To Handle aired 9 May 2009

Guest Starring: Toby Stephens as Prince John

The heat-wave in England is unbearable and a drought is taking its terrible toll on the villagers of Locksley. As the last drop of water is consumed, Robin and the gang know they must find water fast or everyone will die.

At Locksley Manor, Isabella is flirting shamelessly with Prince John, much to Guy’s disgust. Prince John reveals his latest devious plot to woo the people: give them what they want, the water, and then they will love him. But he has deviously ensured that he has control of all the water by siphoning off all the local supplies.

Prince John suspects that Isabella is loyal to Robin and he orders Guy to find out. Guy sees Robin and Isabella talking, witnesses them kissing too, and then ambushes them in the forest. During a wonderful piece of choreographing in which the three of them fight whilst chained, Guy is eventually knocked out. He is left in the forest, chained to a tree, but he manages to escape.

Meanwhile, the outlaws find some water but they need more. Robin and Isabella find an entrance under the  castle in an attempt to unblock the spring and allow the water to flow back into the countryside. But Guy gets there first. He traps them underground, leaving them to drown. Prince John rewards him by giving him the Sheriff’s keys to the city. A rare but genuine smile ensues.

Robin and Isabella escape and Isabella wants to start a new life with Robin, but he rejects her. Robin discovers what they say about scorned women is true and when Prince John discovers them during their escape, he realises Guy lied about their deaths and Isabella switches loyalties back to the Prince. When Guy arrives in the dungeon, the Prince fires him in a speech straight from the script of the BBC show The Apprentice. The four of them engage in a swordfight  in the dungeon but Prince John and Isabella escape down the water hatch. Guy is now on the run as an outlaw having completed the shortest ever stint as Sheriff. Robin releases the water back into the rivers.

Episode Eight — Long Live the King aired 23 May 2009

Guest Starring: Toby Stephens as Prince John, Robert Pugh as Lord Sheridan

A wax model of King Richard is made in a workshop in London, watched over by Lord Sheridan, Keeper of the Crown. He brings the coffin to Prince John in Nottingham, announcing the terrible news that King Richard The Lion Heart has been killed in battle.

Prince John is disraught, though his performance is rather unconvicing, then he announces that in the interests of national security the Archbishop of Canterbury must now preside over both his brother’s funeral and his own coronation as King of England. Both events are to take place in Nottingham. Isabella meanwhile, pleas to the Prince to make her the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Hidden nearby, Robin and the gang look on in disbelief. But Robin doesn’t believe it; he needs to see the face of King Richard to be sure that he really is dead. At night, the outlaws sneak into Kirklees Abbey crypt and discover that the body is made of wax. Robin must steal the crown to prevent the Prince’s coronation.

Gisborne threatens Isabella at Locksley Manor but Isabella talks him round by promising to put in a good word with the Prince about him, but then she drugs Guy and he falls unconscious.

Just like the Indiana Jones film, Robin takes the crown from a booby-trapped location in the dungeon. Lord Sheridan hunts out the outlaws using dogs in the forest and eventually he and Robin battle with swords. Sheridan talks about King Richard’s disregard for England and he manages to overpower Robin, ordering him to be cast out from England by boat. Robin escapes of course.

Guy is tied to his own bed but he escapes, ties up his servant instead and escapes from under the Prince’s nose.

At Kirkees Abbey,  Prince John is about to be crowned but Robin and the outlaws interrupt the proceedings. Guy is disguised as a guard and threatens the life of the Prince but Robin tells him the Prince’s death would plunge the country into chaos. Isabella throws herself in front of Guy’s crossbow and as Guy shoots, he in turn is shot by Robin. After a fist-fight in the Abbey, the outlaws escape with the crown.

Prince John leaves Nottingham feeling humiliated, having made Isabella Sheriff. Guy is left tied up in a cage hanging in the courtyard.

Episode Nine — A Dangerous Deal aired 30 May 2009

Guest Starring: Holliday Granger as Meg, Nicholas Gleaves as Thornton

Gisborne is at first irritated by the talkative Meg, but when she begins to empathise with him, he reveals the extent of his misery and that he blames himself. Isabella regains power from Thornton thanks to Robin’s help in the forest, and she releases Meg but is disgusted by the young woman’s pleas to release Gisborne. Later, Meg smuggles food for Gisborne and is brought to tears by his regrets and his confession that he destroyed the woman he loved, Marian. Later Meg snatches the dungeon key and tries to free Gisborne, but Isabella catches them and imprisons them both.

Guy and Meg are brought to the block and Guy pleas for Meg’s life but it falls on deaf ears; Isabella is determined to see both of them beheaded. Hidden in the crowd, Robin finds that for once he has to agree with Guy. He fires an arrow that stops the axe from falling on Guy’s head. Meg and Guy escape during the ensuing chaos, but Meg is fatally wounded.

Guy carries Meg into the forest and lays her down by the river. After a touching scene in which there was barely a dry eye in the house, Meg dies and Guy is distraught, crying for her, himself and no doubt Marian too.

Episode Ten – Bad Blood aired 6 June 2009

Guest Starring: Dean Lennox Kelly as Malcolm, Sophie Winkleman as Ghislaine, Paul Hilton as Sir Roger, Tommy Bastow as young Guy

Deep in the forest, Robin Hood comes upon a very jumpy Gisborne who has been living rough in the forest. Just as Robin and Gisborne are about to fight, darts pierce their necks and they fall unconscious to the ground. They awake at night to find themselves bound and held captive by a mysterious hooded leper.

The hooded leper only agrees to give them back their liberty on condition that they work together to save another who is in York and needs their help. Once their bickering subsides, they reluctantly agree to their captor’s emphatic demand.

Then, by the fireside, the mysterious stranger recounts to Robin and Gisborne the truth about their traumatised childhoods – sad and troubled memories that have shackled them together with bad blood. As the leper’s tale unfolds, both men come to understand what happened between their respective parents. Robin’s widowed father, Malcolm, Lord of Locksley, and Gisborne’s beautiful French mother, Ghislaine, and her devoted husband, Sir Roger Gisborne, were all thought to have met untimely deaths.

Robin and Gisborne are dumb struck when they learn the truth about Roger and Ghislaine’s death and they discover that the stranger is in fact Robin’s father. Despite their initial anger they manage to forgive him. Reeling from the shock, Robin and Gisborne stay true to their word and set off together to York to save their half brother, Archer.

Episode Eleven — The Enemy Of My Enemy aired 13 June 2009

Guest Starring: Clive Standen as Archer, Tracy-Ann Oberman as Gweneth

Unlikely allies Robin and Gisborne gallop side by side in Sherwood Forest – but, before long, they are at each other’s throats. The gang breaks up the tussle and reels in disbelief as Robin explains his and Gisborne’s kinship and their promise to their dying father that they will rescue their half-brother, Archer, from his death sentence at York. Robin tells the incredulous outlaws that Gisborne is one of them. Gisborne, meanwhile, tries to bring them around to the idea that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. They may never trust him, but they must unite to defeat the new Sheriff Of Nottingham – Gisborne’s sister, Isabella.

Robin and Gisborne head for York. They’ve heard that Archer has brought an arsenal of innovative weapons from the Orient which, if found, could help bring down Prince John. But Isabella is on their trail and has put a price on their heads of 100 crowns each, if they’re taken alive.

Little John, feeling betrayed, leaves the outlaws disgusted that Robin has joined forces with Gisborne. When Little John is captured by Isabella’s men, Allan rescues him and coaxes him back into the gang. They realise Isabella is going to York and so they do their utmost to prevent her getting there.

Meanwhile, Archer has embarked on an affair with the Sheriff of York’s wife, Gweneth. Archer is soon taken before her husband and tries to impress him with his knowledge of alchemy, promising the Sheriff wealth and power. He tries to escape the castle but is captured and thrown back into prison.

After an amusing scene in a pub in which Robin tricks Gisborne into getting arrested, Gisborne is thrown into a prison cell and identifies Archer. Robin poses as a nobleman to enter the castle and buy Gisborne’s freedom. Robin helps Gisborne, Archer and their fellow prisoners escape from the cell and after many skirmishes in the castle they are eventually captured and due to hang. Gweneth aids their escape by providing a distraction, Robin and Archer dismount from the horses that held them under the gallows and they astonish the outlaws by both firing an arrow which severs the rope around Gisborne’s neck.

Despite Robin’s plea to him, Archer refuses to join the gang. Instead he steals Gisborne’s horse and begins his journey to Nottingham, on his way to find his sister, the Sheriff, with plans to sell her his weapons.

Episode Twelve — Something Worth Fighting For
(Part 1) aired 20 June 2009

Guest Starring: Clive Standen as Archer, Fraser James as Blamire

When Robin Hood, Gisborne and the outlaws intercept one of Isabella’s messengers with a missive to Prince John there is both good and bad news. The outlaws rejoice to learn that King Richard is a month away from home and rallying troops to fight his brother’s attempt to usurp him. But they are appalled to discover that Isabella is snatching men from nearby villages to raise a force of some 300 militia for Prince John’s side. Robin and the gang rush to Locksley to save the villagers from Isabella’s right-hand henchman, Blamire. There’s a pitched battle and the outlaws succeed in saving the men of Locksley and then give them sanctuary in Sherwood Forest.

Elsewhere, Archer seeks out Isabella, informs her of their kinship and propositions her: her power and his skills could make them an unstoppable alliance. She’s not impressed, however, and has Blamire promptly throw Archer in the dungeons.

In the woods, Tuck preaches that the Lord helps those who help themselves, while Robin worries they are outnumbered and hopelessly ill-equipped to take on the might of Prince John and his allies. But Gisborne reveals a secret way into Nottingham Castle – which might just mean that it can be seized and held for King Richard. Archer has escaped and also plans to breach the castle to prove his strengths to Isabella. He learns about the tunnel from a man in The Trip Inn.

Archer enters the castle through the tunnel and warns Isabella about the secret route, then promises to trap Robin and Gisborne for a fee. Tuck and Little John overhear an announcement that Isabella has pardoned Allan a-Dale. The gang assume Allan is guilty and they tie him up in the camp.

Robin, Gisborne and Much enter the tunnel but they spring Archer’s trap. Limestone falls threatening to suffocate them. Meanwhile, Allan has escaped his bindings but he comes across some guards and a familiar face. Allan is struck down by arrows as he runs to warn Robin.

Tuck, John and a peasant army sit down to prevent Isabella’s supply cart leaving castle. Archer watches the standoff and intervenes when Kate dares a guard to cut her down. Tuck’s army storm the castle and Archer and Kate dash off to save Robin,, Gisborne in Much. They open the gate holding the three men captive and luckily they are still alive. 

Inside the castle, Kate confronts Isabella and after a brief fight, Isabella is taken by the gang. The gang are then dismayed to discover Allan’s body left outside the castle gates and they have barely recovered from the shock to discover that a huge army is amassing outside the city gates. Vasey is back.

Episode Thirteen – Something Worth Fighting For
(Part 2) aired 27 June 2009

Guest Starring: Clive Standen as Archer, Fraser James as Blamire, Lucy Griffiths as Marian

The real Sheriff of Nottingham (Keith Allen) is back from the dead and, what’s more, he has amassed a formidable professional fighting force outside of Nottingham Castle, where Robin Hood and his allies are holed up. Tension is high and the Sheriff is gloating and spoiling for a fight. His army has sophisticated, fearsome weaponry including a Trebuchet and it’s aimed at those sheltering inside the castle walls.

Still reeling from the death of Allan, Robin and Gisborne ride out to meet their nemesis face to face. The Sheriff tells Robin that if he gives Gisborne and Isabella to him, he may spare the bloodshed. The Sheriff fires Byzantine fire into the city to scare his enemies.

Archer, who has been inspired to join Robin Hood’s side, recognises the weapon as a Byzantine fireball which he’s responsible for bringing back from the Orient. He sold it to the Sheriff. Tuck, meanwhile, shows a surprising knowledge of such substances for a man of the cloth. Both men realise it causes destruction on a scale hitherto unknown – it’s deadly and repels water like oil and now it’s in the hands of the Sheriff.

After burying Allan, Gisborne visits Isabella in prison and gives her poison to end her life in what he sees as an act of mercy. Kate manages to escape the castle and go to Loughborough to request help from the King’s troops. During the night, the gang infiltrate the Sheriff’s camp and disable the trebuchets.

The next day, the Sheriff manages to overcome Robin’s forces and he enters the castle gates with Kate, who has been captured by his men. The Sheriff announces that King Richard has been held to ransom by Leopold of Austria so the troops will not be coming to Robin’s aid. Kate is rescued by the gang. Robin’s army are holed up in the inner gates but their defences are weakening and eventually the Sheriff and his army enter the castle.

Gisborne sees Isabella enter the underground passage and he follows her. They hear a blast and believe Isabella is blasting her way out, but in fact it’s Vasey’s doing and soon he and Blamire have joined them. A swordfight ensues and Robin and Archer join the fight. Robin has Vasey on the floor and is about to strike, but Isabella’s blade is behind him. Gisborne saves Robin but not before Robin is struck across the neck with Isabella’s poisoned blade. The Sheriff puts his sword through Gisborne and Isabella knives him in the back.

As Gisborne dies he tells Archer to save the people by hiding them in the cellars. Declaring that Marian was the love of his life and that because of Robin he will die proud and free, he dies. Cue buckets of tears 🙁

When the Sheriff and all his men are in the Great Hall, Robin fires a flaming arrow from outside the castle which ignites the Byzantine fire that Tuck has made. The castle is destroyed with the Sheriff and Isabella inside.

Back in the forest, Archer is persuaded to join the gang of outlaws. In an emotional final scene, Robin says goodbye to his frends as the poison begins to take hold. He dies in the forest, with a vision of Marian with him as he dies.