Robin of Sherwood–the Doctor Who connections

Yesterday I wrote about meeting a few actors (John Abineri, Mark Ryan, Jeremy Bulloch) from Robin of Sherwood at a convention, some of whom had also appeared on Doctor Who. It got me wondering about how many actors and main production team personnel the two series have in common.

(Daily Doctor Who #146)

Robin of Sherwood (also known as simply Robin Hood) was a popular fantasy-adventure series about Robin Hood, that ran for three seasons–about 24 episodes in total, depending on how counts the double-length episodes–in the mid-1980’s. Doctor Who I expect we all know about–the long-running British science fiction series. Due to its length and the seeming small number of successful British working actors over the decades, it’s not uncommon to spot faces in other productions who are familiar to Doctor Who fans.

I looked at the same thing with Blake’s 7 a little while ago (here and here), a show that functioned much more like a “sister show” to Doctor Who then Robin of Sherwood ever did. So I don’t expect to see any sort of correlation like that. But I know there are a few notable links.

Robin Hood and the Sorcerer (1.1)

• John Abineri made his first out of 18 appearances in this episode as Herne the Hunter, the shaman-like figure who “called” the series’ two “Robin Hoods” to rise up as champions of the people. He appeared in four different Doctor Who serials–Fury from the Deep (1968), The Ambassadors of Death (1970), Death to the Daleks (1974) and The Power of Kroll (1978-1979).

• Roger Pearce was a camera operator for a total of 17 episodes of Robin of Sherwood, starting with this one. He was also a camera operator on 13 episodes of Doctor Who with the Tenth Doctor, over Series 2, 3, 4 & the specials that followed Series 4.

• Terry Walsh did stunts on this and most episodes of Robin of Sherwood, and was also involved in stunts and acting (much uncredited) on dozens of Doctor Who episodes, as early as The Smugglers (1966) with the First Doctor, through to the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors, with his last involvement apparently being The Creature from the Pit (1979).

Seven Poor Knights from Acre (1.3)

• Simon Rouse (Siward) was Hindle in the Fifth Doctor story Kinda (1982).

The Prophesy (2.1)

• Simon Dutton (Mark / Henry of Skipton) was Alistair on The Time of Angels (2010) from the Eleventh Doctor’s first season.

• Phil Davis makes his debut as Prince John in this episode, a role he would play two more times. He showed up as Lucius in the Tenth Doctor story The Fires of Pompeii (2008)

The Children of Israel (2.2)

• David de Keyser (Joshua de Talmont) was the voice of the Atraxi in first Eleventh Doctor story, The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Lord of the Trees (2.3)

• Jeremy Bulloch makes his first of eight appearances as Edward of Wickham. He was one of the actors that I met at that convention, and he appeared in Doctor Who twice–once with the First Doctor in The Space Museum (1965) and once with the Third Doctor in The Time Warrior (1973-1974)

The Swords of Wayland (2.5)

• Dallas Adams (Peter Verdelet) was Professor Howard Foster–and by extension, the shapeshifting robot Kamelion, in the Fifth Doctor story The Planet of Fire (1984)

• Rula Lenska (Morgwyn of Ravenscar) was also in a Fifth Doctor story, The Resurrection of the Daleks (1984)

Herne’s Son, Part I (3.1 & 3.2)

• Jason Connery debuted in this episode, as the “second” Robin Hood of the series, and went on to star for the rest of the series. He appeared in Doctor Who in the Sixth Doctor story, Vengeance on Varos (1985)

• James Coombes (Grendel–a character he also played in both parts of the season finale) was in the Fifth Doctor story Warriors of the Deep (1984)

• Daniel Peacock (Sergeant Sparrow) was in the Seventh Doctor story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988)

The Power of Albion (3.3)

• Max Faulkner (Oliver) appeared in a variety of Doctor Who stories–with the Third Doctor in The Ambassadors of Death (1970) and The Monster of Peladon (1974); and with the Fourth Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks (1975), The Android Invasion (1975) and The Invasion of Time (1978). Plus some other uncredited appearances.

• George Baker (Sir Richard of Leaford) was in the Fourth Doctor story Full Circle (1980)

• Gerry Mill was the director of this episode (and three later episodes–Cromm Cruac, Adam Bell, and Rutterkin). He also directed the Second Doctor serial The Faceless Ones (1967)

The Sheriff of Nottingham (3.5)

• Kenneth Sharp worked as a production designer for this episode, something he did for five episodes in total. He was the designer on three Doctor Who serials–The Macra Terror (1967) with the Second Doctor, The Claws of Axos (1971) with the Third Doctor, and The Robots of Death (1977) with the Fourth Doctor.

The Cross of St. Ciricus (3.6)

• Brendan Price (Abbot Martin) was in the Fourth Doctor story The Face of Evil (1977)

Cromm Cruac (3.7)

• Richard Bonehill (Driver) played a variety of uncredited guards and officers over several different Fifth and Sixth Doctor Doctor Who stories, including the Terror of the Vervoids section of The Trial of a Time Lord (1986).

The Betrayal (3.8)

• This episode was written by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch, who also wrote the serial Meglos (1980), a Fourth Doctor Doctor Who serial.

Adam Bell (3.9)

• Patrick Travis (Matthew) was an uncredited Kaled scientist in Genesis of the Daleks (1975) with the Fourth Doctor.

The Pretender (3.10)

• Cory Pulman (Queen Isabella) was in the Seventh Doctor story The Curse of Fenric (1989) as the woman who turned out to be the grandmother of the companion Ace.

• In perhaps the most significant Doctor Who appearance in all of Robin of Sherwood, William Russell shows up in this episode (credited as Russel Enoch) as the Duke of Gloucester. He was Ian Chesterton for the first two seasons of Doctor Who, one of the Doctor’s original companions.

Rutterkin (3.11)

• Stephen MacKenna (Walter Clout) was a guard who gets murdered in the debut Thirteenth Doctor story, The Woman Who Fell to Earth (2018)

• Michael Craig (The Earl of Huntington) was the Commodore in the Terror of the Vervoids segment of The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) alongside the Sixth Doctor.

The Time of the Wolf Part I (3.12 & 3.13)

• Iain Armstrong (a Villager) was a technician in The Armageddon Factor (1979), a Fourth Doctor story.

And that’s it! I’m surprised to realize how many Robin of Sherwood cast and crew were actually involved with the revival series of Doctor Who, as recently as Series 11. Obviously, as I said, there’s not as much cross-over as there was with Blake’s 7, but there are still some interesting appearances by familiar actors in both shows. Maybe more than we’d find in Red Dwarf? I’m curious to look that one up at some point too.