Maid Marian and Her Merry Men/Characters

Maid Marian And Her Merry Men was a children's Sit Com made by The BBC, based on Robin Hood and written by Tony Robinson, who also played the Sheriff. Considered by some to be Blackadder's Younger Cousin series.

Maid Marian
"The heroine and titular character; a passionate revolutionary who wages a constant war against tyranny and injustice -- or at least tries to, in spite of the well-intentioned "help" she gets from her rather incompetent band of Merry Men. She's probably the smartest character on the show, frequently functioning as the Only Sane Woman, though even she can get some strange ideas when it comes to what outlaw heroes are supposed to do."


 * Action Girl
 * Deadpan Snarker: She gets really creative when thinking up insults.
 * Flanderization (Started out as a well blanced Type B Tsundere but by season 4, she was always angry about something.)
 * The Hero
 * Important Haircut: Gets one in the last season, because her actress Kate Lonergan had her hair cut for a stage play she was in between seasons three and four, and there wasn't time to grow it back.
 * Only Sane Woman
 * Wide Eyed Idealist: She has traces of this, though the world lets her down every time.

Robin "Hood" of Kensington
"The biggest hero and most ruthless outlaw in all England -- or so people think, thanks to various mishaps and misunderstandings. In reality, Robin is a vain and cowardly fool who worked as a tailor before circumstances forced him into the life of an outlaw. He is (at least in Marian's eyes) the stupidest and most useless of the Merry Men, though he does occasionally make himself useful; for example, it was his idea that the Merry Men all dress in green so as to "co-ordinate with the trees.""


 * The Dandy
 * Fake Ultimate Hero: Only the other Merry Men see him for the foolish coward he really is; to everyone else he's the greatest hero in the land. Partly this is pure accident and partly because he thinks it's a cool image to cultivate.
 * The Fool
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Despite his selfish and self-centered nature, he's really quite soft-hearted and kind, even towards his enemies.
 * Lovable Coward
 * The Munchausen: With a heavy accent on Miles Gloriosus.
 * Ted Baxter: It's not uncommon for him to let the praise of the people go to his head and begin thinking he's as awesome as everyone says.
 * Upperclass Twit

Little Ron
"An Affectionate Parody of Little John; Little Ron is the smallest but scrappiest of the Merry Men. He's known for his violent outbursts, and basically joined Marian because it seemed a good way to get into more fights."


 * Badass
 * Fearless Fool: Little Ron owns no fear or respect for anything and is usually the first to charge into danger (though he does occasionally get confused and charges in the wrong direction).
 * Hair Trigger Temper
 * Pint Sized Powerhouse: He's the most effective fighter in the group, and has on several occasion simultaneoulsy taken on two or three people twice his size, and won with no difficulty.

Barrington
"The Merry Men's resident Rastafarian who also occasionally functions as the series' All Knowing Singing Narrator. He's a cool, laid-back sort who seldom worries about anything and is probably the smartest of the Merry Men, bar Marian."


 * All Knowing Singing Narrator: Not in every episode, but in a notable number of them, Barrington will be in the opening scenes performing an expositionary song or rap.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Not quite on the level of Marian or the Sheriff, but he's definitely on a solid third place.
 * Fourth Wall Observer: Even outside his narration songs, he'll sometimes cast an aside glance to the camera and make an offhand comment towards the viewer.
 * Hey Its That Guy (Danny John Jules)
 * Jive Turkey
 * Nice Hat

Rabies
"The biggest, strongest and slowest Merry Man, Rabies is much like a naive child in an adult man's body. He's usually two steps behind everyone else and seldom has any idea what's going on, though he will occasionally display a bit of Simpleminded Wisdom, even if he mostly doesn't use it in any particularly practical way."


 * The Big Guy
 * The Ditz: Opinion varies on whether Rabies or Robin is the stupidest of the Merry Men, though Rabies is more frequently at loss as to what's going on.
 * Dumbass Has a Point: Happens occasionally.
 * Dumb Is Good: There's no denying that he's probably the sweetest and kindest character on the show.
 * Dumb Muscle
 * Gentle Giant

King John
"The violent and unstable monarch of England, who has No Indoor Voice, no manners and no gratitude. He spends a good deal pf his time tyrannizing his people, his employees and just about anyone else he can think of, and the remainder of the time yelling at them -- with perhaps a the occasional minute devoted to wondering why nobody likes him."


 * Axe Crazy
 * Bad Boss: Just ask the Sheriff.
 * Big Bad
 * Jerkass
 * Kick the Dog: All the time, especially if the "dog" is the Sferiff, though sometimes, if he's in a good mood or if it's funnier, he'll just Poke the Poodle.
 * Large Ham: Forbes Collins clearly has great fun with this role.
 * Surrounded By Idiots: One of the reasons why he's always so angry.

The Sheriff of Nottingham
"King John's devious, scheming and much put-upon stooge; he basically acts not only as Sheriff and tax collector but as the King's personal servant and attendant as well. He is without question the most intelligent and competent bad guy in the series, but thanks to a huge unlucky streak and the Merry Men's ability to pull off schemes at the very last minute generally ends up losing."


 * Author Avatar
 * Deadpan Snarker: Oh, how much.
 * Dirty Coward: His biggest Achilles Heel; he'll back away from any fight he's not one hundred percent certain to win.
 * The Chew Toy: He's the most abused character in the series, bar none.
 * Embarrassing First Name: Arnold, as revealed in the season three episode, Keeping Mum.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: To King John.
 * Nice Hat
 * Only Sane Man: He is to the bad guys what Marian is to the good guys. Though they're antagonists, they do occasionally find some common ground in reacting to the stupidity of everyone else.
 * Spot Light Stealing Squad: In later seasons.
 * Surrounded By Idiots

Gary & Graeme
"Two guards at the King's Castle (at times it seems like they're the only two guards employed by the King) who function as the Sheriff's bumbling Sidekicks. They both have cheerful and sunny dispositions and are far more friendly and affable than him."


 * Anti Villain
 * Minion With an F In Evil
 * Those Two Bad Guys

"Rotten" Rose Scargill
"Marian's old schoolmate and former best friend. Their friendship ended when Rose "stole" Marian's boyfriend, beginning a feud that ended with them both getting expelled from school. Rose is almost as cunning and sneaky as the Sheriff is, though even more selfish; she will do almost anything for even the slightest personal gain. She describes herself as Robin's biggest fan."


 * Rival Turned Evil
 * Stalker With a Crush: To Robin.

Guy Of Gisborne
"King John's spoiled, bratty and completely brainless nephew who was sent to live with his uncle by his mother, who had decided it was about time he went out into the big wide world and lived a little. He is the only person on the show the King does not dare to mistreat, for two reasons: His mother pays quite handsomely for the expenses, and if she found out that her son wasn't happy, she would do "that nasty thing with a pencil" to King John."


 * Adult Child
 * The Ditz
 * Mommas Boy

Gladys
"Possibly the most prominent of the inhabitants of the village of Worksop, Gladys is the resident Wise Woman (though she's the first to admit she's under-qualified) who occasionally dabbles in witchcraft. She's an old friend of Barrington, who calls her his "main man," and has picked up quite a bit of his slang. Or maybe it's the other way around?"


 * Cool Old Lady
 * Jive Turkey: She has definite traces of it anyway, especially when talking to Barrington.

Snooker
"Along with Gladys, Snooker is the main peasant character in the show, and acts as a sort of leader and spokesman for the villagers, in many ways being the "voice of the common man.""


 * Generic Guy: For the village of Worksop, anyway; despite being the villager who gets the most screen time he's remarkably unremarkable.
 * The Fool: Like most of the villagers.
 * Punny Name: His name was revealed in the end of the third episode for the sole purpose of a joke, when the Sheriff (as a mocking reward for a favor he'd done him) gave him some wooden balls, some sticks and a wooden triangle and told him that he could become rich and famous if he made a game out of it and named it after himself.

Little Girl
"A young village girl who featured in the first season. She's definitely smarter than your average villager, and is fully aware just how stupid the others are."


 * Deadpan Snarker
 * No Name Given: She's the only character in the show who is never named; the credits only refer to her as "Little Girl." (Then again, given the intelligence level of the villagers, that may very well be her actual name.)
 * Rumor has it that Tony Robinson was originally going to call her "Chlamydia" or "Cystitis," but wasn't allowed by the BBC.

Nettle
"A young village girl who featured in the second season, and probably the most intelligent of all the villagers. She's a good friend of Marian."


 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: She looks and acts much like a slightly older version of Little Girl.
 * She herself got a Suspiciously Similar Substitute in the third season, named Haley.