The Adventures of Robin Hood Season 1 Episode 9: Checkmate

A young man is taken by soldiers to become a soldier himself for Count de Waldern. His grandmother beseeches Maid Marian to help her get back her grandson. Maid Marian visit the Count to plead for the return of this young man, but the Count would only oblige if she would agree to having a dinner with him. Count de Waldern has been taken young men around the area for some time now so there must be a reason. If these young men are to be soldier then they must need armour, so off to the armoury Robin goes. The Armoury is working full tilt for the Count de Waldern for his domestic soldiers but for what purpose. Is it for the crusades or a revolt?

Personal Synopsis

Checkmate is an episode where we see internal strife building within England. Maid Marian is sent to the Count to help a villager of her township. The Count is a smooth cat using the boy as ransom for the attendance of Maid Marian to dinner. This crafty ploy to get a beautiful woman to come to dinner works but not after Maid Marian devises her own plan against the Count. Paired with the Outlaws, they play a chess game against a man looking for a damsels hand and the armouries weapons and shields. His aspirations will have to wait as the Outlaws squash his plans.

Original Air-Date: 21 November 1955

Directed by Ralph Smart

Written by Anne Rodney

Robin Hood- Richard Greene

Sheriff of Nottingham- Alan Wheatley

Cedric/ Outlaw/Soldier- Victor Woolf

Little John- Archie Duncan

Count de Waldern- Leslie Phillips

Friar Tuck- Alexander Gauge

Maid Marian- Bernadette O’Farrell

Armourer- Alastair Hunter

Jean-Pierre, The Major Domo- Willoughby Gray