Doctor Who - The Return of Robin Hood by Paul Magrs (2022)

Doctor Who - The Return of Robin Hood

Paul Magrs

Penguin / Puffin - 2022

Paperback - £7.99

     So I’ve broken my own rules with the first book of the year… well sort of.

I said I was going to rekindle my reading habit by starting the year with some teenage and children's books from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.  I selected the titles I was going to start with, made a pile on the top shelf and then... I ignored them all for a Christmas gift.

However, even though it was published only last year, it is at least a Puffin book and set in the mid 70’s era of Doctor Who, all be it as a sequel of sorts to the 2014 story: The Robot of Sherwood.

Up front I’ll have to say that I’m not a massive fan of that particular TV episode and primarily because I think the idea of the Doctor meeting the predominantly fictional character of Robin Hood, especially such an idealised and mythical version, shatters the illusion of the show.  I would feel the same if he were to meet Dracula, Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan. I watched this episode waiting for the get out of jail card to be played; it’s a computer simulation, it’s a Westworld style theme park, it’s a return to the 1968 Mind Robbers episode and the Land of Fiction.  Some of these would have been thin but they would have been preferable to what we actually got which was that it was all real!  This perfect version of Robin Hood was the one from history, the one on which the myths were all just…. accurately reported?  I don't buy it!

Curious, you might think, that I would be drawn to its sequel then.

Well for starters my first thought was that it wasn’t an actual sequel but rather a fresh take on Robin Hood and perhaps a pass at a more historically accurate iteration - A look at the man that spawned the legend if you will.  That turned out not to be the case but oddly with so many years having passed since their first meeting, this older more cynical take on the outlaw is by default somewhat more believable.

Also and very much on the plus side is that this is the 4^th Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan.  My Doctor and Tardis team from a time when I first remember actively investing in the show.  This is the era of playground re-enactment and discussions about cool monsters and cliff-hanger endings.  These are the foundation stones of my appreciation of the series. When this team is done properly it really is like time traveling back to my childhood.  And as it turns out they are done extremely well in this new book.

Tom Baker’s Doctor is captured perfectly, not just the words but the little gestures and mannerisms.  This is the Doctor of 1975, detoured into a previously untold tale betwixt Cybermen and Zygons.  Likewise, the companions are also pitch perfect. There are so few Harry Sullivan episodes on television that I’m instantly drawn to anything that offers us another glimpse of this charming and likable hero.  And even more so when he’s not cast as the bumbling fool. 

As for Robin and his Merrie Men, well ultimately they are trapped in the broader strokes of the known myth.  The same is also true for Maid Marian, the Sheriff, Gisborne and the Kings, although their purpose is to define the satisfactory conclusion, so there is a little more flexibility in how they hit their marks, as long as they do hit them.  The Kings John and Richard are especially well served up with some historical truths that leave you pondering not just this telling but other versions of Robin Hood that you may have seen or read.  I really liked this element.

And without getting into the realm of spoilers, there is a further villain manipulating the events from the background.  A creature that makes this a science fiction rather than a pseudo-historical story.  It’s a perfect fit as well and so logical that I find myself wondering if that same alien wasn’t lurking behind the scenes of the Robots of Sherwood.  It might retroactively explain quite a few of my own questions.

All in all, and for a man that doesn’t think the Doctor and Robin Hood have any business being in the same story, I really rather enjoyed this book.

It was a nice easy read and charmingly told with an inbuilt nostalgic feel that will probably require periodic revisit. And I would love for Paul Magrs to be allowed to take the Doctor, Sara and Harry out for another adventure soon because he nailed them perfectly in this one.

I also feel I should give a shout out to the cover art by Angelo Rinaldi.  It's simple and iconic and looks for all the world like an image from a TV story you never got to see at the time.  If I still had all of my Target novelisations on the bookshelf, I would definitely slide this in between The Revenge of the Cybermen and The Loch Ness Monster where it rightly belongs.

New Year, new reading list and a cracking start.

And a very final thought on the subject of Robin Hood generally.  I do like the story.  I think its important. I fully expect to bare witness to further TV and film versions in my lifetime.  The message is always relevant but nobody has done anything really interesting with the mechanics of it since the Robin of Sherwood TV series in the early 80s when they gave it a touch of the Doctor Whos.  I'm pretty sure they were the first to add diversity to the usual cast of outlaws. They supplemented the standard sword and arrows story lines with the introduction of dark magics and folklore.  And on top of that they also found an effective means to regenerate the protagonist. It could have gone on for longer.  And for my money, that's the version that has yet to be bettered.  At some point this year, I would like to read the novelisations from that show and maybe look at some of the other creative works of Richard Carpenter in this blog because he's just not talked about as much as he should be.

Steve