Judi Trott as Marion

One of the most influential versions of the Robin Hood legend in recent times was the hugely successful TV series Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986). This wonderfully mystical production was created by Richard ‘Kip’ Carpenter for Harlech Television and had Michael Praed as Robin of Loxley, Clive Mantle as Little John, Ray Winstone as Will Scarlet and Judi Trott (pictured above) as Marion of Leaford. Today it still has a huge following with an international fan base and an excellent website at http://www.robinofsherwood.org/

This stunning picture of Judi Trott as Marion, was sent in by Mike, who like me is a huge fan of the series. Judi was born in Plymouth, England in 1962 and trained as a ballet dancer before attending the London Studio Centre where she qualified as an actress. After appearing in several TV movies, including ‘Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story’ in 1982 she eventually beat Jenny Seagrove to the role of Marion of Leaford. This according to some sources was because the producers were impressed with her, ‘pre-Raphaelite beauty and her mane of red hair’!

Judi was very familiar with the Robin Hood legend and loved the film ‘Robin and Marian’ (1976) with Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery (she later worked alongside Sean’s son Jason in the third series). But she confesses that she was never very good when it came to sword play and the production crew had to use clever angles to make it look good. She did enjoy the archery and impressed her instructor with her natural posture, which was partly due to her ballet training. But sometimes things did go wrong!

"They used to put plastic around the cameras so nobody would get hurt”, Judi said “although many of the arrows had rubber tips. But, they used to barricade themselves in when they knew I was going to be firing and arrow! Once, I went over the barrier. It was a beautiful shot - went miles! Some spark [electrician] was sitting in his generator some 200 yards away and suddenly felt a thud!. My arrow had gone straight through the bushes and hit the van! Fortunately, he was inside the van at the time."