The Stage

Robin Hood dropped by BBC

Published Thursday 2 July 2009 at 17:24 by Matthew Hemley

BBC1 family drama Robin Hood has been axed by the Corporation after three series.

The final episode of the show’s third outing was broadcast on Saturday, but only managed to pull in just over 1.5 million viewers.

Greg Brenman, head of drama at Tiger Aspect, which made the show, said: “We have been immensely proud to be the most recent custodians of the Robin Hood legend. From the outset it was our ambition to find an exciting and modern way of interpreting our version of the hero and his legendary life. We have had a fantastic time creating and producing Robin Hood, working with some of the most talented actors, writers and directors in our industry. We are sad to be saying goodbye to this much-loved project but we are extremely excited by our upcoming BBC drama commissions – of which more to follow.”

Speculation about the show’s future had been mounting after it was revealed its star, Jonas Armstrong, was to leave after the third run.

However, in an interview with The Stage, At Home with the Braithwaites writer Sally Wainwright revealed she was developing ideas for a fourth series, and was to become the drama’s showrunner.

At the time, she said the BBC has asked her to “reinvent it”, and added that she wanted the fourth outing to be more like Doctor Who in terms of the quality of its script and the show’s direction.

Wainwright declined to comment when approached by The Stage today.