After a cautiously lukewarm preview from TV Today, it seems Robin Hood did the business on Saturday night, nicking 8.2 million viewers from under the noses of Ant and Dec and The X Factor. A very, very good result, and one that must have the Beeb smiling, especially combined with the double whammy punch out to ITV with the return of Strictly Come Dancing.
The top five overnight ratings for Saturday night look something like this:
1 …. 8.8m (38.2% share) …. Strictly Come Dancing (19:45) BBC1
2 …. 8.4m (35.9% share) …. The X Factor (20:30) ITV
3 …. 8.2m (37.0% share) …. Robin Hood (19:00) BBC1
4 …. 7.4m (34.4% share) …. Strictly Come Dancing (21:45) BBC1
5 …. 7.1m (41.7% share) …. Match of the Day Live (16:45) BBC1
Source: BARB))
Which, all told, are pretty damn impressive, and Ant and Dec were just edged out by the Nottingham outlaws, still showing at number 6 with a healthy 7 million. So, as happened with the revival of Doctor Who, there is an audience of pushing 16 million viewers who will happily spread themselves across the two main terrestrial channels for Saturday evening TV.
But!
How will the board look next week? This was an unusual night, with lots of publicity surrounding the big BBC launches. Next week, Strictly Come Dancing airs its first slice of the night before Robin Hood, going up against The X Factor at 5.50pm, with Robin slugging it out with the second hour of Cowell’s marathon edition.
Will Robin’s ratings hold up? I doubt it, to be honest, not at 8 million (the Appreciation Index figure was quite low at 74), but I don’t think it will be the ratings tanking that some may be predicting (some of that predicting having being muttered around the hushed cloisters of TV Today towers). Certainly word on the later episodes is very positive, and now that the setup is out of the way, the series should hopefully be able to get down to some proper Merry Menning, and a healthy 5 - 6 million might not be out of the ballpark.
Actually, while we’re on that subject, why this rule that Robin’s chums must be referred to as ‘the gang’ or ‘the outlaws’? What is wrong with Merry Men? I can just see the focus group taking place in Sherwood, wipe board and all, as “the gang” workshop their way through a list of acceptable titles. Why not go the whole hog and have Team: Hood branding on their tunics (or hoodies, as it were). And poor Friar Tuck…
Anyway, coming back on topic (ahem), the quality of what is to come later in the series may be evident in the healthy takings at this year’s Mipcom, currently underway in Cannes. Our moles at the event say that sales to Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Spain and Portugal have been secured, and that more deals are expected to be closed before the weekend.
Could we have misjudged Robin before it had chance to prove itself? Maybe, maybe not. I still stand by the view that the first episode was lacklustre and plodding, but if there’s one thing that the TV industry never does these days is give something a chance. So let’s buck tradition (with apologies to Friar Tuck) and do that just that…
Well Robin Hood. Richard Greene was a nice guy when he did Robin Hood. Jonas Armstrong is also a nice guy, only kills when he has to and keeps within the law as much as possible, especially in his relationship with the Sherriff(who is also a good actor). A veritable David and Saul in the Bible.
Yes Robin Hood is very good very human and more like real life. Three cheers for all the good actors in BBC's Robin Hood on Saturday nights. Beats ANt and Dec!