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“After series one, I was invited back to that hotel to be part of an evening celebrating current BBC shows while different companies come down and try to sell their new shows for next year.” “, I was working in a hotel as a waitress,” says Griffiths. So that was my only audition – I was very fortunate I had such a good agent backing me, but the fact it was just the one is crazy when you think about it.” “The BBC wanted to fly me back for screen tests, but ITV, understandably, wouldn’t allow me to mess around with their schedule. I just went for it – and the next day, I flew off to India for six weeks to do Losing Gemma for ITV,” Armstrong added. “Because I didn’t think I had a hope in it, I didn’t feel nervous. I was 25! When my agent called to say ‘Jonas, you’ve got an audition for Robin Hood’, I thought okay cracking, who’s it for? My agent said “Robin Hood” – I laughed and said ‘no, who’s it for?’. “I was keen to get a meeting, maybe for Will Scarlet or Alan-a-Dale. “Everyone was hearing about Robin Hood, ” says Jonas Armstrong. “I didn’t have time to do any research, there wasn’t time to worry about past comparisons – it literally was off the plane, onto a horse, be entertaining.” Obviously, the person who had been cast pulled out at the last moment and nobody else was available…” “No audition, no interview, nothing: you fly out to Budapest in four days. “My agent phoned to say you’ve been offered the part of the Sheriff,” recalls Keith Allen. Who do you think you are, Lord of the Dance?” We had a little bit of a fight, and I’m really happy to have won that battle,” says Minghella, before doing an impression of Armitage in the first episode. “I think Richard Armitage lied and said he was under 30, or maybe we lied, because I desperately wanted him. Harry Lloyd, Gordon Kennedy, Joe Armstrong, who is a class act, we had a fantastic cast.” Will Beck, who’s the star of Casualty now. Lovely Lucy, such poise for a 19-year-old. Jonas, obviously, a proper cheeky chappy. That cast was brilliant,” says Minghella. “It was a good opportunity to find great people who were new, though. It was the longest audition process I’ve ever had! I think there was some concern about my age, because I was only 19, but in the end, they trusted me.” “That was the first of four auditions I did over two or three months.
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I liked the scenes, I felt they could suit me,” remembers Lucy Griffiths, who played Marian in the first two series of Robin Hood. “I did a first audition with Dominic, Foz, and Michelle Guish. The average audience of BBC One was about 75 – ‘we need to bring it down to 69, can you please put some young people in your show?’” Minghella jokes. “Often we were putting people forward who were over 30 and the BBC came back saying ‘it’s a show for young people, a lads and dads show, we want fresh young faces’. Jonas Armstrong, Sam Troughton, Gordon Kennedy, Harry Lloyd and Joe ArmstrongĪt this point, the casting process started – though not without some initial back-and-forth. It’s stressful, but the kind of stress you want.” Everybody loved that, it was greenlit, and suddenly we were producing 13 episodes on a tight budget. “I’d written one script, as a ‘here’s how I would do Robin Hood’. “When it was go, it was really go really quick,” says Minghella. “Dom was a very experienced writer, I was a very experienced producer, it felt like exactly the right meeting of minds to tell a well-known story in an exciting way,” says Allan. “I didn’t have a burning ambition to retell the tale of Robin Hood, but Foz was somebody who was secure enough in his own production role to be willing to share it.” It sounded like a great opportunity: it came at a time in my career where I realised I wanted to be a producer as well as a writer,” says Minghella, explaining what drew him to the show. “I was in the middle of Doc Martin when Foz asked if I could do Robin Hood. “They said to him ‘oh we’ve been talking about that actually’, and quickly called Foz.” He had young kids at the time, as did Foz and I, and arrived asking why isn’t there a Robin Hood on Saturday nights? That was where all the creative energy was focused, Saturday night,” continues Minghella. “But then Peter Fincham joined as controller of BBC One. They weren’t hugely interested!” says Dominic Minghella. “Foz had been into the BBC and said – there was big excitement around Doctor Who on Saturday night – there should be room in the schedule for another show like it as well. “I said to Greg Brenman, then Head of Drama at Tiger Aspect, if Doctor Who works they’re going to want more of these family dramas,” remembers Foz Allan. The series began life when Doctor Who first went into production. For details on how we use your data, please see our privacy policy.