“It’s not really like me to lash out (Oh, oh, oh, oh) I gotta let it out.”

Episodes: Timelash

Seen: 9th and 16th March 1985

On the 9th March 1985, HTV’s Robin of Sherwood returned to the ITV network for a second series. While the 1984 series had occupied something close to Doctor Who’s once traditional Saturday slot, it had done so without competition from the senior series, Doctor Who then being in the final year of its (first) midweek exile. In 1985, though, the two series were in direct competition. Except they weren’t. Robin of Sherwood was a bright, new thing, despite being based on an old myth. Generously budgeted, it was something the ITV network, as well as its originating franchise HTV, was keen to promote, and it frequently featured in Look-in, the self-described “junior TV Times”.

Doctor Who, a series recently cancelled, reprieved, publicly bashed by its broadcaster and the subject of an unedifying running battle between its viewers and BBC management in the pages of the ostensibly adult Radio Times, in no way occupied the same space in public discourse. Even if it was on at more or less the same time on a Saturday night, depending on ITV’s regional variations.1