7.30pm Sunday, 30 March 2008

Strange things are happening in Locksley Manor - is there too much honey in Robin Hood's camp? Whatever happened to fighting for justice and rebelling against the wicked Sheriff?

Deep in the heart of England tonight a wounded emissary from King Richard arrives with a message for Robin (Jonas Armstrong). But Gisborne (Richard Armitage) intercedes and turns the messenger away before Robin can get to him. It seems the only one who knows anything about the messenger is the Manor's Fool (Matthew Horne), but can the Sheriff of Nottingham (Keith Allen) get anything but a joke out of the cheeky trickster?
Determined to find a rational explanation to all the chaos, the Sheriff sends his men to hunt down the wounded messenger. The man dies, but not before communicating the King's request that Robin join him in the Holy Land and uttering the mysterious word "Lardner".
Both camps are soon in an uproar as no one knows what the word - or the "Lardner's Ring" which the Fool speaks of - could mean. The Sheriff and Gisborne set to work ransacking Locksley and terrorising the villagers, certain that whatever Lardner's Ring is, it will be found there.
Meanwhile, Robin is distracted by his plans for a future with Marian (Lucy Griffiths), and Much (Sam Troughton) complains that there's too much 'honey' in the camp with everyone splitting into couples.
"What happened to fighting for justice and rebelling against the Sheriff?" shrills Much. If Robin's going to figure out the Lardner puzzle, there's going to have to be some changes in the outlaw camp.