Sheriff of Nottingham (ITC)

The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist of the ITC television series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

He was portrayed by the late Alan Wheatley.

History
The Sheriff of Nottingham (no other name given) was appointed by Prince John while King Richard was absent in the crusades. When Robin of Loxley returned to his holdings, which had been granted to Sir Leon after he had been declared dead, the Sheriff was reluctant to allow him to take possession and conspired with Sir Leon to have him killed. The attempt failed, with Sir Leon being killed instead, but the Sheriff took advantage of the situation to have Robin declared an outlaw.

Robin went on to be a permanent thorn in the Sheriff's side, taking charge of Sherwood's outlaws (since he had legal jurisdiction over the forest) and constantly thwarting the Sheriff's attempts to raise funds for Prince John. The Sheriff was loyal to the prince and often plotted against those loyal to King Richard. Despite being a traitor to his king, he considered any action against Prince John to be treason. He would occasionally form an alliance with Robin, such as when he enlisted his help to foil the scheme of a rival for Prince John's favour, but these usually ended in betrayal by both parties. The Sheriff was not above using threats, bribes and coercion to enlist the help of others. One of the closest occasions he came to hanging Robin was when he offered an old crusading comrade of Robin's his old land back in return for leading Robin into a trap: It was only the intervention of two other old comrades that saved him.

The Sheriff's ruthlessness could border on arbitrary at times. When an unflattering song about him tried to circulate shortly before a visit from an ambassador he was hoping to convince to acknowledge John as king, he banned all singing in Nottingham on pain of death. He still failed to prevent the town's children singing songs supporting King Richard.

The Sheriff was highly suspicious of Friar Tuck, rightly believing he was an ally of the outlaws, and made many unsuccessful attempts to expose him or otherwise have him removed, once trying to recommend him for a senior post in order to get rid of him. However, he was always oblivious to the fact that Lady Marian Fitzwarren, who he considered a friend and ally, was secretly loyal to Robin and King Richard.

Ironically, since he had to at least be seen to enforce the law, the Sheriff was often placed in the position of doing Robin's bidding, either by ruling in favour of someone Robin was supporting or by arresting an enemy of his.

The Sheriff was absent from the last half of the fourth and final season. His absence was explained in the episode "The Devil You Don't Know" (although he continued to appear in the next three episodes as a result of them being shown out of the intended order): He was spending winter in London and the Deputy Sheriff of Nottingham was sent to act in his absence.