Roger Moore writes in his autobiography of "Ivanhoe"'s name getting garbled by someone in a scene as "Sir Robin of Ivanhood", which coinage perhaps quirkily symbolises the theory that the knightly side of Robin's character owes something to Walter Scott's character. (Although Robin appears as himself in the book.)
As a matter of fact the series had already changed Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe to Sir Ivanhoe of Rotherwood (presumably feeling Wilfred is not an heroic name to young modern audiences). I cannot however go along with the editor of a reference book I have, which says that the series character bore little or no resemblance to Scott's hero.
"The Adventures" always seems to me to get the best of both worlds regarding Robin's original status. He is certainly a nobleman, but he has the common touch in the best sense, and can mix easily with people of all sorts. Depicting this is greatly helped by the convention (no doubt aimed at overseas sales) of barely using English regional accents. This creates a world that is in one way classless - while the basis of the plot displays the exact opposite, of course.
This plot basis - that the people are under tyrannous subjugation by the Normans - has been itself suggested as owing to Scott's "Ivanhoe". Be that as it may, two adventure series of the late 'fifties both featured a situation produced by the different characters of Richard and his brother John, and the two different Englands they resulted in - those of Robin and of the Sheriff.
I was fond of "Ivanhoe", for all that Roger Moore has sneered about it himself. It opens, of course, like "The Adventures", with the hero coming back to find the world changed.
There were other contributors from "The Adventures". Paul Eddington was in an episode. So was Rufus Cruikshank - the only time I had seen him until I bought the complete "Adventures" ( I suspect they were not in a hurry to choose episodes for release with a replacement Little John). I was fascinated to discover that Felix Van Lieu, who wrote a number of "Ivanhoe"s, was another writing name of Waldo Salt, who wrote for Robin's "Adventures". Joan Rice, Richard Todd's Marian, was in an "Ivanhoe". And how could I have forgotten that Bruce Seton played King Richard this time?
