So the critics, by and large, liked Robin Hood, the BBC's latest attempt to win the Saturday night ratings battle in the months of the year that Doctor Who isn't on. Judging by the ratings (8.2 million against 6.3 million for The X Factor on ITV1), the viewers did too. Except, we don't have to judge by the ratings or the critics any more. We have the BBC talk boards and fansites and blogs to go by as well. And the viewers, it seemed, absolutely bloody hated it.
"Bad acting, terrible direction, appalling dialogue, the whole show doesn't seem to know what programme it wants to be - an historical epic yet a modern take on it," says one fan on the BBC site.
"Crapulous diaglogue and Maid Marion in a wonderbra," says another.
I side with the viewers - and A A Gill, who's usually on the money. Gareth McLean was right in his preview for Comment is Free - it's a stinker. Dominic Minghella's script is shockingly bad - did no-one think he needed a script editor? That leaden Iraq war reference should have fallen at the first revision. The acting is as wooden as Sherwood Forest, with not a hint of chemistry between the characters. The direction was a loose as the sheriff of Nottingham's morals. The whole thing was held together with string - or rather strings, as the best thing about it was the music, which, given the paucity of the dialogue, was mercifully loud.
I don't quite understand why the critics couldn't see all this. Maybe they were transfixed by the all those shots of heaving bosoms. Who knew that Wonderbras were all the rage in 1192? (And buckles, which didn't come for another 300 years, apparently.) Or maybe they were afraid of "calling it wrong". In the age of blogs, instant messaging and talkboards, they are, after all, a breed under threat.
Oh and I notice that the BBC, after asking for viewers' reviews on bbc.co.uk/robinhood, hasn't put a single one up yet. I wonder why?!
