At the Robin of Sherwood event, the main question I was asked when I was chatting to people was how I'd prepared for the interviews, so I thought it might be interesting to give people a behind the scenes peek into what I'd done.
Two years ago I was asked to be part of the interviewing team for the 40th anniversary celebration of Robin of Sherwood. Knowing I would be working alongside Tim, who is an old hand at this kind of event, I eventually plucked up my courage and nervously agreed to take on the role. I'd had my doubts about it - I'm more used to interviewing at small-scale book launches and there are many people in the fandom who know far more about the programme than I do - but I was determined that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it properly. Consequently, I started amassing a collection of resources I thought might be of use in preparing myself and with just over two months to go, I hit the books.
I approached my research for the interviews in the same way I approach my research when I'm writing my books, essentially immersing myself in the world I'm preparing to step into. The main difference is that when I'm researching for my books, it's generally a much more limited field. For Robin of Sherwood, there are so many people involved, who have done such a wide range of work between them, that it's almost impossible to put a limit on the avenues you can travel down. In the end, I turned to the things I love best - books - and decided to start there. I read general background on the show, then took each episode in turn, reading about it and making notes, then watching it, making more notes and noting down possible questions.
Here is my Robin Hood reading list for March, April and May - some I physically read myself, others I listened to on audio as I sewed bags and cross stitched for the stall. Then I moved onto documentaries about Robin Hood to remind myself of the legends.
Books
Hooded Man Volume 1 - Andrew Orton
Ivanhoe - Walter Scott
The Hooded Man Volume 2 - Andrew Orton
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle
Robin of Sherwood The Complete Look In Comics
Robin of Sherwood - Richard Carpenter
The Hounds of Lucifer - Richard Carpenter
The Hooded Man - Anthony Horowitz
The Time of the Wolf - Richard Carpenter
The Knights of the Apocalypse - Richard Carpenter
Documentaries
Timeline Robin Hood: The Truth Behind The Legend
Unsolved Mysteries - Robin Hood
History's Mysteries - The True Story of Robin Hood
Robin Hood The Outlawed Hero
Films/TV Programmes
Robin of Sherwood Series 1-3 (3 times!)
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
Men In Tights
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
Disney's Robin Hood
outtakes of Robin of Sherwood
Once I felt as though I'd got a handle on both the legends and some of the adaptations of them, it was time to turn my attention to other things the cast and crew had been involved in, to start thinking about how I could link what they had done in other areas, to their time on Robin of Sherwood. I read briefly about other parts they'd played/directed where I didn't have time for a detailed watch of programmes/films.
Film/TV
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sharpe
Sherlock
Thomas the Tank Engine Interviews with Jason and Esta
Chariots of Fire
various clips from other programmes
background information about guests (Google was my friend)
Foyle's War
Midsomer Murders
Poirot
Children of the Stones
Much Ado About Nothing
Reading
The Falcon's Malteser - Anthony Horowitz
Groosham Grange - Anthony Horowitz
The Word is Murder - Anthony Horowitz
Forever And A Day - Anthony Horowitz
With A Mind To Kill - Anthony Horowitz
The Sentence is Death - Anthony Horowitz
A Line To Kill - Anthony Horowitz
The Twist of a Knife - Anthony Horowitz
Stormbreaker - Anthony Horowitz
Public Enemy Number Two - Anthony Horowitz
South By South East - Anthony Horowitz
The Blurred Man - Anthony Horowitz
The Devil and His Boy - Anthony Horowitz
The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz
Point Blanc - Anthony Horowitz
The French Confection - Anthony Horowitz
Articles about second wave feminism in the 1980s
print interviews with cast and crew
reviews of theatre performances
When the panels were put together, I then started thinking about what the general theme of each panel could be and how to make links not only between the various questions I'd written and the general interview topic, but also between the guests themselves. I also needed to ensure that each guest had ample opportunity to speak and that the questions were evenly distributed amongst them.
I was very lucky that when I'd done my first draft of suggested topics and questions, I was able to phone Tim and talk them through with him - by this point we had learnt I was going to be doing the vast majority of the interviews as Tim was unable to attend, but being the superstar he is, he was continuing to support my preparation. His suggestions for tweaks and changes and things I'd missed off, were invaluable, but the fact he liked most of what I'd put together was a massive confidence boost.
Then it was a case of sending it all off to Jonathan, Della and Tony so that the cast and crew could have advance notice of what I was planning to ask if they wanted it. Once that was done, it was 'simply' a case of trying to stop the nerves settling in. I'll be honest - I didn't sleep very well in the lead up to the event - but everyone, from the cast and crew, to the events team and the attendees, were so incredibly supportive that I ended up loving every minute I was up on stage. For someone who is happiest lurking in the background pretending to be invisible, to be hooked up to a very professional looking microphone set up, with video and stills camera capturing every minute, it says a lot that I was able to enjoy those conversations.
For now though, it's back to the day job - the book and blog writing, the publishing company and the actual job that pays for me to do the rest of it!
My links:
Blog: www.reloten.com/blog
So, the only question now is... when can we do it all again?
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