A packed house assembled in London last night for the first screening of Robin Hood, and opinion is divided on whether the Beeb’s £8 million was money well spent.  Manchester Evening News’s Ian Wylie, writing in The Life of Wylie, lets it off the hook by reminding us that this is "a show aimed … at a family audience" and that "the first episode has a difficult job in having to establish the characters while setting up the rest of the series and keeping us hooked into the bargain."

Radio Times soap correspondent and ex-Guardian TV critic Gareth McLean was not so forgiving however…

Writing in "comment is free" on the Guardian pages, McLean lets rip with both barrels (which is unfortunate, since gunpowder wasn’t available in 13th century England): "If this is the central plank of BBC1′s autumn schedule," he writes, "they should check for dry rot," and he goes on to say that everything about the show lacks genuine passion, excitement and daring, the script has no emotion, is heavy-handed and dull, and the leaden pace delivers only "20 minutes worth of plot in a 45 minute show."

Ouch.

But there’s one thing both writers agree on – Lucy Griffiths’ Marian is a "sexy, ‘kick-ass’ version" (this phrase had to be in the preview’s collateral; both men use it) who has the potential to beat Doctor Who’s Rose in the actual number of asses kicked, and the quality of the kicking.  "It’s always dangerous to judge anything on a first episode alone," finishes Wylie, implying that the first episode is, indeed, a bit of a dog.  He entreats us: "This is one show you should stick with."