Black actor joins Robin Hood's merry men

LONDON, March 28 (UPI) -- Friar Tuck, a short, fat, bald companion in the Robin Hood legend, is being played in a British TV series by a 6-foot tall black actor in good physical shape.

The friar, who joins the British Broadcasting Corp. series in its third season, is also a martial arts expert, The Daily Mail reports.

Actor David Harewood told the newspaper he spent weeks training for the role, although his stunt double provides the martial arts expertise.

Harewood, 43, is a veteran of British stage and television and has appeared in "Blood Diamond" and other movies. He was the first black actor to play the lead in "Othello" at the National Theater.

"Funnily enough, when I first saw Robin Hood when it started three years ago, I though they'd missed a trick and they should have had a black character," he told the Mail. "It turns out that I am the black character so I think it adds a modern dimension to it, as well."

Some historians say the casting makes the series chronologically inaccurate.

"Sub-Saharan Africans wouldn't have been converted by that point, they would have had other religions," said Helen Phillips of Exeter University. "North Africans would have been mostly Muslims."