"The book explores the history of swashbuckling television from its origins in the 1950s to the present day. It maps the major production cycles of the Anglophone swashbuckler both in Britain and in the United States and places the genre in its historical, cultural and institutional contexts. It shows how the success of The Adventures of Robin Hood in the 1950s established a template for a genre that has been one of the most successful of British television exports, and considers how America responded to this 'British invasion' with its own swashbuckling heroes such as Zorro."--Back cover.