Sherwood

The small town of Sherwood is rocked when one of its own is killed by an unknown bowman in the small hours.

Compelling drama this, every now and then a drama comes along and grabs you, it intrigued, tantalises and immerses you, Broadchurch, Line of Duty, and a few others, Sherwood is very close to being on par with them.

Great storytelling, a powerful scenario, being someone that had coal miners in the family, those divisions are real, and still felt all these years later, the way in which they captured that feeling, incredible.

The acting, sublime, a raft of Britain's best appear here, David Morrissey, Robert Glenister, Claire Holman are all great. Worth watching for the masterclass from Adeel Akhtar, he is astonishing.

Powerful, emotive, captivating, Part five is flawless. I'm surprised that a second series has been commissioned, but why not, hopefully it will be the same standard as the first.

Great viewing, 9/10.

The first series of Sherwood was excellent, but unfortunately the second one is not up to the same standard.

It's set in the same part of the country, but much closer to the present day, dealing with more current issues.

One problem with it is that (unlike the first series) there's no mystery. It's not a whodunnit. The gruesome murders are shown in full so you know who killed who.

The second problem is that many aspects of the story just aren't plausible. The behaviour of the characters is not consistent, especially the young woman who goes along with something that she would never do in episode 2. Also there's a bizarre coincidence that the hunter and the hunted just happen to go to the same place and even the same cafe on the same day. And suppose the police wanted to hide away two black people somewhere that they would blend in and not be noticed, where would they place them? Rural Lincolnshire?? There's an unexpected twist at the end of episode 2, but again it's ridiculously unbelievable, so at that point I gave up.

Despite all this, the performances are brilliant, from all the cast. If you think of Monica Dolan as the comical cuddly Welsh lady from W1A, then I'm not being funny or anything, but her character in Sherwood will come as quite a shock.

With one of the greatest TV casts put together since State of Play, this series promised to be interesting. But the first episode has surpassed my hopes -- the essential background to this drama is brilliantly sketched as we are introduced to the large range of characters, and it is beautifully written, shot and performed. It was so gripping I watched it twice, not wanting to let it go, and counting down the hours to tomorrow night. If it is half as good, the week between episodes 2 and 3 will seem an eternity.

We need much, much more drama like this.

Set in a small mining village of Annesley adjacent to Sherwood Forest near Nottingham, this series partially recreates the true story of the unusual cross bow murder of local retired miner Keith "Froggy" Frogson although depicted as fictitious Gary Jackson (Alun Armstrong). Set against the backdrop of the hugely divisive 1984 miners' strike, the village was home to many local miners who broke from the National Union of Mineworkers' famous protracted and often violent fight with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government, hellbent on breaking the power of dominant trade unions, by crossing picket lines and working the local mines. Striking local miners never forgave the "scabs" in their midst and tensions still simmered beneath the surface decades later.

The series features a veritable 'Who's Who' of fabulous British acting talent and contains many flashbacks to 1984 to various incidents between then young police officers and striking families with complex relationships 40 years on now strained by the investigation. The suspected murderer terrorizes the village with random arrow attacks whilst hiding out in the very forest made famous by Robin Hood lending a compellingly surreal mythological backdrop to the extensive manhunt.

The acting across the board is of universally excellent quality and the plot, character development and pace are fantastic with a gripping and compelling pace that makes for great binge worthy viewing.

October 12, 2022 - I have to congratulate the creator of this series, James Graham, and his production company for producing this extremely good series. The acting, directing, writing, and production values are all excellent. The number of well known British actors in the production is amazing. This series shows that plots based on historical events can be somewhat informative and entertaining at the same time. It is an example of a truly quality production, in comparison to much of the cookie cutter "dramas" being produced currently. Dramas that are used to advance political and social agendas, with the desire to be entertaining being only of secondary importance. There is, I believe, a political message in Sherwood. However, I think that it is skillfully included, and is one that people of most political persuasions can agree with. Which is that governmental authoritarian overreach should always be resisted by the citizens of any democracy.