As if Sherwood could get any better…the addition of Monica Dolan sends James Graham’s TV show into all-time classic territory in just two episodes
“We don’t keep secrets in this family””
Just a quickie to cover these opening two episodes of Sherwood, returning for a second series even though one might not have expected it to, given the relatively self-contained nature of the superlative first season. We’re a few years down the line but still in Nottingham and still watching stories inspired by real life events from a period when the post-mining economic downturn led to a massive increase in crime.
Of the key characters from last time, David Morrissey’s DCS Ian St Clair is now head of a youth crime division, Lesley Manville’s Julie is thinking about selling up, and Lorraine Ashbourne’s allegedly reformed crime matriarch Daphne is struggling to keep a lid on all her secrets. Her son Ronan has cracked onto a couple of them, sneaking off to a meeting with his new-found long-lost sister Rachel (Christine Bottomley) but as they end up witnesses to a drug deal-related shooting, things soon turn to pot.
Cos the dead guy is the son of another local crime family, headed up by Stephen Dillane and Monica Dolan as Roy and Ann Branson, chillingly superb in working through their grief by fixing the practicalities of how to track down their son’s murderer by pressuring Ronan into identifying him and squeezing their corrupt cop contacts for the location of the house where his family have been put into witness protection.
The following beach scenes are exquisitely tense, horrifyingly so in the end and with just two episodes gone, you’re terrified for how this might escalate further. Alongside all this is the potential reopening of the mine, local politicians put up against wealthy businessness with shady histories, traumatised policemen, and the prospect of Manville and Morrissey getting it on as they agree to a date in a rare moment of lightheartedness for this seriously good drama.
