Must Watch reviews ‘Sherwood’

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan join Holly Hamilton to review ‘Sherwood’.

The BBC One drama, written and created by James Graham, looks at families in a Nottinghamshire mining village.

The first series explored the ongoing rifts between those who picketed and those who decided to go back to work during the 1984-5 miners’ strike, through the lens of two fictional murders in the area.

The second series, which continues to star David Morrissey and Lesley Manville, looks at the area through a different lens, looking at how the closure of the mines resulted in a rise in criminal and gang related activity and reopened wounds the area was trying to heal.

Holly: “I have to say I did really enjoy season one. So how will series two fair?”

Scott: “You’re exactly right with the cast. It was like they went with season one and they thought who the other greatest actors in the country are - David Harewood, Monica Dolan and Robert Lindsay, okay sure, let’s bring them in.

“I think particularly anything with Monica Dolan in, she was absolutely amazing and phenomenal in Mr Bates vs the Post Office at the start of the year.

“Whenever I see her name, she is one of those people who when I see her in a cast list, I am immediately excited.”

Scott: “I really like Sherwood season one because I felt it explored issues in a state-of-the-nation way.

“James Graham, behind Quiz and the football play Dear England (which is also getting turned into a TV show, is great at making stories and exploring what an event says about us as a nation.

"You see a range of different perspectives explored on particular issues, but he always remembers to ensure that the plot and the stories and the characters come first.

“I think that is why Sherwood worked and the first series did incredibly well. It had over 6 million views, but at the end of season one, all of the loose ends were pretty much tied up.”

Scott: “When I heard about season two, there was a bit of trepidation.

“Whilst series one looked at the divisions between those who picketed and those who did not during the miner’s strike, series two looks at the rise of crime and criminal activity following their closure.

"It has real tension that builds up a notch, especially with episode two if you found the first one a little slow.

"There are excellent performances, realistic dialogue and you have no idea where it is really going. The acting is great, stick with it.

“It is certainly a Must Watch.”

Holly: “For me Hayley, the end of the first series wrapped it up all in a neat little bow."

Hayley: “I’m the same, I thought it was a one-and-done sort of thing. So I was surprised when they said they would do a second series.

“I loved last season. It was the kind of show that made me fall in love with bleak British TV in the 90’s; stuff like Cracker and The Lakes. This has that Jimmy McGovern feel.”

Hayley: “When Sherwood came out, I remember speaking to someone who was complaining that there was no good TV anymore.

“I got stuck beside them at a dinner party.

“He said he had been watching The Sopranos from the start again because there was nothing new and good, and I argued with him, and listed some great TV shows.

"The only one he said was an exception was Sherwood.

“This season, I agree with everything Scott said.

“The opening credit sequence is about the knock-on effect from the miners and the gulf between the rich and the poor growing wider.”

Holly: “For those who don’t know, it is all based on true events.”

Hayley: “It feels like they’re trying to do something very ambitious in that it’s the same thing but a new focus. Like The Wire did, but in the East Midlands.

“I think we will have to see how that unfolds, to see how successfully it is done.”

Hayley: “I think if they can pull that off, this will be excellent.

“I believe they can, because I trust James Graham, who is the writer and director of the show.

“And it is also directed by Clio Barnard, who is very good at ‘it’s grim up north’ stuff – she wrote and directed the film called The Selfish Giant which was compared to Ken Loach movies.”

You can catch up on the first two episodes of the new series of Sherwood on BBC iPlayer, along with the first series.

Episodes air every Sunday evening on BBC One.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening on BBC Sounds and all other podcast providers.

This week the team also reviewed ‘Dating Naked UK and ‘Klitschko: More Than a Fight’.