Television Review | Sherwood, a British series loosely based on true events, is the case of the summer

Culture|Television review

English In 2004, two brutal murders took place in Nottinghamshire and were followed by a major police operation. The general view at the time was that both murders were linked to old conflicts in the former mining community.

They, on the other hand, stemmed from the mining strike of the 1980s, which created two warring camps in the community: the strikers and the thieves.

Six-piece Sherwood– series returns to both of these times. Scriptwriter James Graham grew up in the Nottingham area itself in the atmosphere of the miners’ strike.

However, the series, its characters and events are fiction. In real life, one of the murders was carried out with a crossbow and a samurai sword, but in the series, only a bow is used as a weapon, which refers to the mythical hero of Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood.

Series first proceeds as a fairly standard crime story, which is a bit confusing. Sherwood has been the acclaimed hit of the summer in Britain, and you can immediately see that it is a good series and the Actors are the best caste. But what’s so special about it?

Key figures include local policeman Ian St Clair (David Morrissey) and the first victim’s wife, Julie Jackson (Lesley Manville). Robert Glenister plays a police officer transferred to London who returns to his hometown. Adeel Akhtar is in the role of his life as a sad widower.

A murder investigation raises the ghosts of the past. At the heart of the series is a chain of generations, because traumas are also inherited by younger generations.

Plot is very complicated when the younger versions of the same people also have adventures in the 1980s. Especially for the fifth episode, you could give a viewing tip to remember the first names. The situation is also confused by the infiltrator police sent to the area.

At this point, there is still a small doubt that the screenwriter Graham has had difficulties when he has woven together real events and his invented structure.

But then comes the final episode and especially the last half hour. It’s British social drama at its best.

James Graham has previously written, among other things Brexit-film (2019), where Benedict Cumberbatch acting Dominic Cummings. It can also be concluded that he has a bigger context in mind.

From Nottinghamshire grows the whole image of post-industrial Britain, which Thatcher modified with his divide and rule approach. This is a “former mining town” whose inhabitants have lost their identity.

The young generation’s accusation is: “You started the fight. Anyone can do it.”

A little surprisingly to Sherwood we are doing another season.

Sherwood, TV1 at 21:05 and Yle Areena. (K16)