We need to stop being trapped by the past

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2022.  

#2 : Sherwood

Not content with merely being a gripping thriller about a bow-and-arrow-based murderer lurking in a forest, this singular drama was also an exploration of the scars borne by the communities of former mining towns. Writer James Graham drew upon his time living in the Nottingham area to create a staggeringly vivid portrait of the ferocious divisions that still torment the city decades after the miners’ strikes. There was also plenty of pacy, twisty, crime-based action, helmed by a coppering double-act whose mutual dislike giving way to grudging respect would easily have been the best narrative arc – if there weren’t such a wealth of richly plotted tales and impeccably written characters to choose from.

I actually watched this "live" last year but took some notes because I knew it would be appearing somewhere on the list - and I'm not surprised in the slightest to see it as high as #2.

And how much should I tell you about it?  Probably not a lot more than The Guardian gives you above - I will say it's an excellent premise for a story with events from 40 years ago (some secret and some not so secret) carrying through to the present day.  A lot of it comes down to people's ability to move on and it does a good job of accepting that some people can and some people just can't, even if they know they should be able to.

The overall scenario isn't particularly believable, but has its roots in two real life murders and it's all really well written with believable characters performing believably within the confines of the situation, with multiple threads being woven together well.  It treads a slightly unusual path in that it makes no attempt to hide the perpetrators, which works fine except that I kept expecting a rug pull that never came - the guy with the crossbow was in fact the guy killing people with a crossbow.  It also has a surprisingly talky ending, but it's a very well written talky ending which makes you think about what you've just seen.

It's acted superbly throughout, which is what you'd expect from the cast they've lined up here - there are plenty of names involved, and nearly all the rest are "where do I know them from?" faces.  If I had to call out some people, I'd go for Lesley Manville, Lorraine Ashbourne and Adeel Akhtar - the latter two obviously have a good nose for a quality production because they've popped up more times on here than you might expect.  It's also beautifully filmed with lots of close-ups of people doing proper acting and some beautiful shots of the countryside (they've really gone to town with the drones!) so it's just lovely to look at.

So, a slightly evasive review to avoid spoilers but this is another strong recommendation - I really enjoyed this, particularly on account of the story and the acting.  At time of writing, it's on iPlayer - check it out!

#1 - A very impressive slice of telly
#3 - The good run continues