Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Sherwood’ On BritBox, Based On A True Story About Two Murders And A Massive Manhunt

It’s not often that you see a scripted series “based on true events” fictionalized to the degree that the new BritBox series Sherwood is. Its story is based on two murders in Nottinghamshire in 2004, but not only have all the characters been created from whole cloth based on the story, but the timeline has been carried forward 18 years, to the present day. How does that free up the show’s writer to tell what’s a pretty complex backstory?

SHERWOOD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An overhead shot of a thick forest of trees. Then we switch to scenes from a miners’ strike in Nottinghamshire in 1984-85, a strike that still has people in the area, including the town of Ashfield (yes, near Sherwood Forest), on opposite sides of the dispute.

The Gist: Sarah Vincent (Joanne Froggatt) is going door to door, distributing flyers for her campaign for councilor. Running in a traditional Labor town, she’s with the Conservative party, and feels the tide has turned in the close to 4 decades since the strikes. Oh, and she just happens to be getting married to Neel Fisher (Bally Gill) that day. His dad Andy (Adeel Akhtar) lives next door and will give her away, since her father is no longer around.

Also attending the wedding is Julie Jackson (Lesley Manville) and her husband Gary (Alun Armstrong); he’s one of the people who still calls people “scabs” because they joined the breakout miners’ union in 1984 and went back to work. Someone in a taxicab seems to be stalking him. He keeps burning rubbish in his backyard, irritating their neighbors Fred and Cathy Rowley (Kevin Doyle, Claire Rushbrook); Cathy just happens to be Julie’s sister.

DCS Ian St. Clair (David Morrissey), who has been with the Nottinghamshire police for decades and is being honored for reducing crime in the county, is also attending with his wife Helen (Clare Holman). At the wedding, things almost come to blows between Gary and one of the people he thinks is a scab, his neighbor Dean Simmons (Sean Gilder).

The next night, Gary and Dean almost have it out at the local pub, and by the next morning some is dead, the victim of an arrow to the chest. DCS St. Clair is called in to investigate, and while his team investigates, including asking the Sparrow family about their archery practice range, they come across an assault arrest for the victim back during the strikes. The victim’s case was ultimately dismissed with help from a member of London’s Metropolitan Police, but much of the case file is redacted. St. Clair, who was a young constable at the time, remembers the case, as well as the London cop: Now-DI Kevin Salisbury (Robert Glenister). Salisbury’s boss orders him to go to Nottinghamshire to help on the case.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There are any number of British true crime series that are based on real events. One that comes to mind is The Murders At White House Farm.

Our Take: There’s a disclaimer that Sherwood is based on true events, namely two murders and a massive manhunt in 2004. But it makes it clear that writer James Graham (Brexit, Quiz). who grew up in Nottinghamshire and was in his 20s when the murders took place, has fictionalized the entire story. One of the things he did was transfer the story to the present day, which of course frees him up from having to equip everyone with Blackberries or flip phones and tube TVs. But it also gives him some leeway to shape the characters a particular way.

The story is sprawling, to say the least, with a lot of families to keep track of and chess pieces constantly moving. This case spans both Nottinghamshire and London, and it’ll be interesting to see St. Clair and Salisbury work with each other, especially given the opposite trajectories of their lives and careers — St. Clair is winning awards while Salisbury is going through a tough divorce and wants to keep working despite being repeatedly passed over for promotions.

But with everyone involved, including two creepy young men who actually are different people though they seem the same at first blush, the focus of the case is pretty straightforward: Two murders and a massive manhunt. It’s the history behind these murders, especially with regards to how the miners’ strike split the town all those years ago, that might be tougher for most viewers, especially here in the states, to wrap their minds around.

The issues involved with the strike were extremely complex, but all the lay viewer needs to know is that a breakout union formed and went back to work, which is where the rift occurred. How much this seemingly ancient event will really factor into the case will be unclear. But the specter of the strike will inform everything we see in this series, and it’ll be fascinating to see how much the events of nearly four decades ago reverberate now.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: In a wooded area, Fred and Cathy’s son Scott (Adam Hugill), who usually spends his time in front of computer screens getting info on people via the dark web but is facing a prison sentence, is practicing his archery by shooting arrows into a tree. We see a crossbow similar to the one used in the first murder.

Sleeper Star: Lesley Manville shines as Julie Jackson. She projects as someone who is happily married and a fine grandmother to her daughter’s kids, but when tragedy strikes she believably flips the switch to unbelievable sadness.

Most Pilot-y Line: “A suit’s a suit. No one will be looking at me. And if they are, it’ll be a problem, ay?” Andy says with a wink when Sarah sees that he’s not wearing the suit she and Neel ordered for him.

Our Call: STREAM IT. There’s a lot to unpack with Sherwood, and there’s a true backstory that you may need to learn about in order to fully appreciate the friendships and rivalries. But the ensemble’s performances are very good, and the mystery itself pretty easy to focus on.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.