Sherwood evaluation: Monica Dolan’s manic gangster saves confused drama
Sherwood (BBC1)
Never have parsnips sounded more ominous. Monica Dolan as the grieving matriarch of a gangland family, fixed her enemy with a sweet smile over the dining table and gestured to a roast turkey.
‘What are you going to cook with that, Daphne?’ she asked. ‘Oh parsnips, lovely. How will you do them?’
Nothing could be less threatening, you might think? But the manic glint in Ma’s eye warned everyone: one wrong word and it wouldn’t only be the turkey that was stuffed.
The arrival of Dolan as Ann Branson and Stephen Dillane as her husband Rory propelled James Graham’s crime-and mining drama Sherwood to a new level.
Until the final ten minutes, the first episode of this new second series was fragmented, frenetic, confused and convoluted. New characters popped up, said a few lines and vanished. Others, last seen in the first series back in 2022, sat staring out of windows, brooding on forgotten events.
The cartoonish violence was better suited to Chicago in the Prohibition era than a former colliery village outside Nottingham.
Cast members from Sherwood’s second season (left to right) Christine Bottomley, Perry Fitzpatrick, James Graham (writer), Ria Zmitrowicz, Oliver Huntingdon, Monia Dolan and Robert Lindsay
Monica Dolan (pictured) plays Ann Branson, whose family run a drug operation in Ashfield, and David will play Dennis Bottomley, whose family is impacted by narcotics
Ria Zmitrowicz pictured as the Sheriff of Nottingham
David Morrissey (pictured) is part of the cast of season two of Sherwood
The new series is set to focus on further issues in the community, with David’s character Ian St Clair leaving his job as Detective Chief Superintendent to head up the council’s Violence Intervention Team, which connects community services
Small-time drug dealer Ryan (Oliver Huntingdon) watched his neighbours from his bedroom window, through the telescopic site of his snipers rifle.
Then we went out with a handgun and murdered a rival from the Branson family.
Next thing we know, a Transit Van, was racing through the streets, tyres screaming, and four masked thugs were spraying the home of Ryan’s mum and stepdad with bullets.
The police response wasn’t exactly enthusiastic. They put up some blue tape, more for show than from any serious intent to investigate, and questioned a witness for half-an-hour. The locals took little more notice – their curtains barely even twitched.
Perhaps organised crime is so rife in Britain that we’ll soon see attacks like this on Coronation Street: ‘Have you heard, our Mavis. The Duckworths at number 9 have had their windows shot out again. Them automatic rifles play havoc with the pebbledash, you know.’
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Franklin Warner (Robert Lindsay) was arguing about taxes with the modern day Sheriff of Nottingham (Ria Zmitrowicz). She wanted ‘the rich and corporations’ to pay more (hurrah!). He wanted economic growth (hiss!).
Their bickering was interrupted by a couple of eco-activists from No More Coal, who flung red dye over a painting and glued themselves to the wall.
Once upon a time, criminals used to have to be chained up in the castle dungeons. Now, they incarcerate themselves with superglue.
Sherwood boasts a terrific cast, no doubt about that. Lorraine Ashbourne, David Morrissey and Lesley Manville are back, while Robert Emms joins as Wicked Mr Warner’s bumbling son.
But it took Monica Dolan’s intervention to really set the drama blazing. Now I can’t wait for tonight’s second episode.
