WARNING: This brief is for those who have watched up to three episodes of Sherwood on BBC One.
James Graham’s classic drama reaches its middle with increasing speculation about the detective’s identity. Here is your debrief from the third episode…
Caught Crime With Andy
“A place like this sees a murder in every Blue Moon,” said DCS Ian St. Clair (David Morrissey). “We’ve had two in just a few days now and they’re completely unrelated?” We last saw train driver Andy Fischer (Adeel Akhtar) spade on daughter-in-law Sarah Vincent (Joanne Froggot). Andy had been calling the sick and lurking at home ever since. When son Neil (Bally Gill) returns to Manchester from a business trip, he discovers his body. As Neil shouted at the door next door, Andy covered his ears and sobbed.
Hardly a master criminal, Andy pleaded ignorance, but was plagued by guilt. The net soon closed. He had also signed for a parcel containing murder weapons and was photographed at the courier’s door. In the final scene he sees Neil driving to record his death. As his son speculated that the killer of his new bride must have been a “psychotic, justly evil”, Andy’s face expressed his anguish.
When St. Clair calls to tell Neil that “a development” has occurred, Andy stops the car right there on the motorway, drives into five lanes of traffic and runs into a field toward the woods. Oh Andy. You can run but hide?
a different striker
When Barnsley FC fans traveled to their fixture in Nottingham Forest (still called “Nott’s Forest”), they stopped at Ashfield to place an impromptu memorial to their fallen comrade Gary Jackson (Alun Armstrong). . Led by Warnock (Stephen Tompkinson, sporting an alien-esque mullet-and-mustache), they marched through the village under the banner of the National Union of Mineworkers, following old conflicts with members of the broken Union of Democratic Mineworkers. provoked.
In a pub scene that recalled an Agatha Christie-style cult, Warnock broke news of the detective in the community. He spoke ominously about “a great pretense among you”. As the locals looked at each other with sudden suspicion, Warnock said: “I know the mad bastard in the woods who it may be, I will warrant.” speak of the Devil…
Scott is still at large. But who is Robbie Platt?
As the search continues, the tearful Cathy (Claire Rushbrook) makes a direct appeal to fugitive stepson Scott Rowley (Adam Hughill). Through a televised press conference, she begged herself to come inside. Except that Scott was enthused by his actions and continued his campaign of arrow attacks.
First, he shot a peacock on the front lawn of the nearby stately home of Newstead Abbey (Lord Byron’s ancestral home, poetry fans). He then breaks into the home of his murder victim, Gary, to leave a mysterious message. Hands up if you dread the Pulp Fiction moment when he put down his crossbow to use Lou – forgot to flush, which granddaughter Cinderella (Safia Oakley-Green) saw.
There was a heartbreaking moment when Cindy’s boyfriend Ronan Sparrow (Bill Jones) knocked on the door and nearly bolted a crossbow to the head. Before he heads back out, Scott changes the name to “Robby Platt” on the gaming console of grandson Noah (Lance O’Reilly-Chapman). This rang a bell for Julie (Leslie Manville), who dashes upstairs to find names in Gary’s notebook—”Stolen Identity”, “Who?” And it had an Ashfield address written around it. We can just have the name of our spycop. But what identity is he living under?
Heartbroken as the sisters arrive
Two siblings, one wall, two powerhouse performances. New widow Julie begins to melt when she sees her estranged sister on TV. Cathy wept in her backyard when a stone was thrown at her window with the words “scab”. Across Ginnaal, Julie hears him.
Sisters comforting each other through the wall of the garden depicted a devastatingly beautiful scene. “I don’t know why Scott did that,” said Cathy, to which Julie replied: “I hope they find him and he spends his entire miserable life rotting in prison.” As the two women laid their hands on the bricks, they were temporarily together but still divided. A theatrical scene from playwright Graham, but a heartbreakingly touching scene.
Sparrow didn’t sing like canary
After being cleared for Arrow’s attacks, the local crime family Sparrow is released from custody. However, matriarch Daphne (Lorraine Ashborne) was smart enough to realize that the locals might still be against them as Scott trained at their archery range.
Patriarch Mickey (Philip Jackson) leads a sparrow delegation to the pub to pay respects to Gary and request a suspension in hostilities – putting money behind the bar as a gesture of goodwill. However, was it only me who saw the sparrows talking about the traitor? It can’t be Mickey… can it?
Detective pair shows cracks
We opened on a flashback to the picketline with impatient constable Ian taunting young Gary and Julie—until the Met Riot squad arrived and violence erupted. We heard how difficult it was for Ian to clear the pit so that the miners could do the work. He came from “a respectable mining family” and was “outcast” by some sections of the community for doing his duty.
As the past leaks into the present, tensions escalate between the senior officer and his London accomplice Kevin Salisbury (Robert Glenister). When Salisbury heard that St. Clair was hosting a dinner party for her old friend Jenny, she speculates that it meant her old flame (Nadine Marshall) and asked her to come with husband Jacob (Don Gillett). Looked around silently. When Kevin’s name came up at the dinner, both Jenny and Ian quickly changed the subject.
Drunk and insane, Salisbury told St. Clair that he wanted to stay in Ashfield rather than head south. “You took it away from me,” he said. “Whatever went wrong for me, I can look back here. I can trace you back.” It looked as if Ian had driven Kevin out of town after that fateful night.
SpyCop may be closer to home
Speculation was rife about SpyCop. Julie confirms to St. Clair that Gary was looking for the undercover officer whose intelligence led to his wrongful arrest. Believing that the intruder had arrived around 1984, Salisbury asks Fred Rowley (a generally terrifying Kevin Doyle) about his background. Fred admitted he had been transferred to Ashfield Colliery in 1983, but denied any police links. I am inclined to believe in him.
What about St. Clair’s estranged brother Martin (Mark Frost)? He has burn marks on his face, raising the possibility of a connection to Gary’s arrest for arson. We saw him watching the TV appeal, then teasing at the bar. When Salisbury dropped in for a pint, he asked “Do I know you, mate?” And chose a fight. As Ian arrived to break things down, Martin demanded of his brother: “Tell me it’s not copper? One of those who did this to me?” Ian was put in the unbelievable position of publicly defending Salisbury, just like in the ’80s. “Once a turncoat, always a turncoat,” spit one onlooker.
However, St. Clair’s are locals rather than outsiders, which certainly singles out Martin. He’s clearly involved in some way – Salisbury asked Ian about “what happened that night” and the other time the series got a curt response: “Let’s not.” Could Ron, the father of the St. Clair siblings, be Gary’s old NUM ally instead? Appearing for the first time in flashbacks, he was played by Mark Eddy, suggesting he would have a bigger role to play.
week line
“We remember. What else is there to do here, but remember?” Fred Rowley in a philosophical mood.
Notes and Overview
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Stephen Tompkinson memorably played another South Yorkshire miner in the 1996 film Brassed Off.
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Leslie Manville says Sherwood Brings Back Terrible Memories To visit Barnsley Picketline in 1984 to research his role in a play about the wives of striking miners. She has also revealed that while shooting for Sherwood, she was on call for Season 5 of The Crown, in which she plays Princess Margaret.
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The role of event manager at Newstead Abbey was played by acclaimed actor Nadia Albina, AKA Diane from Doctor Who.
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Each episode ends with a different song by the Ian Campbell folk group. So far we have Blackleg Minors, Drunken Bella Roy, and now Geordie Black.
Join us again tomorrow as the series enters its home vibe. In the meantime, please leave your thoughts and principles below…