BritBox Scores a Bullseye with Gripping Crime Thriller 'Sherwood'

BBC’s Sherwood was the must-see series of Summer 2022 in the UK. Social media was abuzz after each of the six episodes, and a second season has already been commissioned. Four months later, the acclaimed British drama has come to our shores via BritBox, with all episodes streaming starting October 4th.

The series is a fictionalized account inspired by two real-life murders and the ensuing manhunt in a Nottinghamshire mining community in 2004. Just as in the show, one of the murders was committed with a crossbow which begs all sorts of Robin Hood comparisons. For James Graham, the show’s creator, Sherwood is his attempt to give a voice to his hometown. By shining a light on actual events from the mid-80s national coal mining strikes, Graham explores how union divisions continued to fracture the community decades later and affect their ability to come together in a crisis.

Another focus of the series is the Metropolitan Police department’s part in local tensions. London officers were assigned to the county to protect the substantial number of miners who crossed picket lines during the strike. Excessive force by the police was not uncommon. And as if the increased police presence didn’t cause enough mistrust, the Met deployed undercover officers to insinuate themselves into the community. These spy-cops were trained to eavesdrop on locals and pit the striking miners against the working ones. In the Sherwood storyline, one of these officers stayed in the area, married, raised a family, and never broke cover