Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Sherwood on BBC One. Please don’t read it unless you have watched series two, episode three.
Siblings in crime – and a surprise comeback
The community reeled from news of the Skegness slaughter. “The execution of two citizens under our protection,” a rattled police bigwig called it. Crime family patriarch Roy Branson (Stephen Dillane) was more succinct: “You lot must be shitting yourselves. A right cock-up, eh?” When a third body was found – Branson’s nephew Kyre (Conor Deane), stabbed with garden shears – unlikely avenger Stephie (breakout star Bethany Asher) avoided suspicion. Her prints were on the shears but so were her uncle’s. Detectives dismissed it as a lead. For now.
Stephie visited her brother Ryan Bottomley (Oliver Huntingdon) in prison to break the news. Racked with guilt because the attack was his fault, he leapt into protective sibling mode, vowing to take care of her from behind bars. When Stephie confided that she had “stopped the man, dead”, Ryan laughed proudly. What a reaction. He instructed sidekick Jordan (Tyrese Eaton-Dyce), last seen exchanging knowing nods in court, to relocate their drug business to Ashfield and keep an eye on vulnerable Stephie. For that, they needed funds.
Enter “the epitome of a broken working-class lad who got lost along the way”: crossbow killer Scott Rowley (Adam Hugill). As the two series antagonists met in Rowley’s cell, it was an electric moment. As we know, Scott buried £15,000 in Sherwood Forest. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Watching the detectives
Ian St Clair (David Morrissey) was suited, booted and clicking his pen again, rejoining the force for one case only as an emergency civilian officer. Call it what you like, but he immediately assumed authority. In a voluntary interview, the Bransons trotted out rehearsed alibis. When they were told about Kyre’s death, Roy smashed a chair in fury. Canny wife Ann (Monica Dolan) turned the tables, insisting that if Kyre “in grief, did something on his own”, rival gangs would want blood. She demanded round-the-clock protection – a bit rich when police have been failing to make charges stick for three decades.
After work, Ian went for that drink with Julie Jackson (Lesley Manville), who was discombobulated by an offer on her house. Despite Ian choosing a jarringly hipster bar for the date, all went well until he made a faux-pas about rehabilitating Scott, AKA “the psychopath who killed my husband”. Julie stormed out, leaving Ian free to throw himself into work as per.
DCS Harry Summers (Michael Balogun) pursued inquiries in Skegness. When a bank card transaction led them to Rachel (Christine Bottomley, no relation), she played a blinder by accidentally implying an extramarital assignation. Harry had more luck with the Bottomleys’ nosy neighbour, who had logged all the comings and goings on the street group chat. Realising it would reveal that he had stayed overnight, Harry levelled with DI Marcus Clarke (Jorden Myrie). In return, opportunistic Clarke confessed that the Bottomleys had phoned the station on the day they died but he had failed to act on it. The pair agreed to cover for each other. The bent copper evaded detection. Mother of God, fella.
‘Tossing red meat to the red wall’
Sheriff and councillor Lisa Waters (Ria Zmitrowicz) pursued her lead on the proposed new coalmine. Sorry, “multi-use energy hub”. Visiting billionaire businessman Franklin Warner (Robert Lindsay) at his colonial mansion – more like a boutique hotel than a home – she was unconvinced by his promises to transform the crime-ravaged region.
When Lisa whipped out the dodgy dossier, the mood changed. There had long been rumours that the 80s Met operatives had an undercover boss, “Thatcher’s man on the ground”, covertly undermining the miners’ unions in return for lucrative government contracts. The moustache-twirling mogul kept his cool but curtailed the meeting. Was someone trying to derail the pit plan or was he really the spycop-in-chief? Lisa soon had her own worries, receiving a death threat signed from a “Merry Man”. Pressure was mounting on her and partner Sandy Waters (Aisling Loftus) to approve the plan. Municipal politics were coming worryingly close to home.
Gangland war is go
Why didn’t Daphne Sparrow (Lorraine Ashbourne) get rid of that burner phone? Was keeping Roy’s threatening voicemail worth the risk? When Ian and Harry deduced that somebody sent a warning text to the Bottomleys, they traced the signal to the Sparrow farm. Ian paid a visit, warning that the turf wars had been reignited and they were in serious danger. Daphne had already confessed to younger son Ronan (Bill Jones) that she was a police officer “briefly, in a former life”. Now she called a “mother’s meeting”, complete with nerve-steadying Irish coffees, and told the whole family about her secret daughter. Despite the family motto of “Never talk to the pigs”, she convinced them to break that code and work with the police. Putting the Bransons away was their best bet to survive.
However, their evidence wasn’t enough. They hadn’t physically seen the double Bottomley murder take place. Besides, with their criminal record, the Sparrows were hardly ideal witnesses. Enter Rachel, whose partner had persuaded her to come clean. Her testimony would be more reliable – although this probably wasn’t the way she had imagined meeting her long-lost family.
Cut to the morgue, where the Bransons were identifying Kyre’s body. When a text came – seemingly from their inside man on the force, telling them “the fucking Sparrers” were working with the police – Ann vowed to kill them all. The camera lingered on Monica Dolan’s face, tears in her eyes, cheeks flushing with fury. Is there a Bafta for best facial acting?
Line of the week
“We don’t go about saving people from other people. We’re not the fucking Thunderbirds” – Rory Sparrow reacts to having his strings pulled.
Notts notes
Thanks to commenter allfalldown for pointing out that Jorden Myrie, who plays corrupt cop DI Clarke, is the nephew of the way more trustworthy Clive Myrie.
Lots of commenters also pointing out the real-life parallels with crime boss Colin Gunn, who allegedly orchestrated revenge murders at a seaside bungalow.
Rachel lived in the Grade II-listed British Waterways building in Nottingham’s Castle Wharf, which is indeed being converted into canalside flats.
With his whiskers, money and desperate-to-impress son, Robert Lindsay recalled Logan Roy with fewer F-bombs. Even their initials are reversed.
The series is airing on Sundays and Mondays, so rejoin us tomorrow to break down episode four. In the meantime, me ducks, please leave your thoughts and theories below …
