Television series

Sherwood

Name: Sherwood
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2022
Cast: David Morrissey, Lorraine Ashbourne, Perry Fitzpatrick, Philip Jackson, Lesley Manville

Sherwood is a crime drama about murder and vengeance in a post-industrial Nottinghamshire mining village where everyone has history and no one can be trusted. It's tense, claustrophobic, and rooted in real community fracture. For viewers who want their mysteries tangled up with genuine social damage and moral ambiguity.

TVMaze rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like crime drama where the community and its old loyalties matter as much as the whodunit, and you're happy to live with characters for a long time.

Skip it if you need a tidy puzzle with quick answers, since the mood stays heavy and the story keeps circling back to the same wounded families.

What it asks of you: Twelve hour-long episodes, unhurried and grim, with plenty of quiet scenes between the confrontations, so give it a couple of evenings rather than one.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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Broadchurch2013

A child is murdered in a picturesque seaside village and the investigation destroys the community from within. Masterful tension, superb performances, and the understanding that small towns have teeth.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Sherwood

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Kes1970

Both are rooted in post-industrial English communities where class and geography trap people. Both see crime and violence as symptoms of larger systemic failure, not moral aberration. Both let landscape and local history breathe.

A working-class Yorkshire boy finds dignity and escape through training a falcon. Ken Loach's film is tender, angry, and rooted in real community and class damage. The landscape is as much a character as the people.

But Naturalistic acting takes adjustment; no plot in the conventional sense. Ends in quiet heartbreak rather than resolution. Slow by modern standards.

Line of Duty2012

Anti-corruption investigators pursue a detective with a murky past through a web of lies and institutional rot. Fast-paced, clever, and addictive—the mystery tightens rather than sprawls.

But Later seasons collapse into convolution. Relies on twists that don't always land. Can feel like it's outsmarting itself.

Happy Valley2014

Sarah Lancashire as a Yorkshire police sergeant in a gritty, working-class drama where crime stems from real social damage. Brutal, darkly funny, and rooted in character and place.

But Extremely violent and disturbing in places. The tone whiplashes between comedy and tragedy. Demanding watch.

Bosch2015

LA detective Harry Bosch pursuing cases through corrupt systems and fractured communities. Solid procedural craft with good character work and a protagonist who refuses to let things go.

But Formulaic. Relies on a tried-and-true detective mystery structure. Less interested in ambiguity than Sherwood.

Slow Horses2022

Gary Oldman leads a cast of brilliant misfits in a spy thriller with real wit and genuine stakes. Smart, funny, and visually alive—British genre work at its most assured.

But More cerebral than visceral. If you want grounded social realism, this leans toward stylish thriller mechanics.

Godless2017

A woman-run mining town in the Old West becomes a murder mystery. Great ensemble cast, striking visuals, and a community that feels lived-in and fractured.

But Western setting might signal genre pastiche. Doesn't quite maintain tension across all six episodes.

The Fall2013

Stella Gibson versus a serial killer in Belfast. Stylish, tense, and anchored by two brilliant performances locked in a dance of cat and mouse.

But Second and third seasons lose the grip of the first. The central dynamic repeats. Protagonist can feel invincible in ways that strain believability.

In My Skin2002

Both understand that violence—whether self-directed or community-wide—is often a language when people have no other way to speak. Both refuse easy moral judgment or neat resolution.

A woman's compulsive self-harm becomes a metaphor for damage you inflict on yourself. Confronting and poetic in equal measure. Claire Denis directs with such precision that pain becomes almost abstract.

But Explicitly about self-injury and self-destruction. Difficult viewing. Not narrative-driven; lyrical and oblique. Requires active watching.