Spoiler alert: this summary is for people watching Sherwood on BBC One – do not read if you haven’t watched series 2, episode 2.
Mission to Skegness
Once again, we find outlaws roaming the famous forest. This time, crime family patriarch Roy Branson (Stephen Dillane) is testing a handgun with his biker nephew Kaia (Connor Dean). When he tries to buy a used car, everything becomes seriously awful. Having learned the location of the Bottomley family hideout from within the police, Anne Branson (Monica Dolan) is eager to embark on a journey of revenge and takes young Ronan Sparrow (Bill Jones) with her to identify their target.
The lioness Daphne (Lorraine Ashbourne) insists on going along and Anne says, “OK, I’ll bring an extra cob,” with a straight face, before slinking around on her mobile (like a real spy cop) and contacting a mysterious associate who witnessed the shooting with Ronan. She is stunned to be reunited with her long lost daughter Rachel (Christine Bottomley). Both women are shaken. It’s a shocking scene, powerfully played.
Daphne reminds Rachel that she “ran away, leaving a scared boy and a dead body behind” and pressures her to take Ronan’s place. “No one will get hurt because we’ll stop them,” she vows. Eldest son Rory (Perry Fitzpatrick) gives her two disposable mobile phones; she plans to smuggle one into the Bottomleys’ house to send a warning email. Can she save the “walking corpse”?
Suspicious documents reveal shocking truths
District councillor and new sheriff Lisa Waters (Leah Zmitrovich) is having a bad day: she’s been trolled online for her opposition to a proposed new mine, and the Bransons have petitioned her to name a street after their murdered son. “We just need to convince the neighbors? Easy,” they conclude ominously.
At a community meeting in “Crabby,” Lisa looked to Julie for leadership as a representative of the miners’ striking generation. Julie reiterated her earlier speech about the need to look to the future, not the past, and argued that this was a decision for the next generation. Developers were buying up local farmland and were looking to put up solar panels. In true Sparrow fashion, Rory was antagonistic, but agreed to discuss leasing his family’s land. That should be fun to watch.
Finally, Lisa receives documents that shed new light on the past and present. Among the news clippings about “Thatcher’s spies” is a photo of sleazy tycoon Franklin Warner (Robert Lindsay). Is he another spy cop? Or the unnamed father of Daphne’s daughter?
Bent copper? Send us your AC-12
Lisa expresses concern that DCS Harry Summers (Michael Balogun) is still recovering from the trauma of a turf war and may be in danger after meeting the Bottomleys at a victim support group. Her fears are realised when Harry visits their hideout and has a heart-to-heart talk with Denise (David Harewood, superb) over whisky, in which he tells her about Chloe, who was an “innocent bystander” (wife? daughter?) until she fell asleep on the sofa and experienced a raucous night terror.
The next morning, poor Harry is still in a bad mood. A visit to the bloody crime scene provides little relief. He doesn’t notice the Branson family passing him on the road to Skegness, or his partner, Detective Marcus Clarke (Jorden Miley), feeding them information. It won’t be long before Ian is brought out of retirement to take charge of the investigation.
M&M: Manville and Morrissey
Amid the gloom, there are glimmers of romance. Ex-detective Ian St. Clair (David Morrissey) visits Julie Jackson (Lesley Manville) for tea. When he asks about the “For Sale” sign outside, Julie confesses she doesn’t know why she’s still in Ashfield. Ian looks lost for a moment. He finds a flimsy excuse to go back and ask Julie out for a drink. After a few awkward exchanges, she accepts. It’s not easy for a divorced person to date a widow, but it was a very sweet moment.
We don’t like being on the beach.
The final 20 minutes were unbearably tense, with the unlikely team of hitmen Roy, Anne, Daphne and Rachel heading to Skeg Vegas to hunt down the Bottomleys – a brilliant scene. At least they were planning to kill one of the brothers, not both. “You only get one life. There are rules.”
Tensions rise when the siblings take Steffy (a fantastic Bethany Asher) for a day by the sea. Rachel finds the family having lunch at a pub. A distressed Daphne tells them to run, only for Anne to burst in. “You think you’ve seen a ghost,” Anne says. “Yeah, maybe.” Daphne manages to sneak them her phone, but it’s dead. She curses Rory. And so do viewers.
When Kaia arrives fully kitted out, traitor Detective Clark warns them to also take the disposable cell phone. Balaclavas on their backs, Roy and Kaia burst into the safe house. Roy shoots Pam (Charlene White) in the head, execution style (“For Nicky!”), then Kaia guns down Dennis on his riding lawnmower. Their deaths violate their cherished code of honor. Roy calls the handset that sent the warning text, but it rings silently in Daphne’s pocket. Phew. He leaves a voicemail, telling the traitor, “Dead, dead, dead.” In short, dead.
In one final tragic twist, Steffy, using a metal detector on the beach, witnesses the Branson family fleeing the massacre. She chases after them and stabs Kaia with the gardening shears that Dennis had taught her how to use before he died.
It’s a tricky mission, full of failures. Kaia’s body is locked in the van along with the disposable mobile phone they were trying to destroy, which leads directly to the Branson family. The police spies should be identified from the call records. Anne’s discarded water bottle and Roy’s cigarettes could be tested for DNA. Trouble awaits the Sparrows too: Rachel uses her bank card in the pub, and Anne is suspicious of Daphne’s actions. She also discovers that Ronan has overheard “the” spy cop’s conversation. The Sparrows are back in their lair.
Quote of the week
It reminded me of EastEnders (“You’re not my lover!” “No you’re not!”) when Daphne speculates about Rachel and Ronan’s relationship: “A friend? A new girlfriend? A sex friend?” “My sister.”
Knots Note
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Kudos to Stephen Dillane, whose staring performance was full of memorable details, from his tearful reaction to seeing his son’s old answering machine to his disgust at smoking a blood-stained cigarette.
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One of the voicemails was for the 2022 play-off final, with Nottingham Forest effectively ending their 23-year wait for the top flight. Hopefully James Graham can be forgiven for his blunder in series one of “Notts Forest.”
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Anne turns out to be a Thatcher fan and quotes her “There is no such thing as society” speech. Who would have thought that?
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Rest in peace Bottomley family. You were indeed “good people, respectable people”. Detector enthusiasts who dream of buried treasure. Lovers of crumpets, supermarket sandwiches and pub pies. But I am worried about Steffy.
See you next Sunday for the next Sherwood Shakedown. In the meantime, leave your comments below. I’ll keep the extra knobs packed away…
