BBC renews Sherwood for Season 3
David Farnor | On 24, Sep 2024
BBC One has renewed Sherwood for a third season.
The drama, which debuted in 2022, followed a tense investigation into two shocking and unexpected killings that shatter the already fractured community in a Nottinghamshire mining village. Can a community repair itself as more is discovered about those who live there, and whether they really are who they say they are?
Written by James Graham, the series stars David Morissey police inspector Ian St Clair, alongside Lesley Manville as Julie, the wife of a former union activist, Monica Dolan as Ann Branson and David Harewood as Denis Bottomley.
“James Graham’s brooding crime drama about a divided community doesn’t miss its mark,” we wrote in our review of Season 1.
Season 2 premiered last month, inspired by the so-called ‘Shottingham’ gang wars that mired the region and the Nottinghamshire community in which James Graham grew up. It was directed by Clio Barnard and Tom George, with a cast including Robert Lindsay.
Episode 1 of the season has been watched by more than 6.5 million viewers so far. Season 2 has also led to a resurgence in viewing for Sherwood’s first run on BBC iPlayer, with over 7.2 million streams for Season 1 episodes since the beginning of August alone. Now, within days of Season 2’s finale making its debut, the Beeb has already commissioned a third chapter.
James Graham says: “It continues to be the greatest privilege to tell stories set in and inspired by the history of my home county of Nottinghamshire. Having a returning series on the BBC is pretty much every British writer’s dream, and I’m incredibly grateful for the continued passion that Lindsay, Charlotte and Jo have for Sherwood – and to everyone at House Productions, the most supportive producers you can have. My biggest appreciation though goes to our audiences and I’m determined to deliver for them in a series three, which will be a new set of stories, and the continuation – and completion – of some strands I’ve been dreaming of for some time.”