Sherwood

Don’t know why, but I missed this earlier in the year. Just binge watched all six episodes, really enjoyed it. Superb cast (talk about name that face), good writing, and lovely cinematography.

I wasn't doing anything of the kind. But if you are too stupid to see that there's not a lot I can do.

As far as I am aware people on opposing sides of the miners' strike didn't invade the country and imprison, torture and murder the residents. How stupid to compare the actions of the Germans during a war with a miners' strike.

That's not surprising when you consider that the strikers were sacrificing everything for a cause that others (whether the strikebreakers or the police) were prepared to crush for their own ends. It's akin to being on different sides in a civil war, and it doesn't surprise me that feelings run deep. People lost houses, jobs, marriages and even liberty in cases which are only now being overturned. It wasn't just a difference of opinion.

It's very sad when it runs to the next generations though. I can understand it in some ways, but not in others. These things do. I suppose it's similar to hatreds between people from places who were on different sides in wars, or people whose countries were invaded, even hundreds of years ago. Nobody alive can remember what happened, and nobody alive could possibly have been responsible, but it's a folk memory.

Not quite the same thing, but I remember going on holiday to Brittany with friends when I was about 19. The locals often asked if we were German before talking to us (we'd attempted to speak French - clearly not very well ). When they heard that we were British their attitude changed immediately, and they couldn't be more helpful.

We were all born around 1960, so couldn't have taken any part in the war on either side, but given what the people had gone through they were in no mood to be nice to Germans. Sad, but understandable.

I was doing some local history research and one of the pit villages had exactly the same issues in the 1860s. The miners were on strike and the pit owner brought in men from other areas to work the mine. The strikers went back eventually but relationships between the old miners and the new were so bad they had to build a new school for the new families. Nothing changes.

I enjoyed Sherwood but it took me right back to both the big strikes in 1969 and 1984. First one I was at school in a mining area and remember the buses of miners brought in, shouting and fights and power cuts, boiling water on the gas and candles to light the house. 2nd time round we had just got married and I was pregnant. I remember Arthur Scargill and the fighting that went on between miners and police. It was the end game for the pit in our area. As a district nurse, many of the houses I visited had coal fires and it was in short supply. I'm not sure that it would evoke the same memories if you hadn't lived through these traumatic times.

^
I thought the last episode placed the blame firmly on the shoulders of politicians and powerful people with the speech about what"they" had done, and were still doing, and said both sides were manipulated^

That was my take on it too. Great series, so well written. No complaints about the ending. My only complaint is I couldn't make out what people were saying a lot of the time.

It's not often I agree with the media's reviews of TV programmes, but I really did love this series. Such good actors, script and storyline. Very much looking forward to series 2.

I don't know whether this has been mentioned before but I thought the man who played the young Kevin Salisbury (Robert Glennister) looked very much like the older Kevin Salisbury. It turns out it is Robert Glennister's real-life son.

I think the ending was very realistic. So many of these big events seem to leave you thinking "Is that it?" because so many things just come down to human nature and things end with more of a whimper than a bang.

I Really enjoyed it and, having lived in a part of the country which lost it's coal mines , it was true to life. Old grudges went on for years.

I confess I found the whole series confusing and I can't imagine what a second series would be based on.

Gary's wife seemed remarkably chipper for someone who had not yet buried her husband.

And she seemed to like David Morrissey, Ian St Clair, sorry too.

I thought it was done as well as the BBC possibly could. Interesting and believable script and a fabulous cast. 10/10 from me!

I wonder if Ian St Clair will stray?

A foregone conclusion, I think. He and his wife seemed very remote from each other.

Have always liked David Morrissey!

The next series will probably focus more on the love lives of the village.

The family of one victim is very upset that it has been serialised on TV.

However, it's also an important part of history unless it has been fictionalised too much.

The thing is that it was based on a true story, which is very rarely as neat and satisfying as fiction. I think I lost sight of that when I thought the last episode was a bit 'lacking'.

I thought the last episode placed the blame firmly on the shoulders of politicians and powerful people with the speech about what"they" had done, and were still doing, and said both sides were manipulated.
I'm looking forward to series 2. I wonder if Ian St Claire will stray? I thought there was some attraction between him and the widow!

Glorianny

I think the ending was realistic and the problem is we are now programmed to expect a big shoot out and /or car chase, whereas real life isn't like that. It simply showed that what we believe about people isn't always true, and the policemen's absolute obsession with the miner's strike led them down wrong paths.

I think that's true, Glorianny. Not just the police, either - at the end when they were in the meeting, everyone's points were about the strike and its aftermath.

They were very divisive times, though; and I'm not sure that the implicit message that everyone was 'as bad as' everyone else was appropriate, really. It's for the people who were involved to decide whether or whom to forgive, not the writer.

I still think it was an excellent series, though - both well-written and well acted. I'll definitely give series 2 a chance when it's screened.

Enjoyed it but agree the ending fizzled out rather. The change to BBC2 on Monday was announced with a written announcement along the bottom of the screen. Blink and you’d miss it. I don’t know why the tennis couldn’t be on one dedicated channel, we’re not all tennis fans.

I think the ending was realistic and the problem is we are now programmed to expect a big shoot out and /or car chase, whereas real life isn't like that. It simply showed that what we believe about people isn't always true, and the policemen's absolute obsession with the miner's strike led them down wrong paths.

Good series but glad I'm not the only one disappointed with the ending.

Another who was not enamoured with the ending, cannot see myself watching a second series.

The series started well but fizzled out towards the end.

There should have been a better ending and not think about a second series. Better to leave on a high but last night certainly was not- more a damp squib.

I thought the ending was a bit of a damp squib.

Don’t know what a second series will be about, but I suspect it will a disappointment, as many follow ups of a successful first series are.

Intelligent, and realistic, and certainly unexpected with regard to the perpetrator's motives,(although I did wonder if the cast would exit hand in hand to a chorus of 'There's a place for us.')