West End stars featured in the series include David Harewood, Robert Lindsay, Monica Dolan, Lesley Manville and Michael Balogun
The BBC has announced casting for the second series of Sherwood, written by screen and stage writer James Graham (Dear England, Best of Enemies).
Directed by Clio Barnard (Ali & Ava, The Selfish Giant), the new series stars David Harewood (Homeland, The Night Manager), who recently starred in James Graham’s play Best of Enemies at the Young Vic and in the West End.
The series also features Robert Lindsay (Maleficent 2, My Family), Monica Dolan (Black Mirror, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe), Sharlene Whyte (Stephen, Small Axe), Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones, Vigil), Ria Zmitrowicz (The Power, Three Girls), Aisling Loftus (The Midwich Cuckoos, War and Peace), Robert Emms (Andor, Chernobyl), Michael Balogun (Top Boy, The Lehman Trilogy), Christine Bottomley (Domina, Back To Life), Oliver Huntingdon (The Rising, Happy Valley), Jorden Myrie (Mood, The Strays) and Conor Deane (All Creatures Great & Small, Newark) and Bethany Asher (Wild Bill, Mobility).
They join cast members from Season One, including David Morrissey (Red Riding, The Walking Dead), Lesley Manville (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Mum), Lorraine Ashbourne (Alma’s Not Normal, I Hate Suzie), Philip Jackson (Raised by Wolves, Peterloo), Perry Fitzpatrick (Line of Duty, This Is England), Bill Jones (Sherwood, The Village) and Adam Hugill (1917, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness).
The second series promises to further explore the themes of Season One, including fractured communities, red wall towns and the frayed social and political fabric of modern-day Britain, within a prevailing context of chumocracy, levelling up and political and communal turmoil.
The series set in the present day introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. Whilst a newly appointed Sheriff of Nottingham, is passionately fighting local government and influential business leaders, to save the community from the prospect of a proposed new mine for the area. It brings the promise of much needed jobs and prosperity but also unwelcome reminders of the legacy, that has mired the community for so long.
Sherwood Season Two is produced by House Productions and will air on BBC One and iPlayer. Clio Barnard is lead director and EP, and the producer is Kate Ogborn (Life After Life; The North Water). Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer are executive producers for House Productions and Jo McClellan for the BBC.
James Graham has written all six episodes and will be an executive producer on the series.
James Graham’s new drama Dear England is currently packing in audiences at the National Theatre starring Joseph Fiennes, and is widely rumoured to be transferring into the West End.
