Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
The BBC drama series Sherwood, which is known for its gritty and hard-hitting portrayal of gun crime and gangs in post-industrial Nottingham, has returned for a second series and has once again gripped viewers. However, the credibility of the opening plotlines has been debated by some on social media. Written by award-winning Nottinghamshire playwright James Graham, the drama is “inspired by stories and events” in the author’s community but has fictionalised all characters and events.
There are striking similarities between the fictional plot of Sherwood and real-life events and characters from the early 2000s, when gun crime spiralled out of control in Nottingham amid a surge of murders, revenge, and police corruption. The murder plotline in Sherwood echoes the case of Michael O’Brien, who was jailed for the fatal shooting of Marvyn Bradshaw outside the Sporting Chance pub in Bulwell, Nottingham, in August 2003. O’Brien’s intended target was believed to be Marvyn’s teenage friend, Jamie Gunn, who was in the same car and died of pneumonia a year later after going into a spiral of decline. As O’Brien was sentenced in 2004, he shouted abuse at Marvyn’s family, just like the fictional character Ryan in Sherwood.
The fictional Bottomleys’ story in Sherwood closely reflects what happened to Michael O’Brien’s innocent mother and stepfather, Joan and John Stirland, two decades ago. The Stirlands fled their home in Nottingham after shots were fired through their front window. Then in August 2004, the couple were shot dead by two hitmen in their seaside bungalow at Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire. They were traced to Trusthorpe by Colin Gunn, one of three men who were jailed for life for conspiracy to murder the Stirlands. The two gunmen were never caught.
The drama also references a corrupt detective who fed intelligence to Colin Gunn and was paid in designer suits. The former detective, Det Con Charles Fletcher, was jailed for seven years after being caught by internal investigators who bugged him at a Nottingham police station. Furthermore, some of the characters’ storylines reflect the careers of several real-life former police officers after they left the Nottinghamshire force, including David Wakelin, who went on to head the local Violence Reduction Unit and supported vulnerable young people to deter them from serious crime, and Gary Godden, now the local police and crime commissioner.
Although the fictional plot and characters have taken this drama to a very different place, it is shining a light on why Nottingham went through such dark times all those years ago. It raises a simple question: is truth stranger than fiction? The final episodes of Sherwood are on BBC One at 21:00 on 8-9 September and are then available on the BBC iPlayer
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.