The BBC and House Productions have announced casting and new details about the second series of James Graham’s award-winning hit drama Sherwood, now filming for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Directed by the acclaimed British film director Clio Barnard (Ali & Ava, The Selfish Giant) this new and original fictional story from Nottingham born Graham, will feature a stellar cast line-up including David Harewood (Homeland, The Night Manager), 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 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) who will be returning to reprise their roles.

Sherwood series one was a huge hit when it aired on BBC One and iPlayer in 2022, receiving a BAFTA win for Adeel Aktar as supporting actor and BAFTA nominations for Drama Series and for Lesley Manville as supporting actress as well as the RTS Award win for Best Drama Series. Series one reached a consolidated UK audience of 7.5 million viewers, making it one of the most watched new dramas in Britain that year.

The second series further explores the powerful themes that made the first so resonant to audiences across the UK; 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 series two is produced by House Productions and will air on BBC One and iPlayer. James Graham has written all six episodes and will be an executive producer on the series. 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. BBC Studios, which owns House Productions, is the international distributor of both series.

Watch Series One trailer below: