To borrow the old MGM slogan, Sherwood (BBC1, Sunday, Monday) boasts more stars than there are in heaven. That’s what happens when your writer, in this case James Graham, is so hot you could fry an egg on him (which would be messy, unhygienic and dangerous, so don’t try it at home, kids).
For all the wattage on display, one actor is a standout - Monica Dolan, who plays Ann Branson, a crime family matriarch so terrifying Carmela and Livia Soprano would think twice about messing with her.
The first series of Sherwood was set in a former mining village in Nottinghamshire where the still tender wounds from the strike were ripped open again by a string of murders.
For the second run we’re back on the same streets, and this time it is a turf war between rival crime clans, the Bransons and the Sparrows, which is reignited by the shooting of Ann’s son.
Meanwhile, the village is up in arms over whether a new pit should be given the go-ahead. Oh, and there’s a new sheriff of Nottingham in town, a woman no less, which is bothering some locals as much as her opposition to the new mine. Threats have been issued on social media.
Graham (Brexit: The Uncivil War, Quiz) skilfully combines a state-of-the-nation political drama with a blisteringly-paced tale of crime and retribution. Think Line of Duty plus politics, plus a dream cast that also includes David Morrissey as a cop turned ”anti-violence tsar”, Lesley Manville as a widow keen to put distance between herself and the trauma of the past, and Robert Lindsay as one of a new breed of mine owners happy to go green if there’s money to be made.
It’s a hugely ambitious endeavour in which the many moving parts ought not to come together but mostly do. There were a few wrinkles. I couldn’t understand why the identification of the fleeing family had to take place in person when a photo on a phone would have done. Unless Dolan’s character is trying to pull the Sparrows back into crime, Godfather III-style.
It’s a belter of a performance from Dolan (Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Appropriate Adult) as the hard-as-bullets matriarch shattered by grief, closely followed by Lorraine Ashbourne as her opposite number Daphne Sparrow.
Read more Alison
Only Murders in the Building (Disney+, Tuesday) is back, and thank the gods of streaming for it. I know some viewers (okay, busted) who subscribe to the channel just for this caper about a trio of amateur detectives/podcasters who work from home, in their case an apartment block in Manhattan.
As with Sherwood, the calibre of the cast attests to the quality of the writing and production. Last season Meryl Streep joined the fun as, what else, a struggling actress. This time, Hollywood wants to make a movie about the podcast and has firm ideas about who should play the original trio of Oliver, Charles and Mabel (Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez).
Created by John Hoffman and Steve Martin, Only Murders is smart, knowing, looks gorgeous, and is deadly serious about making you laugh. Just when you think it cannot get more irresistible, they’ve added a golden retriever to the cast. Disney is wisely rationing the episodes to one a week otherwise not a dish would be washed or a television review written.
It’s almost impossible to turn the telly on without seeing Romesh Ranganathan staring back at you. Sitcoms, quiz shows, documentaries, he pops up everywhere. With all that on his big plate, he somehow managed to find the time to make The Misinvestigations of Romesh Ranganathan: Tupac Shakur (BBC2, Sunday), although you soon wondered why he bothered.
The rapper’s murder in Las Vegas in 1996 has been so well-covered the dogs in the street have long grown bored with it. But did that stop Ranganathan flying to the US, with a psychologist in tow, to rehash the tale all over again? Did it heck, as Sherlock was never wont to say.
Ranganathan has been a hip-hop fan since he was 11, so it was a dream gig for him to delve into the story and try to make it fresh for a new, younger audience who might by some miracle be unaware of the tale.
The whole effort was as tired as Ranganathan looked. It did not help that most of his interviewees sounded as though they had said their pieces umpteen times before and were just going through the motions one more time for this British guy.
Coronation Street (STV, Monday-Wednesday) is squeezing the last drop out of the Corrie cult story. Not content with brainwashing Leanne into doing his bidding, creepy con man Rowan has set his sights on fleecing Amy out of her inheritance. But Amy is the daughter of Tracy Barlow and Tracy is a mummy bear who is not to be messed with. What do you reckon, blood on the cobbles by Christmas?
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