The finale of BBC's Sherwood left viewers underwhelmed, with critics panning the drama as flat and illogical. The series, loosely based on a real-life murder case in a Nottinghamshire mining town during the 1984 miners' strike, was criticised for its clichéd portrayal of the 1980s as a dystopian era of violence and prejudice.
Despite a stellar cast including Lorraine Ashbourne, Mark Addy, and David Morrissey, the plot was riddled with implausibilities. One scene featured a dying man shot through the chest by a police rifle pausing to remove his spectacles before expiring, while a hooded killer roams Sherwood Forest leaving notes pinned to trees with arrows.
The drama also faced backlash for its biased depiction of the decade, with critics noting that every flashback shows bad perms and Margaret Thatcher framed at a sloping angle, suggesting the BBC's agenda against the 1980s. The show's portrayal of gritty discos and grim pubs, complete with flat ale, failed to resonate.
Meanwhile, BBC2's Aids: The Unheard Tapes used innovative lip-syncing to archive audio, but the technique felt more like a gimmick. The documentary highlighted the prejudice faced by gay men during the AIDS crisis, with one man recalling a nurse wearing gloves to hand him a glass of water—a moment that still chills.
