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The second series of Sherwood further explores the powerful themes that made the first so resonant to audiences across the UK. Set in the present day it introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. Meanwhile, a newly appointed Sheriff of Nottingham is passionately fighting against a proposed new coal mine for the area, which brings the promise of much needed jobs and prosperity but also unwelcome reminders of the legacy that has mired the community for so long.

Watch Sherwood on 成人论坛 iPlayer with Series 2 available from 25th August

James, the first series of Sherwood was a critically acclaimed smash hit. Can you please give us a brief overview of what fans can expect in series two?

In series two fans can expect the return some of our legacy characters including Ian St Clair (played by David Morrissey) the incredible Sparrow family played by Lorraine Ashbourne, Phillip Jackson, Perry Fitzpatrick and Bill Jones, and Julie Jackson played by the wonderful Lesley Manville, but a lot of it is brand new. It鈥檚 a brand-new story which explores other sides of the community that you saw in series one and it branches into new territory.

I love the fact that every community has many stories and though we meet some of the characters that we loved from before, we have introduced lots of new characters whose lives intersect, and we ask questions about the world via them. I hope it taps into what audiences felt like they connected to in the first series, which at times was a police crime drama, but also something that digs down into big political and social and historical themes, and tries to understand our post-industrial legacy and how the past and the present are always in dialogue with each other. I hope that once again it elevates and lifts the procedural into something more state of the nation, but always driven by characters. As with the first series we have some of the best of British acting talent with Monica Dolan, David Harewood, Robert Lindsay, Sharlene Whyte, Christine Bottomley and a whole host of incredible actors joining our ensemble.

What were the main challenges in terms of writing series two?

It鈥檚 my first ever returning series, I鈥檝e only ever completed my stories in a single series and never had to come back, so that was something new but that wasn鈥檛 really a challenge. It felt like a privilege and a joy because I really like these characters, especially because they, and this series, matter so much to me, because they are inspired by my hometown, and so - while they are fictional - in a way their voice is the voice of family and friends.

I think the challenge is about expectation, the pressure you put on yourself to not let your audience down, because I know people really connected with Sherwood and were very moved by it and that鈥檚 because of the amazing performances and production too. It鈥檚 another difficult story in that while it isn鈥檛 based on any real event, it is inspired by a load of different violent occurrences that happened in Nottingham, and I always feel the weight of that responsibility. I want to get that right and handle that sensitively and to convey the truth of what it must feel like to live through a difficult time, in this case an outbreak of gun violence.

The first series was inspired by two devastating killings in the community in which you grew up. Does series two follow the same formula?

It is essentially the same formula in that it is inspired by the area that I grew up in, in the East Midlands, but I have used more creative licence this series and it is even more fictionalised than the first.

I've taken inspiration from many, many events within Nottinghamshire across multiple timeframes to create a brand-new fictional story. I hope it will have resonance because it is inspired by periods in which the area faced very high levels of crime and violence, including when Nottingham was termed 鈥楽hottingham鈥�, and other dark periods. It being more of a fictional work, that liberated me to move the characters we know from series ones forward, and I hope that people will enjoy it as a piece of drama but be able to see the impact of such industrial and political and socioeconomic factors

The Spycop storyline formed such an integral core to the first series - do we continue to explore that in the second series?

We do. [SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED SERIES 1 YET] Our undercover officer, who we revealed to be Daphne Sparrow (played by Lorraine Ashbourne) in the first series, is still very much living within her made-up identity and dealing with the consequences of that and trying to contend with her family not knowing, but with Ian St Clair (David Morrissey) knowing. We also introduce a brand-new element of that storyline, which some of our new characters are integral to, and whose past extends back to what happened in the 1980s, although this series is all set in the present day. We ended series one with Daphne thinking her secret was safe, but we discover very early on that she is going to have to stare into the darkness of the past and what she鈥檚 done, and go even further in apologising and reconciling her past. The effect it has on her and her family is huge.

Can you talk a little bit about your writing process and how you dig into something that perhaps feels more personal for you?

Sherwood will always mean more to me than almost anything else I do, because it's my community and my voice, so it feels like something I must dig down deeply into, in terms of my past and my emotional life. You don't want to do it alone, and the joy for me of being a television writer is that you have an amazing team around you. In my case that included our producers, and and at , and our director and the commissioning team at the 成人论坛. I also get to work with an amazing company of actors; for example it was a real privilege to be able to work very closely with on the development of his character this series. We spent time together in Nottingham speaking to local stakeholders, community activists, people in the police and in social services, to build a story in a world that felt authentic but that we could test and push our characters within. So, even though the process is so personal, whenever I sit down on my own in the darker moments of the night and dig into the wounds of my community to write it, I don't ever really feel like I鈥檓 alone, because I get to work with an incredible team and I feel very grateful and supported.

Speaking of research what research, other than living in Nottingham during the days of reported violence, did you do?

I spoke a lot to people who lived there during those times and remember them - either in the police or in communities. I also read books, which covered the time period and the dark days of gang violence in the county. Because we wanted to move it slightly away from the common areas of a returning crime drama, i.e. standard police detecting, it was a personal thrill to discover places like Violence Reduction Units of which we have a fictional version in our story, called the Violence Intervention Team.

It is inspired by these new organisations that I think an audience will be unfamiliar with. They exist outside of the framework of the police and they are independently funded but have been created to go into problem areas and connect loads of different areas of the community including schools, hospitals, mental health units, youth groups, community centres to reduce violence in communities, and particularly violence amongst men. To have access to something like that which is very new and radical and successful in reshaping policing was a delight. It鈥檚 always a thrill as a writer when you think you know something, but then you go and research and find out about something you鈥檝e never heard of in that way, and get to explore it.

Thematically, what did you want this series to touch on?

Series one was mainly about digging into the legacy of the miners鈥� strike and the impact that it had on certain communities and their relationship with the police. For series two, especially given the climate I was writing in, which is during the cost-of-living crisis and during the bankruptcy of councils and some really difficult times in local government, I wanted to really understand the human cost to individuals and communities. For example, what do the decades of neglect by central government and particularly cuts in local government and services mean for those on the frontline trying to prevent vulnerable people falling into a life of crime? Industrialised cities and communities are often the ones who bear the brunt of that, and I think it鈥檚 such a false economy to cut money in the short term because it costs you more in the long term. I want to really try to reflect how bad I think it鈥檚 become, mainly in local services, and the pressure that people have in their communities. You want to always reflect the news of the country when you鈥檙e writing.

Series one ended with the character of Scott, played by Adam Hugill, being caught. In series two we meet Oliver Huntington鈥檚 character Ryan, who is another troubled young man who has slipped through the cracks of society. Is the disparity and abandonment of young men in particular something you wanted to highlight?

Yeah, definitely. We're not repeating that story, but I think we certainly wanted to advance the themes of it forward in terms of understanding the character of Scott in series one. He wasn't part of a gang, he grew up in a village and environment like mine which was built on the embers of mining which gave a lot of men their identity. Scott lived in a quiet street in a quiet town and yet was completely disenfranchised and existed outside the normal bounds of society and commits unforgivable acts of violence.

Ryan in series two is very different. He goes through his teens embroiled in gang culture on an estate and he鈥檚 fallen through the cracks. I don鈥檛 want to look at individuals who go off the rails as isolated incidences, I don鈥檛 think anyone should, I think everything's connected. Hopefully the joy of Sherwood is that you're allowed space to not forgive but to understand all the factors that lead to young men, in particular, responding to trauma or to trigger moments with violence and rage and getting all of their validation from that kind of gang culture, finding community there. To me that isn't separate from a lot of things we explored in series one and I think that is entirely connected with the legacy of deindustrialisation, the closing of the mines and industry and the hole that it can create within the soul of a place. There is such a thing as collective memory. A place remembers and affects the people who are born into it, and we see those problems every day in communities all over the UK.

The East Midlands isn鈥檛 often seen on screen and yet it has produced some incredible talent over the years. This series sees a new wave of local talent including , , , and who are all from Nottingham. What do you think it is about the area that has spawned such raw talent?

I think there's a natural unpretentiousness and no-nonsense quality to the entire county. I would imagine that Yorkshire claims that characteristic, as well as places like Manchester and Liverpool, but there's something about the understated quality of the East Midlands, partly because it's been battered into us over decades of being slightly ignored or underestimated. It just adds both a huge down to earth openness to the world and to performance.

We have some huge established names in this cast, names that are amazing and daunting to me and it has been amazing to see new, raw talent on set with David Morrissey and Monica Dolan and Lesley Manville and they arrive with great humility. They are not deterred, they're not frightened, they are confident in their right and their ability to portray these characters and to tell these stories.

I think the whole ethos of the - a drama school for local talent, which has its own identity in terms of its naturalism, authenticity, integrity and determination to put the character of Nottinghamshire people on stage and screen - is just wonderful and remarkable. We wouldn't be able to make the show without them, I don鈥檛 think. There are a lot more younger actors in this series than the first, so it's a thrill for the older actors to be meeting a new generation of stars coming out of Nottinghamshire. There are absolutely some future Vicky McClures and Jack O'Connells and Perry Fitzpatricks who have joined this series.

What is the most rewarding aspect of writing for television compared to other forms of writing?

In terms of challenge, I think it鈥檚 just about the amount you have to produce, for example Sherwood is six hours of television and contrary to the American system I haven鈥檛 worked with a writers' room. Rightly or wrongly the UK is often about having a single authored voice and trusting them to get the job done, I suppose especially with something like Sherwood which is so personal.

I鈥檓 so grateful for that but that does mean a lot of material and you're not just doing one draft of every episode, you're doing multiple drafts and you have to mix that with your executive producing responsibilities 鈥� the casting, locations and being on set and so on, but what a lovely problem to have! It's a thrill, especially when the story means as much to you as this one does.

I would never underestimate the value of the live experience I have in theatre, that鈥檚 so unique, but of course with TV you get to go into people's homes and have that intimate relationship with millions of them, which I am so, so thankful that the first series of Sherwood did. To bring people into my world and tell a story on a great scale is a real privilege.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to create impactful and socially relevant stories?

I was briefly anxious in the first series about mixing genres and having the police thriller elements sitting alongside some political and social commentary. David Morrissey reminded me while we were making it that those things aren't in conflict, and you don't pause the personal stories to briefly 鈥渄o鈥� the political stories. Of course the political goes back to the personal. The characters in stories like this are carrying the politics with them all the time, they're carrying the socio-economic conditions that they were born into, so it鈥檚 all political. So, my one piece of advice is don鈥檛 think of it as separating the high stuff from the low stuff, it's all merged together and it all impacts the lives of the decisions of the characters you鈥檙e creating.

One thing you do so well in terms of blending those genres is adding the humour in there. It鈥檚 not a 鈥榞rim up north鈥� drama, though it鈥檚 sometimes dealing with difficult topics. Is that important to you?

Definitely. Ensuring it was not a 鈥済rim up north鈥� thing was one of my top missions with the first series, and we carried that on in this series. We wanted to make it look beautiful, because I think where I am from is beautiful. It鈥檚 not traditionally beautiful in maybe the way we think The Lake District or The Cotswolds are, but it鈥檚 got its own post-industrial beauty, with some pretty exceptional landscapes and forests and valleys and meadows. We wanted to always film in the summer so that we鈥檙e shooting against blue skies and with sunlight coming through the window, that was really important, but humour is obviously such an incredible antidote to the bleakness that can come by accident or by default with some of the themes we are tackling. People are funny in some of their worst moments, bad people can be funny, and scary people can be funny - and I think you always have to search for those moments.

What would you like people to take away from series two of Sherwood?

I would like their understanding and their curiosity about the people and communities inside the to extend beyond what we learnt in the first series, as we go out into the city of Nottingham and beyond. I guess the first series gave the impression that some of these wounds were linked and tied to the past and are perhaps unique to these communities, but I think there are more universal and social themes to this series which show what happens to any community that is neglected. I think it examines the trauma and the violence and the issues that can come from taking your eye off the ball and ignoring people. I think it鈥檚 a broader and wider story that extends beyond Nottingham, and I would like people to see that.