Enjoying owt on the box lately ?


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Anybody watching 'Sherwood'?  Based around Annesley area and set I think around 10 years ago. 

'Inspired by' a couple of actual murders in the area in 2004, which I'd not heard about.

 

It is very good, and it's pretty rare for any drama set in Nottm to feature at least some actors who can manage something approximating to a Nottm/East Midlands accent.... Miduck...

 

 I'm watching both because it is very good, but also because it is set very close to where I was raised,in places I know and within mining communities which I and my family were a part of.

For the benefit of those who do not know, or recall the events surrounding the 1984 Miner's Strike..it was not a simple case of 'Scabs v Strikers'. Also, the simplistic characterisation of Nottingham miners as all belonging to the 'breakaway' UDM, and the rest all being firm supporters of the NUM, is also innaccurate.

Although I detest Thatcher and her methods the true picture was rather more complex. The strike and the opposing groups of workers resulted from a failure by Scargill to seek a truly national strike ballot, seemingly because he knew he would not secure support for a strike. So, he instead relied on 'pithead' ballots, with a back up plan of 'picketing out', those pits where the vote did not lead to strike action. This of course put many miners in the position of having to reconcile their democratic instincts, with their loyalty to their fellow miners.
If, say, you vote to strike, but the pithead ballot you participated in decides on continued working.. what do you do?

I can understand that the reality of a complex situation is reduced for dramatic purposes to a simple 'scab v worker' meme, but those interested might want to have a look here:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners'_strike_(1984–85)#Breakaway_union

 

 

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I’m watching this but I’m a bit puzzled about something …. It was mentioned that the first victim was killed by a cross bow, and the bloke practising in the woods seemed to be using an ‘ordinary’ bow.  Is this significant?

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My son was an avid archer and ran the club at his university. We still have relics of his shooting paraphernalia at home. The crossbow is considerably more accurate than a longbow and is marginally more powerful. The crossbow can be aimed and fired like a rifle. The longbow requires much more skill to hit the target.

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I haven't watched 'Sherwood', but I've read comments about a reference to Notts Forest.

 

That's a fundamental error if you're trying to give the impression you know what you're talking about in the area. If the writers/producers made such a basic mistake, what else have they not got right ?

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Margie, I think if you watch at least one scene, he's shooting arrows at a tree, but has a crossbow close by.  I'm also a bit miffed at the use of the term 'firing arrows'. It may be colloquially accurate, but no Archer would speak of 'firing'.  Arrows are 'shot'.  Guns are 'fired'.

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I have little interest in football but have always thought it strange that Notts County is within the city boundary and Nottingham Forest is NOT within the city boundary so should logically be Notts Forest.  Or am I completely wrong about the city boundary?  I always thought the city boundary was the Trent….  Please correct me if I’m wrong.  

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Watched the two so far, but almost didn't. It starts way too slow and the meducks not always in the appropriate

places. The strike is painted with a very broad brush, but it's TV, so not really making any attempt at accuracy.

I don't like how the mining community is shown as ill educated, boorish and aggressive with it.

Then again I always have difficulty turning my reality chip off.

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Forest seem to be named for their original ground, the Forest Recreation Ground at Forest Fields.  The City Ground is outside the city boundary, but was apparently named in honour of Nottm achieving City status.

 

Ground history

Period Ground Location
1865 – 1878 Forest Recreation Ground Forest Fields
1879 – 1880 Castle Ground The Meadows
1880 – 1882 Trent Bridge Cricket Ground West Bridgford
1882 – 1885 Parkside Ground Lenton
1885 – 1890 Gregory Ground Lenton
1890 – 1898 Town Ground The Meadows
1898 – City Ground West Bridgford
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I seem to recall the County team was referred to as Notts County as they were a Nottinghamshire team.

Though Nottingham Forest as I recall was known as Nottingham Forest, often abbreviated to Notts Forest.

As for the TV programme, 'Sherwood', the accents are quite authentic and can hear one of my friends, an ex-miner, from Top Valley speaking with the same dialect, apart from using the term of endearment, 'Miduck'.

The term 'Miduck' was frequently used by my uncle who had butcher's shops in Bulwell and on Lincoln Street, Basford, in the 50's and 60's.

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Also the phrases alright me old , thas right serri, and less frequently me old mukka  !

 

Outside of nottingham i still have the mickey taken out of me with anything i say that has a U in it , such as Cup, Mug, bus !

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Watched Episode 1 of Sherwood.  Very slow to start (was thinking "so what is it about?" after about half an hour).  Then someone whose favourite tipple was a pint of mixed (is that still a thing?) was shot with a bolt from a crossbow, with the hackneyed 'half the cast had a motive' plotline.

I was struggling to decide when it is supposed to be set: I saw one of the youngsters with a smartphone with three cameras (fairly recent?) and mention of social media.  However, the police set up a temporary investigations room (in a chapel?) with not a laptop or mobile phone in sight.  Just a map of north Notts on a display board - looked like something out of 'Life on Mars'.  I was just waiting for Philip Glenister to show up as Gene Hunt but instead his brother (Robert Glenister - Myles in the infamous 'Peckham Spring' episode from OFAH) appeared as DI Salisbury - a detective with history from the events of 1984 who clearly needs some Brownie points before quitting the force in disgrace.

There is a lad who is about to be banged up, a taxi driver, a family-run archery joint, an ex-pitter with COPD or emphysema and someone running some sort of monitoring station with all sorts of computer screens continuously scrolling data.  Aside of over-simplifying the differences between the NUM and UDM as some sort of variation on Jets vs. Sharks, the writer is trying to cram in any local reference he can (Robin Hood, Torville and Dean, "going up to Donny", etc.)

Not sure that I will continue with it.

 

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A pint of mixed is a rarity now. Can you still get mild beer? Certainly not in my local. Even a decent pint of bitter is hard to find. It just used to be mild or bitter at the bar plus Guinness sometimes. Now you’ve got a plethora of of fancy brews most of which taste like something you’d give to Sunday school children - if they still have Sunday schools.

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@The Engineer I’ve watched 2 episodes now and am still a bit confused (but that might be my age!)

I will continue to watch in the hope that everything will become clearer.  I expect it will have a strange ending though, as many of these dramas do….

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I watched episode 1 and 2 of Sherwood on i-Player last night.
If I'd only watched episode 1 when first broadcast I'd have probably not continued with the series.

 

As Engineer I was confused over the time it was set in, firstly by the interior design of the modern houses, then the Smartphones, and thinking the producers had messed up, but the 70 plate car and other modern vehicles convinced me it's set recently.

 

I remember the new Bride death and the searching in Annesley woods but not the crossbow in the street death.
 

 

I can see the reasoning for the series as it covers the most unlikely 2 unrelated deaths in a short period in a community that has continuing issues from the past with the added potential past / present issue of Covert Policing.

 

I worked with former Notts and former Yorks miners in my final 25 years of employment and to say there was resentment up to the present day (or when I last saw them) was an understatement.

I was also living in Bilsthorpe, Notts at the time of the strike and had to regularly pass though Police anti picket road blocks to get home. Bilsthorpe pit worked through the strike as did Gedling where my Father in Law worked.

 

 

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I’m really enjoying ‘Sherwood’, now half way through the 6 episodes.  Great to see Newstead Abbey on tonight’s episode (and a brief shot of a house we viewed when deciding to move up to Notts.) Not sure how all these murders will affect house prices in Annesley though ;)

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Sherwood  just like LizzieM i watched first 2 episodes after that i gave up, just don't seem to find many interesting programes on TV any more. When you see them advertisd they look good but you watch them and wonder why you bother. I find that half the problem is the series follows on night after and you don't get a break.

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But Denshaw, Mrs Sparrow did offer a credit card behind the bar in the 'clubby', to pay for a couple of rounds.

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One of the best things on the box at the moment - Mortimer & Whitehouse gone fishing.

 

Two late-middle-aged men faffing around, talking any old rubbish, and generally doing nothing in particular.

 

It shouldn’t work, but it does.

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Apart from the news programmes of which ''Aljazeera'' is my favourite........there's not a lot of Programmes i like.........But i am addicted to ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' now...(talking pictures Wednesday nights 8pm)........can't recall watching it back in the 70s.........Leo Mckern is brilliant in it......

           Lots of old famous faces are regulars...and i enjoy looking them up on Wiki....sadly most now no longer with us...........including the nearly Bulwell lad 'Peter Bowles..........

           Rumpoles Shakespearian monologues are fabulous and very funny.........

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