Unravelling Sherwood’s Shock Death in Episode 5 (and What It Revealed About the Spy-Cop)
A gun being taken out of a box in the opening scene of an episode is not, generally speaking, a good omen. So when we watched Daphne Sparrow (the immense Lorraine Ashbourne) grabbing an ancient-looking pistol for a refresher session in Sherwood, it was pretty much nailed-on that episode five was going to end in carnage.
With the Sparrows – and Daphne’s long-lost daughter, Rachel – doing the unthinkable and collaborating with the police, we finally saw their blood-thirsty rivals, the Bransons, placed behind bars. But you didn’t seriously think the drama was going to end there? Not when there’s a good episode and a half left of action in the series?
The highly charged and emotional episode ended in one of the main characters lying in a pool of their own blood, but what exactly happened, and what did it reveal about the resident spy-cop? Let’s break it all down…
The beginning of the end
Rewind back to the end of series one of Sherwood, and it was revealed that a young Daphne Sparrow was the spy-cop, initially sent to the mining village in the ‘80s to stoke up political unrest and shop incriminating intel back to the Met in London.
But she met Mickey Sparrow and had a change of heart, turning her back on life in the force and devoting herself to her wild husband. They raised their own family, who definitely lived life on the opposite side of the law.
She was nearly exposed as being the spy-cop, but only Ian St Clair (David Morrissey) knew her secret, alongside her son Ronan, who managed to track down her long-lost daughter, Rachel, who she gave away as a baby. And who was Rachel’s dad? None other than the pernicious Franklin Warner (Robert Lindsay) who was also revealed to be a spy-cop in the Nottinghamshire community back in the ‘80s. No wonder Daphne had kept that one quiet.
After Daphne told Rachel about her dad, there was an incredibly emotive scene between Daphne (Ashbourne) and Mickey (Philip Jackson). Remember, Daphne has never confessed to being a covert police spy to him, and around their kitchen table, as they discuss Rachel and Daphne’s earlier life, she tries to tell him the truth. “Don’t you tell me I don’t know you,” Mickey says kindly, “Because I know who you are, who I married. I’ve always known, OK?” Does he though? Daphne then tries to make it crystal clear, but stumbles: “But… I’m… the police…”
Mickey jumps up and says: “I reckon we’ll leave it there for now and tomorrow we’ll go back to planning our trip… there’s more to unravel, but that’s for the road, the long road.”
Has he worked it out and already come to peace with his wife’s former life with the force? It certainly seems so, and not only that, but he’s giving her the reassurance that he still loves her and that it doesn’t change anything about their relationship.
This is why we can’t have nice things
All things considered, it’s probably for the best that the Sparrows take a long road trip to an unspecified place. But what happens to characters planning a happy ending in a gritty, crime-filled drama? Those sort of optimistic plans are cruelly dashed.
We find out that Ann Branson (a killer turn from Monica Dolan) has legally managed to snake her way out of jail, as there’s no evidence connecting her to the deaths, unlike her husband, Roy.
Ominously, Mickey’s pictured painting a barn door blood red, a prophetic marker of what’s about to unfold in his family home, and his spot of DIY means he misses the call from Daphne telling him to get the hell out.
While we had Rory Sparrow riffing on the “Here’s Johnny!” line in the last episode, even more terrifying was Ann practically pulling the same line in the Sparrows’ house. After tracking Mickey silently through the rooms, she pulls out a gun, shoots him in the stomach (chosen, vindictively, as it’s “meant to be the worst… slow but like, inevitable”).
“Weren’t sure it would actually work!” she says, gaily, before asking him what’s going through his head as he bleeds out on the carpet. “I’ve always wanted to know!”
The fiercely loyal dad manages to choke out “just me… not the others” in a bid to stop the psychopathic Ann from hunting down the rest of his family.
In devastating scenes, Daphne makes it home to find her beloved husband dying on their living room floor. Here was the man who knew everything about her, and loved her in spite of her past, who created a new life for her and their family, and who had been promising their future together just hours before.
She lies on the floor with him, futilely telling him “you’re alright”, clutching his blood-soaked hands. As the dialogue fades out and the orchestral strings stir, the shell-shocked Daphne steps out of her personal hell into the light of the day. This clearly doesn’t end here, and the finale of Sherwood looks set to be a murderous showdown between the two matriarchs.
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