Lesley Manville's returning BBC drama Sherwood has been defended by creator James Graham after one aspect received backlash from some.
The crime series, which follows a community in Nottinghamshire still divided by the 1980s miners' strike, returns this weekend, with the second season set in the present day as two new families become entangled with the Sparrow clan.
One aspect that has caused some discussion online is the introduction of a new Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Ria Zmitrowicz, who Graham has described as a "young, queer female".
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The playwright has now hit back at those criticising this aspect of the show, replying on X (formerly Twitter) to one post that accused the series of "wokery" and had wrongly suggested that Sherwood was a Robin Hood reboot.
"Sherwood is a drama set in the modern day," Graham wrote. "It is nothing to do with the old story of Robin Hood.
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"The role of Sheriff is a real civic position in Nottingham taken up by rotating councillors," he went on to note. "It has been occupied by women several times."
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Nottingham City Council leader Neghat Khan also defended the decision, writing on X: "I've seen the comments online about the new BBC Sherwood series featuring a LGBT Sheriff of Nottingham.
"Our Sheriff changes annually and the role has been held by people of colour, LGBT people and many other representatives of the diverse communities of our city of Nottingham."
In an interview with the BBC, Graham also opened up about making the character queer and female, explaining: "Whenever I tell people we still have a Sheriff of Nottingham they don't believe it.
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"I feel like mythology and folklore was a big part of the first series, the stories that we carry forward through generations or even just the associations that we make to certain titles are so important in general.
"Obviously the first series had outlaws hiding out in Sherwood Forest and people drew that line to Robin Hood, and The Sheriff is a character people mostly know from that. In our series we have a young, queer female Sheriff of Nottingham."
"I just thought that felt modern and important to include that representation, and to make that character and that title fully drawn," he added.
Sherwood series two will premiere on Sunday, August 25, at 9pm on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, followed by episode two on Monday, August 26, at the same time. Episodes will continue weekly on Sundays and Mondays for three weeks.
Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
