Ashfield writer James Graham confirms series 3 of hit BBC drama Sherwood will be its last

Acclaimed screenwriter and playwright James Graham made the revelation in Sky News' new video-first podcast series, Backstory with Cathy Newman.

In conversation with Cathy, James confirms that the third series of BBC One's Sherwood has been completed and edited and will be the show's last. The series is expected to arrive on screens in January or February 2027.

The BBC drama is loosely based on historic murders around Nottinghamshire.

He said: “We've finished it, we've edited it, and it will be the last series, and it will be out in January, February time.”

He also reveals that he hopes to adapt Punch, his acclaimed West End and Broadway play, for television.

He said: “I did a play called Punch, which was on in the West End and went to Broadway. I'm hoping to turn that into television. That was about the experience of going out on a Saturday night in these kind of market towns and cities, where the rhythm of life means that there is often a crucial moment in the night where drinking and a culture meets and it can often end in violence. And in this case, it ended up with a guy, James Hodgkinson, being killed with a one-punch killing outside Yates's Wine Lodge. And we wanted to understand the things I still know from that environment about masculinity and drinking and expressions of yourself, which if you don't have an emotional outlet, does it come out physically violently instead?”

James also makes a passionate case for long-form drama during the conversation, challenging the assumption that younger audiences can only engage with short-form content.

He calls this "a patronizing idea", warning: "If we're denying people the chance to invest in long-form, then we're going to be screwed."

The Backstory episode will be available to listen to across streaming platforms and watch on YouTube from today (Thursday November 12).

You can currently stream the first two series of Sherwood via BBC iPlayer.