A Talk TV presenter tried to hoodwink the internet with a faked ‘wokery’ yarn about BBC’s Sherwood and got thoroughly exposed by the writer
Talk TV, home of Julia Hartley-Brewer, Mike ‘Concrete grows’ Graham and Jeremy Kyle is the online Murdoch-backed version of GB News – with fewer viewers. It also gives a voice to Kevin O’Sullivan, and the most efficient explanation of him is that it’s a very good fit.
The TV reviewer, Brexiter and culture warmonger recently shared his ‘everything’s woke’ schtick with the internet, holding forth on one of the BBC’s casting decisions.
His loyal audience lapped it up.
There was one glaring problem with O’Sullivan’s comment, and it was explained by this Community Note.
Sherwood’s writer, James Graham, added his own notes.
Really good point, apart from a couple of things @TVKev. Sherwood is a drama set in the modern day. It is nothing to do with the old story of Robin Hood. The role of Sheriff is a real civic position in Nottingham taken up by rotating councillors. It has been occupied by women… https://t.co/AkvunbiYvy
— James Graham (@mrJamesGraham) August 20, 2024
Other people had a few things to say, too.
1.
Outfuckingstanding. https://t.co/eipNGTpMWc pic.twitter.com/MK6IGwiB1q
— Kelly Welles (@kelly_welles) August 20, 2024
2.
Imagine being a tv reviewer and knowing so little about TV. Imagine. https://t.co/62cHCh0dG7
— rufus jones (@rufusjones1) August 20, 2024
3.
But is she going to, “call off Christmas”? https://t.co/s5cuRJMjh8
— richard bacon (@richardpbacon) August 20, 2024
4.
You should see what they've done with the Dick Whittington legend in Eastenders. https://t.co/e4S4CHcEPa
— Paul Sinha (@paulybengali) August 20, 2024
5.
One reason Twatter is still worth it is for moments like this, when a right-wing knee reflex complains about a show he's not even googled and is owned by the writer. https://t.co/egdn8yVmgv
— Trumpton (@Trump_ton) August 20, 2024
6.
You utter buffoon. It's a police/detective show set in 2004. It's not new (Season 1, 2022) and it has nothing to do with Robin Hood. Way to embarrass yourself with your odd war on wokery. https://t.co/HEiKl04Uma
— Dan Kaszeta, FRHistS, Legal Juggernaut (@DanKaszeta) August 20, 2024
7.
'TVKev' eh? TV?, that your speciality, is it? woeful shit-stirrer. https://t.co/VUrxElT4wF
— Geoff McGivern (@Geoff_McGivern) August 20, 2024
8.
If you don’t like stories being adapted and crafted into things that resonate with the audience they’re shared with then you’re going to hate finding out about the entire history of myth and storytelling https://t.co/5CKGUa7c8A
— Deborah Halsey (@debshalsey) August 20, 2024
9.
I remember a story about a theatre critic wrote a piece about a play in a theatre which burned down the night he was supposed to be there.
This, if anything, is more embarrassing than that. https://t.co/hwIfn2cZIy— Mike Holden (@MikeHolden42) August 20, 2024
10.
You mean Series 2 of Sherwood *doesn’t* have a hot animated fox in the lead role? Wokery gone mad! pic.twitter.com/i3FYj9cJaH
— Chris (@chris1701G) August 20, 2024
11.
The only thing stupider than this tweet is its replies. https://t.co/jjK98YyWtE
— Jon Dryden Taylor (@jondrytay) August 20, 2024
12.
Woke: Sherwood having a lesbian Sheriff of Nottingham
Broke: Kev's brain, because Sherwood is a crime drama set in Sherwood and not about Robin Hood whatsoever.
Christ these folk are dumb dumbs. https://t.co/XSHc34njDb
— Tara: Ed Balls Disliker (@bluer_star) August 20, 2024
13.
I can’t believe that in the BBC’s new* Robin Hood series** Sherwood, the Sheriff of Nottingham*** will be a lesbian. When will this madness end?
*it’s not new, first series was in 2022
**it’s got nothing to do with Robin Hood
***there is no Sheriff of Nottingham https://t.co/TauRR20MRK— Godspeed You Black Tamperer (ft Maya) (@twlldun) August 20, 2024
14.
There’s some great chutzpah in having the first bit of your Twitter name being something you clearly know nothing about. It would be like me adopting the handle NuclearPhysics_Animal. https://t.co/88glJvXvph
— Political Animal (@politic_animal) August 20, 2024
15.
Wokeness is now so out of control at the BBC that it’s producing tv shows set in Nottinghamshire that have nothing whatsoever to do with Robin Hood https://t.co/mxpl1RF8gm pic.twitter.com/Yv3yxsgQZq
— christoph (@Halalcoholism) August 20, 2024
16.
This tweet is pure comedy.
The show is starting its 2nd series.
It began in 2022.
It has nothing to do with Robin Hood.
Sanity went to die in your tiny little head, dear. https://t.co/3PfEmKw21R https://t.co/JbziRpZfVD
— Baby Bee (@Beebbopalula) August 20, 2024
17.
When you’re so frightened by people different to yourself, you have to make up stuff that’s ’woke’ for your sheep to bleat about.
Jeez, Kev. You must be very self conscious and nervous in public if you honestly worry about how the cast of a TV show makes you feel.
— Don McGowan (@donmcgowan) August 20, 2024
There were a couple of other problems, quite apart from O’Sullivan’s complete misrepresentation of the show – whether accidental or deliberate.
What’s the Sheriff of Nottingham‘s sexuality got to do with the price of fish?
Sherwood isn’t based on Robin Hood and has nothing to do with it for starters, it’s set in Sherwood. But imagine being upset by a lesbian having a job. https://t.co/hujUF12p8q
— Jonny Clooney (@Makinov) August 20, 2024
Just this.
Yes there's the blunder. But even if it was about Robin Hood, the hero is obsessed with the forcible redistribution of wealth to create a fairer society. He's already pretty woke. https://t.co/e4S4CHdcEI
— Paul Sinha (@paulybengali) August 20, 2024
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