Sherwood season 2 episode 2 rocks viewers with triple character death

But nothing could've quite prepared us for the triple murder that capped off the episode, leaving viewers with their jaws quite literally on the floor and plenty of burning questions.

At the start of the episode, the Branson's wanted to enlist young Ronan (Bill Jones) to be the person to point the Bottomley's out. But after finding out that Ronan wasn't alone when he witnessed the murder of Nicky Branson, his mother Daphne (Lorraine Ashbourne) sought to find out just who he was with.

What she wasn't bargaining on when she exchanged text messages with the mystery number on her son's phone was that it would lead to her meeting her adult daughter Rachel (Christine Bottomley).

In order to protect Ronan from having to point out the Bottomley's, Daphne convinced Rachel to do it after she saw Stephie (Bethany Asher) in a photo that Ryan (Oliver Huntingdon) forced her to look at before he shot Nicky.

And while the mother-daughter reunion was complicated and emotional, the Sherwood episode really notched up a gear in the tension stakes in the last 20 minutes or so. Crammed into a car, Ann and Roy sat in the front while Daphne and Rachel waited to see how the day in Skegness would pan out.

In the middle of the town, Roy told Daphne and Rachel to go into the local pub as it's lunchtime and if the Bottomleys were out, there's a good chance of them being there. Despite not initially having plans to go out that day, Pam (Sharlene Whyte), Denis (David Harewood) and Stephie were all enjoying a day in the town and were indeed in the pub having lunch.

Rachel recognised them immediately and when Daphne quickly tries to warn them, Ann walks in and spots them for herself. To confirm it is them they're looking for, Ann nonchalantly calls out Pam's name and Pam indeed turns around.

Daphne goes to the toilet as a cover for trying to get a warning to the Bottomleys. She texts a warning to run to the burner phone that Rory gave her from her own phone but with it having a low battery, it won't stay charged for long. On her way back to Ann and Rachel, she slips the burner phone into Pam's coat pocket in the hopes she'll read the message soon.

But Pam only finds the phone when they return to the safe house and sees it has no charge. She calls Harry (Michael Balogun) for help but instead, Marcus (Jorden Myrie) picks up and tells her to hold tight, that he'll send some officers to keep watch.

Outside in the garden, Denis sets Stephie up to use the metal detector on the beach and he notices a neighbour has a ride-on mower so asks if he can use it for their own lawn. The neighbour also has a phone charger so that Denis can charge the mystery phone.

On their way to the Bottomleys safe house, Roy receives a text from his man on the inside, aka Marcus, informing him that he'll also need to grab the phone after being notified about it by Pam.

But in the tense final moments of the episode, Denis starts up the mower which drowns out the noises coming from Roy breaking in. Pam is confronted by Roy in her bedroom who shoots her dead after saying "For Nicky". But Kyre goes outside without Roy and also shoots Denis dead while he's on the mower, not realising that Roy has already killed Pam.

While they're making their way out the back, the camera pans to a lone Stephie still using the metal detector on the beach, unaware of what's just transpired – or at least, that's what we think.

As Kyre goes back to his van, Roy, Ann, Daphne and Rachel drive away in their own car. But left alone at his van and putting his things in the back, he's stabbed in the back with a pair of garden shears by none other than Stephie, who closes the back doors and leaves him inside the van to die.

As the final scenes unfold and show Harry at the safe house (which is now a crime scene) and Stephie crying, will she confess to murder? And what will the Branson's double revenge killing mean in the ongoing gang rivalries?

Bring on episode 3, we say – even though it does now mean that the series is without Whyte and Harewood's heartfelt performances.

Sherwood continues on Sunday 1st September at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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