This Is England '86

I was a 16 year old skinhead in Sydney Australia back then in 1986 and this pretty much sums it all up. A heap of kids from broken homes coming together. Rather than drugs it was drinking, music and each other. Skins, Rudy's, Mods, Rockers we all came together. There used to be soccer matches with all the sub-cultures it was a great time. This is perfect because it shows skinheads as they were not seig hailing nazi boneheads. I hope this series is extended it is a prefect reflection of that era. The characters are perfect and the different sub- cultures portray. Even in 2011 bands from that era are enjoying more success today then back then.

The father/son element took on contemporary resonance in the earlier work: its exposition made clear that Shaun was fatherless due to his father being killed whilst serving in the Falklands War, and though grossly misguided, Combo's anti-war rant to Shaun provokes a great anger and frustration in the youngster because of its essential truths – that the war itself was being fought under false pretences, fed to tame the same working classes that Margaret Thatcher had openly waged war on. The film's release, at a time in which the UK was once again involved in an escalating imperialist war – this time in both Iraq and Afghanistan – gave it an extra political edge.

This material, even in the hands of a limited cinematic storyteller such as Shane Meadows, proved quite powerful at points. Meadows himself apparently saw much further potential in the work: "When I finished This Is England, I had a wealth of material and unused ideas that I felt very keen to take further," he said in August 2009. "Not only did I want to take the story of the gang broader and deeper, I also saw in the experiences of the young in 1986 many resonances to now – recession, lack of jobs, sense of the world at a turning point. Whereas the film told part of the story, the TV serial will tell the rest." Though these sentiments ring true for the film, the mini-series, we should say before anything else, is a mostly vacant work, with no significant attention paid to a recession, to unemployment, to a sense of political and social upheaval. If the central relationship between Combo and Shaun offered a potentially rich examination of political disillusionment amongst the young in both the England of the Eighties and of the present day, its television follow-up, co-scripted with Meadows by Jack Thorne, makes an industry out of fashionable miserablism, forced humour and a moral viewpoint that can only be described as confused at best.

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I was lucky enough to attend the preview screening of This is Enlgand '86 last Thursday at the Showroom in Sheffield. The cinema was decorated to look like an 80's wedding with a buffet of sausage rolls, prawn vol au vonts, cheese and pineapple chunks on cocktail sticks, and there was also a live ska band and actors dressed in 80's clothing to help create a real 1986 atmosphere.

The preview was attended by director Shane Meadows and all of the cast, who came up on stage before the screening to introduce the first episode. The producer mentioned that Shane Meadows had been frantically working in London every day to try to get the last 2 episodes finished in time to be aired on Channel 4.

Only the first episode was shown at the screening along with a trailer for the rest of the series but I have to say that, based on what I saw, I don't think fans of the film will be at all disappointed by the series. The themes of racism, the Falklands War and Thacherite Britain take a bit more of a backseat here and the focus is now on the lives of the characters and the various personal problems they face growing up in 1986. The opening to the first episode is fantastic and the director manages to bridge the gap between the events of the film and the series in a very creative way that fans will love.

The 1986 setting looks extremely authentic and the series is complimented by a fantastic soundtrack.

The cast put in excellent performances once again, in particular Thomas Turgoose who returns as Shaun and Vicky MccLure who is again brilliant as Lol. Also look out for hilarious comedic turns from Hannah Walters (a.k.a Mrs Stephen Graham) who played the shoe saleswoman in the film, and newcomer Perry Fitzpatrick as psychotic bully Flip. I don't think I'm giving anything away here (as he is featured in all of the trailers) but we also see the return of the fantastic Stephen Graham as Combo.

Although this first episode is more light hearted in tone than the film with some more obvious comedic set pieces, the director is able to expertly switch to the more dramatic scenes and engage viewers in the various predicaments of his characters. There are several very emotional scenes which work very well and the familiar sounds of the Einaudi piano score punctuate these scenes to great effect. For me one of the things that made the dramatic scenes in the original film so engaging was Shane Meadows' use of music to heighten the emotional impact and I found that he did this very effectively again here.

The trailer for the other 3 episodes promises more hilarious scenes as well as some much darker subplots, and the series as a whole looks set to provide all of the same elements that made the original so appealing. As a fan of the film it felt a little like visiting a gang of old mates who I hadn't seen in a while, and I can't wait to see the rest of the series when it airs to find out what becomes of these great characters.

Just finished re-watching This Is England '86 and I completely forgot how utterly brilliant it is. I've laughed and cried, just raw emotion throughout. Ludovico Einaudi's scores made the series truly magnificent. Such a phenomenal bit of telly - 10/10. If you haven't seen this, watch it followed by '88 and '90 and if you have seen them, watch them again!

The only negative I have to say is that the movie and the other seasons are not available. Excellent gritty(in a need to shower after a couple episodes good way) series that is still relatable today. Filming and acting is top notch. Highly recommend.