This Town

As another reviewer said, they tried to do too much and failed to do anything. They could have done so much more with the music of the time and they failed. But most of all the original music is terrible. The band as such would never have been popular.

Then they tried to shoehorn the IRA into the show. Great, do an IRA show or do a Two Tone show. Not both. Then they tried to add M Thatchers in to the mix. Add a dollop of soap opera and you end up with an uneven pile of crap.

I did enjoy quite a few parts of this but I would have to be convinced about a second series. More Ska/Two Tone and less IRA.

Beautifully shot, great music, good actors, amazing locations and wardrobe. But it just doesn't come together.

Some parts are rushed while others are lingered on for too long without any real impact, emotional or artistic.

The characters speak like they're in a play - too dramatic, forever reciting someone else's words. You can tell there is a lot of talent on the screen, but it goes to waste. The characters aren't developed in an interesting way, or aren't developed at all. Their arc are murky, not intentionally (which can be interesting) but in a lackluster, clumsy sort of way.

Even the way the songs were edited in felt like they were always missing the punchline, and there were some GREAT songs in this show. It's like the scenes and the music are disjointed, not well-suited.

Dante felt, to me, a very difficult main character. He is so disconnected from anything that doesn't directly involve him (and some things that DO involve him) that it kept making me disconnect and pull away from the show. There were good moments with the other characters that got drowned in lots of scenes of cardboard cutouts of people talking to each other in predictable, wooden dialouge.

It's an entertaining show but could have been so much more.

Before watching This Town I hadn't listened properly to the synopsis and thought this was a fictional depiction of the rise of two-tone, which was originally what peaked my interest in the show. To find that this was more of an ode to that time in the midlands, I wasn't disappointed however. Especially to find such well acted and deep characters that took the story to a much more enjoyable level. There's a few different stories within the overall story here but all are explored properly and the show is the better for it. I don't understand another review I've seen here saying it wasn't about music. An excellent soundtrack and the central theme of getting a band together should really appeal to any muso. Especially fans of Ska, Two-Tone and Reggae. Can't wait for series two having binged this start to finish. Just a thought - why does anyone who gives a TV series a poor review actually sit through all the episodes? Things that make you go mmm????

I just had to bingewatch this. The 80s was my era, I lived in Brum as a kid and I have always been a bluenose (Birmingham City fan. The Zulu Warriors was the name given to the hooligans associated with the club not all the fans despite the terrace being known as the Spion Kop).

The fusion of the people, the music, vehicles, buildings and cars is all spot on. The only downside wee the ropey Brummie accents and the BCFC logo which the club did away with in 1976, 5 years before this was set.

It would be great to see more but this will probably be the end of the fantastic series The second city rarely makes tv but great when it is.

Wowee. This show is pure class. Loads of authenticacy on the area and its period. Proper working-class boozers promoting the peried tunes of punk and ska and new wave.

A dodgy gangsta club boss which was reminiscent of the time from the Krays as well. Proper nuts stuff which compliments what I read about in their reports from the period but providing a unique twist of its own from the genius mind of Stephen Knight.

It also shows total capitalism and stark poverty; the Tory age was well and truely alive in 1980's Coventry and Birmingham! People being unemploed and people ripping-off the state in disgust and illegal gross capitalism as well.

The record store is just amazing. The sets are perfect. Council estate and the pub is just wow. The attention-to-detail is staggering.

Then there's the script. Oh yes! A really epic drama and incredibly well-written with a LOT of dialogue; fighting and dancing and merriment.

I loved it. It's one of the best dramas the BBC have had in a long time and it has real Shane Meadows' style vibes from the exceptional 'This Is England' series.

I'm astounded by the excellent acting involved and the realistic approach of scripts used for the IRA and the serviceman giving a huge dilemma from the UK Government.

Clothes are great. The set team and art team have done amazing with the the props. I love all the vintage Fred Perry and Sergio Tacchini are on display and proudly-worn!

The Zulus were a notorious Birmingham football gang in the 1980's yet they were from in the late 1980's and I am wondering if this series is a quiet homage to them?!?

Let's talk about the acting! Wow. Lots of talent here. Incredible stuff. Please just watch it and sit-back and enjoy. A sensational series!