The Gallows Pole

Prior to this everything Shane Meadows has touched has been gold. Unfortunately bringing his oft-repeated style of improvisational dialogue into a period drama is a misfire.

I do have an issue with a period drama that doesn't quite stick to the period it's supposedly portraying. The trouble with actors improvising as a character from another time is that they won't always be able to stay 100% in that character without occasionally slipping and using modern parlance, which happens quite often here.

I managed two out of the three episodes and really could not continue to the last one. The pacing is at a snail's pace which is borne out of unnecessarily-long scenes of constant 'natural' talking which if given a proper script would've tightened it up and made for sharper dialogue thus giving it an energy instead of the sleep-inducing borefest it quickly became.

I love Shane Meadows and mostly everything that he has done. If there is one tip i can give you, it'll be give it time. It gets better as the episodes go on.

There are rumours that Shane loves ad libbing and improvisation and you can see it in parts, but it's typical Meadows dialogue and always has that feeling of it could kick off at any second but if you give it time, it'll grow on you.

All we need is Woody, milky and Lol to turn up and it'll be the icing on the cake.

Gritty, grubby and sometimes a bit too sweary, it's definitely one that you have to give time. Maybe one day we will see the return of This is England, but until we do, this'll do.

It might seem strange to some that in the rancid poverty and disease of the 18th Century, people didn't act, talk or swear in the same manner as Laurence Oliver in the Hays Code of the 1940's, but it seems logical that the mostly uneducated, underprivileged classes, now even worse off thanks to The Industrial Revolution might conceivably be quite annoyed, most of the time.

Downton already exists as a TV show, which is fine, but is written from exactly the other end of the same principle. Also best not to dignify the argument that there were " people who wouldn't have been there" as we cannot all hear dog whistles. Best to just check the facts there.

Having said that, it's a little bit too Steven Knight for me, it's certainly a placeholder episode and naturally slower for it. It's good to see the old TIE crew finally back, and the pace will definitely pick up come episode two.

The cinematography, especially at the beginning, should win awards.

David Hartley returns to his home town after several years away, guided by visions of Stag Men, he presents his community with an unusual, but lucrative business opportunity.

I do get a little worried now when The BBC does a historical, they were always so reliable, recent clunkers like Great Expectations hardly fill you with confidence. The Gallows Pole however is something very different.

It's definitely contemporary, visually and in terms of dialogue, I'm sure there was a degree of improvisation, at times it feels quite free flowing.

It isn't going to be for everyone, and I can understand why people may quit at Episode one, it was slow moving, and a bit heavy, but it definitely improves as it develops, pacing also improves somewhat.

I was very excited when this was announced a few years back, checking the original announcement, it was planned as a six part series, it gives me hope that this show will be back for a second run.

I'd be staggered if this didn't win awards for its production, it's a decadent looking series, the camera work, costumes and settings are wonderful. The accompanying music alters the mood significantly, at times it's haunting and atmospheric, it works so well.

The acting impressed me, Michael Socha and Sophie McShera both really stood out.

Nice little touches, I loved the quirky titles for the production team during those lengthy opening credits.

It took me some time to get into, I wasn't crazy early on, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

7/10.

I've seen all of Shane Meadow's work, apart from his doc on The Stone Roses. I've loved all of it. This, not so much.

Not sure what to think of this adaptation of a novel by Benjamin Myers.

The beginning of episode one had hints of Ben Wheatley's A Field in England. Once past the slightly surreal section, we get to what Meadows does best: cast improvisation. What we get is history in Meadows style. This Is England 1765. It's initially jarring, but I got used to it. However some scenes needed a better editor. Dialogue exchanges tended to go on longer than needed with no plot development whatsoever.

On the positive, Meadows provides a non traditional, raw look at Yorkshire in the mid 18th century. It's grim up North.

The music choices are superb, mixing folk with psych rock, and traditional songs sung by the cast. I particularly liked the tracks by Goat. Easily found on bandcamp by the way.

This three part series was clearly meant to be continued. Anyone familiar with the book and/or the history, will know the grisly details of where this story ends up at. The series seemed like an introduction.

Whilst not the best of Shane Meadows work, in my view, doesn't mean to say I wouldn't watch a second series. I feel there's more to offer.