This Is England '86

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.

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.

I'm an ex-pat Brit living in the us.

and i can tell you most American viewers wouldn't last past five minutes into this show.

the cast is below average in looks, some are deformed, they talk funny; the characters are a mixture of the depressed, depraved, the thick and the stupid. the acting can only be described as a work in progress, and they lead dead end lives in dead end places. there ain't no glamor here.

all this will repel viewers whose identity is cast by fashion and t.v. programming. this show could never find a spot anytime on a us network. episode four would send middle America into a terminal tale spin--but it's not their fault. we don't get this kind of material because the money men who run us television only care about the cash--the baby faced producers would say, "who wants to watch a show about ugly losers?".

and if you want to hold up PBS as a daring non-commercial network, then drink some more koolaid. their emphasis is Lawrence welk for the primary, grey haired donors, and pimping a brainwashing liberal agenda through their political programming. they might find the balls to show a program like this around the 23rd century.

but i love it.

the original film, and this following series, seems to take a cast of mostly inexperienced actors, who may have lived the parts, and coaches them through a working class reality which at its core is full of camaraderie, loyalty, forgiveness and love. not the prettified sitcom love, but a love grown through lifelong community and shared pain, a love of real sacrifice.

these people are flawed like the rest of us, but they are not us. at first we reject their world as alien, but we see, through time, they share all our fears and traumas. we too are all common.

and thank god someone is making something about real people.

the great shame is: only a few Americans will ever see this show. we need to raise the bar, and flush out the cobwebbed hierarchy at PBS. i just hope we don't have to wait until the 23rd century for our programming to catch up. i don't think i can wait that long.

What an incredible follow up to the movie which was also excellent.

This Is England '86 is even more moving and gripping. It was also in turns intense, tragic, funny and incredibly sad. The characters are engaging, fascinating and original. Their friendships and relationships are so well portrayed, there is nothing Hollywood about this, it's real life. The stories that weave them together through this short series are real and believable. Some moments I was holding my breath in anticipation of what was coming - there is nothing predictable in this story line. I lived through this period and felt the series captured it authentically. I want to especially pay tribute to the music chosen in this series. Some absolutely astonishing songs that add to the pathos of the story and characters, in particular songs by Paul Weller, The Jam and Fleetwood Mac that I had not actually heard before. This series has sent me down a few rabbit holes trying to find more about the soundtrack.

Thank you to Shane Meadows for writing and creating this and to all involved in it, it's tough and gritty but real and rewarding, it's eye opening and it's art damn it!!

I am so looking forward to watching the next series This is England '88.

You won't be disappointed by this sequel and continues the story . A must see .