When it was released in 2006, Shane Meadows’s excellent semi-autobiographical work This Is England explored the rise of white nationalism in skinhead culture during the 1980s and has become the director’s most famous and acclaimed work. Still full of ideas Meadows wanted to explore the character’s lives further and continue the story with a four-part sequel This Is England ’86, which started on Channel 4 on September 7 and hopefully doesn’t tarnish the film’s legacy.
Well, it really doesn’t disappoint on the grand scheme of things. For Meadows’s first venture into the land of television he carries off the serial nature of building up a story over several parts like a pro. In that the first episode it was more about establishing the scene and explaining that although it’s the same world things are very different and people have moved on.
This Is England ’86 Characters
Looking at face value not very much happens in this opening part other than Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) finishes his exams, and Woody and Lol’s (Vicky McClure) wedding that doesn’t happen due to Woody having cold feet and Meggy’s (Perry Benson) heart attack while on the toilet. But it’s the character development that’s far more important (because each have their individuality) and this should pay off at a later stage.
There’s almost a nostalgic feeling when seeing the old group back together and observing where they’ve all ended up. Mostly they’ve all just aged a bit and grown more hair but it’s nice to see that Milky (Andrew Shim) is still alive after his attack by Combo (Stephen Graham), which was the brutal climax of the film. This Is England ’86 spends more time on the other characters instead of just focusing on the life of Shaun, who in a way is more of a secondary presence at this stage.
Still, one of the best aspects of the film is that it discovered Thomas Turgoose, an impressive young talent who has already showed signs of becoming a huge star in the making. Here he is absolutely incredible in a natural performance that’s usually missing in a genre where people feel the need to “act” all the time instead of injecting a bit of personality into their role. Everyone else is great too but once again Turgoose steals the show.
This Is England TV Series
Racism isn’t so much the issue this time around, despite a couple of NF tags littered about for obvious reference, but by ‘eck it’s still grim up north. There were touches of comedy – especially in the scenes where his fellow teenagers are forcing Shaun to take part in their schemes – but on the whole this was a serious tale of people trying to make the best of whatever their pathetic life may throw at them.
Maybe it was down to watching it in HD but the visuals were very colourful and coupled with an unfussy direction it makes for a very watchable TV show, and one that doesn’t treat its viewers like idiots. Did you miss the film? Tough, there’s no “here’s what you missed” montage here you'll just have to keep up.
As TV in 2010 goes this has to be one of the most anticipated events, largely because This Is England was a brilliant piece of filmmaking that cemented Shane Meadows’s reputation as one of Britain’s best modern directors. Sure, This Is England ’86 isn’t better than the original but neither is it completely terrible, it’s just a well made drama full of interesting people and believable dialogue.
To top it all off Film Four has a Shane Meadows season running, showing some of his lesser seen short films. It’s a win-win situation however you look at it.
This Is England ’86 is on Channel 4 and Channel 4 HD every Tuesday at 10pm.
Steven Cookson - Steven Cookson is a writer and attempted journalist based in Howden. Originally from Chester, that Hollyoaks place in North-West of ...
