This Is England '86
 

Shane Meadows, the director/writer behind the brilliant This is England is now helming a 4 part TV series follow on This Is England '86 with most of the films cast returning for Channel 4.

With Meadows aboard and Mark Herbert as producer (his regular producer) this should ensure that it's not a mere cash in. I am SO looking forward to this. When British T.V gets it right, it can be some of the best out there. Here's hoping.

This Is England

Agreed. Saw the Red Riding trilogy a few months back and it was pretty great.

I'll see this too, even though I don't think Meadows is quite as brilliant as you think he is...;)

It's more of what he represents in his films I.E working class England which is something I can relate to very easily and he captures it so well without belittling or making it cliched.

His films are made from the heart and that's why I really like him. I was exactly the same age as many of the characters in This Is England in the same time period so it's his storytelling that really appeals to me.

I'm glad you seeked out Red Riding Hood. It was a little lengthy but a damn good production.

Jackhammer, you would be proud of me: I have This Is England in my instant queue on Netflix...

I hope you like it. Good luck with the accents ;)

If he doesn't he's getting may-jah beats.

There was a time when Channel 4 would turn this kind of thing out on a regular basis, sadly that was 20 years ago.

Good to see them making an effort with something good for a change.

Maggie is a twat...No?

I really liked the movie so I'm excited for this. And after seeing the thoroughly entertaining Four Lions with Mark Herbert as producer, I'm confident it'll be at least decent.

Looks great.

Kick off 7th September. I so want this to be good. Quality TV is rare at least over here.

First episode quite disappointing. Not directed by Meadows as I thought the 4 episodes were. It failed to capture the mundane small moments that Meadows seems to capture with ease but 3 episodes to go so plenty of time to sort itself out.

It won't sort itself out unless they go to acting school mate.
Cringeingly bad acting from almost all the cast.
Mundane moments for sure...throughout the whole episode.

75% are non actors but in the original film they shone well. I blame the director fully personally and the piano soundtrack and sunset vista shots are so NOT Meadows.

Far from a good start. I will persevere but not the explosive start I expected.

Too many pregnant pauses. It was as if they were encouraged to ad lib and it failed badly.
The film, which I've seen and enjoyed, had more of an innocence.
I was expecting something more from this series, but it seems like a step backwards.
I'll watch the second episode, but if it's as bad as the first, I'll probably walk away from the TV like I did tonight.

I quite liked it.
:(

A guest appearance by Pinocchio couldn't have made it more wooden.

Episode 2 was much better with a few decent plotlines bubbling away but man there are some mingers in this series!

I think this should have been called the shagging episode though. A major balls up was spotted. A character was wearing a Cure T shirt with the Bloodflowers album cover which wasn't released until 2000. Yes I am an anorak and spot shit like this. Inexcusable lapse by the film makers.

Still a few dodgy performances and unlikely scenarios though and The Graduate/ Jaws dinner table mimic scenes were lazy and ill judged.

Who are the bad actors you speak of? I don't spot anyone really bad.

A bit like Heartbeat, for skinheads.

Last week's episode was fantastic, that rape scene was just heartbreaking. Can't wait for tonights, depressed it's the last one.

Well it redeemed itself a little with the last two episodes and the 'hand of god' metaphor was definitely inspired.

I had a feeling that it may well end on the England V Argentina match but the way it tied that in with the story was superb.

Far too much sex between ugly people for my liking though.