'THIS IS ENGLAND '86' - "Part Four"

[SPOILERS] The conclusion (or is it?) of Shane Meadows's This Is England '86 was equal parts unsatisfactory and exemplary. Disappointing, because a few storylines ended in a manner that didn't justify all the buildup (Lol's affair with Milky wasn't exposed, Woody's impromptu second attempt wedding to Lol didn't happen), but exemplary because there was some marvelous work from Stephen Graham as returning boogieman Combo, and a gripping sequence when Lol confronted her father Mick, with the intention of battering him over the head with a claw hammer for raping her friend Trev, only to find herself his next target during a struggle on his living room floor. There's no doubting the strength of some of the actors here -– primarily Graham, Vicky McClure and Johnny Harris – and Meadows does wonders whenever the story takes such sinister twists. You could hardly tear your eyes away from the screen on several occasions.

However, bringing Combo back for a redemptive storyline was fine in principle, but demanded more screen time. As the villain of the original movie, it was a letdown his return didn't cause more fireworks. Instead, he was given almost a Biblical arc; washing the blood off himself in Good Samaritan Shaun's (Thomas Turgoose) bath, praying over his dead mum in her cramped bedroom, before finding redemption by sacrificing his freedom to absolve Lol of the repercussions of killing her dad. Also a great scene between Graham and McClure in her dad's front room, with Combo fixing the crime scene to implicate himself as the killer, to be sent back to prison for manslaughter.

Overall, This Is England '86 was a good TV drama with some phenomenal performances, brilliant sequences, and intriguing symbolism (Shaun's soldier father was killed during the Falklands War by Argentine forces, this TV sequel's finale took place during the match between England and Argentina at the World Cup). And with Diego Maradona's notorious "Hand Of God" incident during the tournament, cruelly knocking England out of the Cup, it was interesting to note Combo's hand in staging Lol's crime scene being a more positive cheat.

Reaction to this series has been a little polarizing, but it was visually superb and the acting was top-notch in general. It's just a shame there wasn't a clearer focus, and some of the subplots wound up feeling like filler. A series letdown by some structural mistakes and unnecessary elements, really, but whenever it was focusing on Lol and her creepy father it was intense television of a high standard.

WRITERS: Shane Meadows & Jack Thorne
DIRECTOR: Shane Meadows
CAST: Thomas Turgoose, Rosamund Hanson, Joe Gilgun, Vicky McClure, Andrew Ellis, Andrew Shim, Stephen Graham, Perry Benson, George Newton, Jo Hartley, Johnny Harris, Kriss Dosanjh, Danielle Watson, Joe Dempsie, Chanel Cresswell, Michael Socha, Hannah Walters, Katherine Dow Blyton & Perry Fitzpatrick
TRANSMISSION: 28 September 2010 – CHANNEL 4/HD, 10PM

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'THIS IS ENGLAND '86' - Part Three

Apologies for the lateness of this review (seeing as the finale is just around the corner now) and I unfortunately don't have the time to do a thorough assessment of Part Three, either. But here are some thoughts on the penultimate part of this drama.

Part Three was again co-written again by Shane Meadows, with Jack Thorne, but he also steps behind the camera for the final half of this series. This Is England '86 has been a particularly excellent production in terms of visuals, often competing with most British movies out there right now. It's equal to the 2006 movie and often surpasses it, so it's aesthetically a pleasure to watch. The opening montage to footage of the Falklands War, with Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) sleeping rough and going to visit his soldier father's memorial, was particularly well done.

This episode wasn't as frolicsome as the previous two, with a potent theme of sex carrying through the whole hour. Gadget (Andrew Ellis) has become a toy boy for the sexually insatiable Trudy (Hannah Walters); Lol's (Vicky McClure) relationship with Woody (Joe Gilgun) is deteriorating, so she's taken to having meaningless sex with Milky (Andrew Shim) behind his back; and Lol's father Mick (Johnny Harris) is angry about her claiming he's a paedophile, but later proves her correct after an extremely uncomfortable scene when he rapes his daughter's teenage friend Trev (Danielle Watson).

That final sequence was particularly memorable for all the right reasons, with a superb performance from Harris and Watson that got to the heart of how empty and pitiful rape can be. It's a tough event to portray sensitively but accurately, but this was one of the best examples I've seen in awhile. Considering how Watson's a peripheral character of no real consequence until now, it was especially good work from that actress, and Meadows's assured direction no doubt helped both actors rise to the challenge.

On the downside, I still find the tone wobbles around from achingly realistic to rather cartoonish, not helped by the fact many of the characters are drawn thin and primarily there for comic relief. A lot of the time the performances are so dryly comic that it makes the serious-minded material look incongruous. I know the idea is to balance light and shade, but they can be a little too broad and daft for my taste, while swathes of this episode were again taken up with small incidents of little value (like the afternoon football match that turned violent when that idiotic biker gang arrived looking for a fight). I wish there was more of a clear focus, really, because only subplots belonging to Lol and Mick have captured my imagination by the third episode. I've been particularly disappointed by Shaun's storyline, considering he was the star of the preceding movie this is all based on, but he's been marginalized because TIE86 is an ensemble piece.

Overall, it was the smattering of great moments that really pulled Part Three through, not to mention the inciting climax with Combo (Stephen Graham) making his long-awaited return, collapsing into Shaun's home to the astonishment of Smell (Rosamund Hanson) and Shaun's mum. But has the show left everything too late? Part Four has a lot to wrap-up in an hour, unless the plan is to leave the door open for another series...

WRITERS: Shane Meadows & Jack Thorne
DIRECTOR: Shane Meadows
CAST: Thomas Turgoose, Rosamund Hanson, Joe Gilgun, Vicky McClure, Andrew Ellis, Andrew Shim, Stephen Graham, Perry Benson, George Newton, Jo Hartley, Johnny Harris, Kriss Dosanjh, Danielle Watson, Joe Dempsie, Chanel Cresswell, Michael Socha, Hannah Walters, Katherine Dow Blyton & Perry Fitzpatrick
TRANSMISSION: 21 September 2010 – CHANNEL 4/HD, 10PM

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'THIS IS ENGLAND '86' - Part Two

I have nothing to add to my review of Part One, broadly speaking, but here are a few thoughts on the improved second hour of '80s youth drama This Is England '86.

There still isn't the slither of darkness I expected from this TV series, considering the original film's strength came from mixing knockabout gang-culture comedy with right-wing racism. Part Two was still played for laughs, although there was a tincture of evil when it became clear Lol's (Vicky McClure) estranged father has returned home (to the delight of her younger sister and mother), but Lol knows he once got into bed with her when she was a little girl. The first properly dramatic reveal of the series, for me.

Indeed, this episode was all about dysfunctional home lives. Woody (Joe Gilgun) rented an insalubrious council flat to share with Lol, who wasn't impressed by the standard of living she's expected to accept, so later fell into the bed of sympathetic Milky (Andrew Shim). Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) was lazing around at home eating cereal and watching TV, until pressured into taking a job at a video shop, which boosted his self-esteem until he discovered the kindly Asian manager was sleeping with his mum while he was at work. And Gadget (Andrew Lewis Peter Ellis) fell into bed with a voracious middle-aged woman, suspecting her young bespectacled son's the love-child of Meggy (Perry Benson).

Part Two was definitely a more entertaining hour than last week's premiere, and obviously it helps that you're getting to know the characters on first-name terms now. A problem facing many UK shows with only a handful of episodes is that, just when you've learned everyone's names and started to feel a connection with them, the series ends. That fate should be avoided by This Is England '86, because these first two episodes have done a good job introducing everyone, helped by the fact there's a feature-length "prequel" movie to give it some foundation. The sheer '80s-ness of the series is also in its favour, because every character 's instantly recognizable on a visual level because of their idiosyncratic fashions and hairstyles, if nothing else.

Indeed, the retrograde flavour of the 1986 setting is responsible for half my enjoyment so far. It makes the BBC's Ashes To Ashes look like the model of restraint, with its own '80s vibe pouring out of the screen. But there remains the niggling feeling that, really, This Is England '86 is halfway through its four-part run and there doesn't appear to be a clear throughline. Is the story Shaun's? Is it Woody's? It feels like an ensemble shaggy dog story, with lots of subplots all jostled together, which is perfectly enjoyable... but I think I'd prefer some overall masterplan. Hopefully the remaining two episodes will kick the bee's nest.

WRITERS: Shane Meadows & Jack Thorne
DIRECTOR: Tom Harper
CAST: Thomas Turgoose, Rosamund Hanson, Joe Gilgun, Vicky McClure, Andrew Ellis, Andrew Shim, Stephen Graham, Perry Benson, George Newton, Jo Hartley, Johnny Harris, Kriss Dosanjh, Danielle Watson, Joe Dempsie, Chanel Cresswell, Michael Socha, Hannah Walters, Katherine Dow Blyton & Perry Fitzpatrick
TRANSMISSION: 14 September 2010 – CHANNEL 4/HD, 10PM

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'THIS IS ENGLAND '86' - Part One

Head over to Obsessed With Film for my review of THIS IS ENGLAND '86, the four-part TV sequel to Shane Meadows's BAFTA-winning movie This Is England...

"Shane Meadows's BAFTA-winning This Is England was a witty and intriguing look at 1980s skinheads who essentially adopted 12-year-old Shaun, then later found their gang's camaraderie manipulated into racism by bigoted adult Combo. The four-part TV sequel This Is England '86 picks up the story three years later: former-skinhead and gang leader Woody is getting married to his fiancé Lol; while Shaun has turned his back on his old buddies, flunked his end-of-school exams, and become a target for local bullies." Continue reading...

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TRAILER: This Is England '86

I was invited to the preview screening of This Is England '86 (director Shane Meadows' four-part TV sequel to his BAFTA-winning movie This Is England), but there's unfortunately very little chance of me being able to spare the time and money. However, this show is definitely on my radar, and I'm excited about the fact they have the original cast involved. Is this the first sequel to a movie that moved to television? And don't say M*A*S*H, because strictly speaking the 1972 TV series was an adaptation of the 1968 novel, just like the 1970 film was. Anyway, This Is England '86 is scheduled to air on Channel 4 this September. Will you be watching?

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