esmagic This is England in my opinion is a fantastic franchise. It delivers, Dramatic tension that no other show on television would. It's a perfect representation of the 80's, perfectly acted, and perfectly directed. If you are looking for a gritty British Drama, then This is England is certainly for you.It starts off three years after the original film, with Shaun, Woody and Lol abandoning there skinhead selves. It's the day of Woody and Lol's wedding, and all seems well, that is until woody turns down the marriage and Meggy, former skinhead, and gang member has a heart attack. From here, we get shocking, and horrifying scenes, funny fights, and a whole dose of Shane meadows goodness.

Leofwine_draca THIS IS ENGLAND '86 is the TV miniseries follow-up to the hit Shane Meadows film, THIS IS ENGLAND - a film which I happened to love thanks to its grittiness and the way it brought back the 1980s and made it timely once more.This miniseries is split into four episodes and the first couple are simply not very good. Although it's fun to catch up with the characters from the movie and find out what they've been up to in the intervening years (answer: not very much), there isn't really much of a plot and the episodes feel aimless. Social drama has been replaced by gross-out humour and it's a chore to sit through - I only kept watching due to the goodwill left over from the film.The good news is that the last two episodes do pick up for some extremely explicit and hard-hitting scenes, and it's probably because Shane Meadows came back as director that these episodes have such an improved feel to them. Kudos to the cast members for handling such intense drama very well. Inevitably, the outstanding Stephen Graham steals every scene in which he appears.

iamnicksemail This show (Episode 1) was such a great surprise to me. I fell upon This Is England the movie by mistake, and loved it. Just as with the movie, I fell upon the series by mistake as well. After downloading the first Episode (As I live in the US and it's not shown over here), I had very little hope for this show. In the US, movies that then become shows (and usually the other way around too) are done very poorly, with no real connection to the original.Seeing the original cast return was amazing, as I don't think they could find people to replace those actors that would do any justice. I took me a second to recognize the older Shaun, and wasn't 100% sure it was the same Woody right away with his new mop-top hair style he sports in the first episode. The show takes place 3 years after the movie ends, and as another reviewer posted, it's like checking in with old friends. Although (and I don't believe this is a spoiler) there is very to little no action between Shaun and the gang together in this episode, I feel it will get to that point, and with the end of the movie being it what it was, am glad they didn't just jump into "Yay everyone is here, times are great, on with the show" mentality. Over all so far, even after one episode, I give it a 10 out of 10. If you liked the movie, you are sure to love the show!

BrotherMouzone 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.