This Is England - ANIMAL MY SOUL

Tag Archive: This Is England

2011 IN REVIEW : TV

Filed under: Politics, Television — Leave a comment

December 28, 2011

My TV year started very late. On principle, I watch as little Italian TV as possible. I prefer to follow the advice of the graffiti in the photo: ‘Turn off the TV and turn your brain back on’.

Up until November, the only way of watching UK TV was to travel to Britain. But thanks to the Hide My Ass app I can now encrypt my internet activity and travel virtually to access online channels from most countries.

As an Englishman, my main interest is in BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The latter is the where I have discovered this year’s highlights. Continue reading →

Tags: BBC, Black Mirror, brain cells, Channel 4, Fresh Meat, Ronan Bennett, This Is England, Top Boy

THIS IS ENGLAND ’83 -’86 – ’88

Filed under: Movies, Television — 2 Comments

December 19, 2011

TV drama doesn’t get much bolder or more moving than this.

Shane Meadows’ This Is England began as an autobiographical tale. The movie was set in 1983 and revolved around Shaun Field, played by Thomas Turgoose. Shaun, like Shane, grew up in the Midlands (Uttoxeter) and became involved with skinhead culture. The gang rivalry and racism made this a powerful, at times brutal, film that has a strong impact but I was not as bowled over by it as many critics were.

I have no such doubts about the Channel 4 TV spin-offs set in 1986 and 1988. These state of the nation dramas allow Meadows full scope to explore the characters more deeply – the result is funny, sexually frank and effortlessly switches between high farce one minute to heartfelt pain the next. Continue reading →