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
