Rewind TV: This is England '8. Tourettes: I Swear I Can Sing; Imagine: Books . It is fast becoming not just a drama but our collective memory of the years most of us have lived through together. We can relive them, and reflect. On all the changes, for good and for ill, the speed of which we never really notice because we're sitting on the train, not observing it. Changes in racism, sexism, aspiration, power, ideas, technology of course: changes in England itself, and I don't know that there's been another era in history when things have changed as fast as they have in my own strange lifetime. As with its predecessors, there's just enough period detail to put you smack into the context of '8. ![]() There are tiny references . Because some things never change, and one of them is the pain of growing up. Or even, simply, moving on. ![]() ![]() The main bunch, Gadget and the rest, haven't moved much: still swigging and coking and mocking each other and themselves with gusto. But this week's three hours showed that Shaun, Woody and Lol are through circumstances becoming variously alienated, and the focus on these three allowed Thomas Turgoose, Joe Gilgun and Vicky Mc. Clure to give three of the most mesmerising, stand- up- and- shout- with- applause drama performances seen this year on either big screen or small. Lol, gorgeous troubled Lol, her hair now raven, is haunted by the murder of her abusive father and both blessed and cursed with baby Lisa. Her traumatised, sleepless single- motherhood leads her to be feistily, needlessly vicious to the local nurse trying to help her: her quiet chagrined return visit to apologise leads to one of the many heartstoppingly tender moments of the week. Woody, meanwhile, his filthily cheeky wit again underscoring savage insecurities and a terribly good heart, is struggling not to be drowned by immersion into the newest 8. And Shaun, sweet innocent naughty Shaun, is at drama school, and just about to do the dirty on the girlfriend, the stylish but droopily unambitious Smell (Rosamund Hanson, increasingly the best bit in the dwindlingly good Life's Too Short) for a tumble with his pretty middle- class co- lead in the college play. His sobbing, snot- filled wails of anguish as he realises he's lost someone he truly loved are still echoing round my living room. All are excellent but the absolute standout, in tough competition, was Gilgun as Woody. Somehow he managed to bring great humour and great fear simultaneously, as we wondered which way his big unpredictable heart would tear him in his increasingly bitter tussle between lost friends and the chance of a safer, duller life. When he finally lost it with Milky (who had fathered Lol's baby and engendered the big split), his pent- up rage was alarmingly physically real. Tellingly, I thought, the hugs said it all. When members of the old bunch hugged, even after estrangement, it was real. When Woody and new girl Jen tried to group- hug the dreadful boss Mr Squires and his new woman, after an increasingly drunken . When Woody and Lol hugged at the end, apparently reunited, it was very real. ![]() This was all phenomenal, partly because you feel the actors thoroughly love and suffer with their deeply etched characters. Roll on their next story, and thus the next chapter in the story of all our lives. This Pin was discovered by Joe Beaney. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest. Iron Maiden's latest CD is the long awaited re-release of the 1988 Birmingham NEC concerts entitled Maiden England '88 and is a must for all fans of Iron Maiden. Some people are still whining about Iron Maiden releasing 'yet. Watch This Is England '88 Season 1 Episode 4 This Is England '86, This Is England '88 Season 1 Episode 4 - This Is England '86 online, This Is England '88 episode 4, This Is England '86, watch This Is England '88 episodes. It came, rightly, with a naughty- words warning; it wasn't for the faint- hearted. More confusing was the same warning before Tourettes: I Swear I Can Sing. What else were we going to get in a programme about Tourette syndrome? Actually, it turns out that assumption was wrong. One of the things we learned in this mesmerising documentary is that all Tourette syndrome sufferers do so differently. Others with this nasty untreatable neurological condition, which can suddenly strike later in life, both tic and speak, or yelp, involuntarily; and others do so not just involuntarily but inappropriately; but all are different. ![]() Lovely Ruth Ojadi had it bad. Under control, though it took tense work, she was lucid, kind and funny. When it slipped its leash . It wasn't just the swearwords, it was the inappropriateness; her syndrome's ability to search her brain for the least, least sayable words in any situation. Thus, in the supermarket, . Seeing an Arab, she blurted: . It was like watching Jeremy Clarkson going shopping. I can joke, because Ruth did. She giggled at her need to shout her pin number while keying it at the checkout. Explaining her urge to . Oh, she was lovely. Also, crucially, a damned fine voice. Ruth had been studying music before the growing severity of TS forced her out. Here, she slowly found the confidence to rediscover singing again, and newly discover that, for the three minutes she had control of the song, she had control of the syndrome. This fine film culminated in her performing beautifully at an open mic gig, hardly a tic in sight. Wisely, unexploitatively, Beck chose not to linger on the resulting tumult of applause, because otherwise, Pavlov- conditioned as we are now to weep at the sight of an average teen with nothing worse to overcome than a bad haircut holding a note for two seconds, I would have been sobbing mad salt tears of my own blubber. There was a nicely judged and quietly terrifying Imagine: Books ? Wisely he didn't take sides but let passionate pro- and anti- proselytisers speak their stuff. Predictably, to my mind, the antis, such as Julian Barnes and Ed Victor, spoke the wisest stuff. But, despite the kookier of the e- prophets . And if you're trying to read in bed, lying on your side, it's very stressful. Because these people are winning, simply by force of numbers and changing generations, and the damage is being done daily to the books industry, which is frankly flailing: to authors, and copyright laws, and bookshops, to the whole proud infrastructure. There will always be books, if only for antediluvian old flickers like me, but the might, the power, the skills and wisdoms of the real- book system will probably, a few yules hence, be a skinny cadaverous unicorn of a beast, shivering in the snow. This Is England '8. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This Is England '8. British drama miniseries written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne. A spin- off from the 2. This Is England, it is also a sequel to the 2. This Is England '8. The series stars Thomas Turgoose as Shaun, Vicky Mc. Clure as Lol and Joe Gilgun as Woody. Set during Christmas 1. Lol is haunted by the devastating events that took place two and a half years before. She and Woody both find themselves struggling to cope with their lives without each other after he leaves the gang. Lol is carrying the burden of her guilt, whilst Woody is trying to build a domestic life with a new girlfriend and a potential promotion at work. Shaun has started drama college and, although still in a relationship with Smell, he has grown close to a girl performing in his Christmas play. Sandhu. Stacey Sampson as Jennifer. Steve Brody as Richard Woodford, Sr. Rebecca Manley as Barbara Woodford. Helen Behan as Helen (Lol's Nurse)Helen Behan as Mr. Squires. Charlotte Tyree as Fay. Hannah Walters as Trudy. Ryan Barr as Billy. Lyra Mae Thomas as Lisa. Ronald . Lol is haunted by visions of her dead father Mick . Lol's affair has also led to Woody imposing exile upon himself from the gang, but he has begun to rebuild his life. He has a new girlfriend, Jennifer, who his parents adore, and has been offered a promotion at work. Smell and Shaun are still together, but growing distant. Shaun exercises his creative side on a drama course at college, and grows close to Fay, a girl performing in his Christmas play. Milky is welcomed back into the gang after spending some time away, but after Woody sees them together in the pub, old wounds return to the surface. Episode 2. Lol turns to a concerned paediatric nurse for help, and finally pays a visit to Combo in prison. She thanks him for having always been there to support her, and apologises for the way she treated him when he returned to the gang five and a half years prior. Shaun takes centre stage for his acting debut, and Smell's suspicions are heightened when she walks in on him and Fay 'rehearsing' a kiss backstage before the performance. Fay has a party at her house to celebrate the success of the play, and Shaun finds her upstairs in her room. The two talk about their growing feelings for each other and despite agreeing not to get any more serious, they find themselves unable to control their desires and end up having sex. Smell goes to Fay's house to apologise to Shaun for her jealousy earlier in the evening, but walks in on Shaun and Fay. Smell angrily breaks up with Shaun and storms out, leaving Shaun devastated. Episode 3. Sandhu (now a surrogate father to Shaun) comfort Shaun and promise him that Smell will eventually forgive him. Meanwhile, most of the gang is out getting merry until they bump into Woody and Jennifer. It is revealed that Woody didn't find out about Lol and Milky's affair until the birth of their daughter, Lisa. Woody cannot control his rage and attacks Milky, who refuses to fight back. The others break up the fight and lead Milky away, with Woody all the while screaming out about how he loved Milky like a brother. Woody eventually realises he can never love Jennifer as much as he loved Lol, and they agree to end their relationship and remain friends. Lol seeks solace in a nighttime church service, but it does not ease her pain, and she has visions of Mick again. Feeling unable to cope any longer, and consumed with guilt over Combo's prison sentence, Lol takes an overdose of Paracetamol. Trev and Kellie find her and rush her to the hospital where her stomach is pumped. Trev, after being unable to contact him all night, goes to Woody's house, where he is opening Christmas presents with his parents and Jennifer. Upon hearing the news of Lol's suicide attempt, Woody rushes to the hospital, where he finds Lol's bed empty. He immediately thinks she has died, but Lol's mother and friends (including Milky) inform him that she is alive and doing well. Woody and Milky finally make up, and Woody goes to talk alone with Lol. She tells him about the problems she's been having, and the truth about her father's murder. Visibly shaken, but touched by Combo's sacrifice, Woody tells Lol he still loves her and can't be with anyone else. The episode ends with Woody and Lol in each other's arms, and then cuts to various members of the gang . Shaun is shown having Christmas dinner with his mother and Mr. Sandhu, but still miserable over losing Smell.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |