THIS IS ENGLAND ‘86 - Tuesday at 10pm on Channel 4 (06/09/2010)
The long awaited sequel to Shane Meadows' BAFTA award winning This Is England screens on Channel 4 this month. This Is England '86 is produced by Sheffield's internationally renowned Warp Films. Screen Yorkshire backed the films through its Production Fundand supported Warp Films to crew up locally for the Sheffield shoot.
Shane Meadows said: "When I finished This Is England I had a wealth of material and unused ideas that I felt very keen to take further - audiences seemed to really respond to the characters we created and out of my long standing relationship with Film4 and Channel 4 the idea for a television serial developed. Not only did I want to take the story of the gang broader and deeper, I also saw in the experiences of the young in 1986 many resonances to now - recession, lack of jobs, sense of the world at a turning point. Whereas the film told part of the story, the TV serial will tell the rest."
1986, the Mexico World Cup, Top Gun at the cinemas, The Final Countdown at number one and over 3.4 million Brits unemployed. A memorable year in the national psyche - and the year that Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is leaving school. Suddenly being young isn't that easy and he's got to find his own way in the world. The gang; Woody (Joe Gilgun), Lol (Vicky McClure), Smell (Rosamund Hanson), Milky (Andrew Shim) and the rest are back. Loud and proud, they're looking for love, a laugh, a job and something that resembles a future. For this is no sob sob cut your wrists story - if the glass is half-empty then drink up.., Chris De Burgh is on the radio, but you can always turn the radio off.
This Is England '86 was filmed entirely on location in Sheffield. Richard Knight, Location Manager, who also worked with Warp Films on Four Lions, talks about his experience working on the drama in his home city.
‘'As a Sheffield resident, I was delighted when I heard that Warp Films and Shane Meadows were interested in bringing 'This is England '86' to my home city - the sweeping hills and the sheer amount of open space makes it such a visually interesting place in which to film and I'd had such a brilliant time working there on 'Four Lions' in 2009.The residents of Gleadless Valley where we based the shoot for 'This Is England '86' were incredibly welcoming and friendly - and the support from Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Homes and the Gleadless Valley Community Forum made it one of the easiest and most rewarding projects I've ever had the pleasure to work on. I hope that both ‘Four Lions' and ‘This is England '86' will mark a new association for Sheffield with vibrant, modern, cutting-edge drama and comedy. It certainly deserves it.''
Sally Joynson, Chief Executive at Screen Yorkshire adds:
''This is England 86 was filmed throughout Sheffield, produced by Warp Films, a Sheffield company, employed Yorkshire crew and was backed by Screen Yorkshire - it's a great testament to what we have in the region and tonight's national premiere is a real celebration of all that Yorkshire talent.''
For trailer and more, go to: www.channel4.com/thisisengland86
