This Town

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What was billed and advertised as a love letter to ska and two tone in the early eighties was actually a dull, pretentious, wasted opportunity. Uneven episodes where some were better than others but it never soared to any great heights. The music was for the most part an after thought, totaling about 1hr of the six hour drama. Instead it was endless Irish "troubles" and unbelievable gangster nonsense with a bit of alcoholism and depression thrown in liberally. Talking of music, how did they manage to pick such terrible choices along with a dull original score when there was so much amazing music of that period. It also doesn't help when your main character is for the most part an annoying, pretentious prat mumbling on with inane musings every other sentence. Did it look accurate? I guess they did a serviceable job but my goodness, Birmingham and Coventry must have been the most deserted places on the planet if this show was anything to go by! Where was everybody? Finally going back to the (non existent) band, it was predictably mostly all crammed into the final episode but in no way would this lot have made it big with those songs. Presumably the writer thought "hey damn, I better actually do some of this band stuff now".

This just hits the spot. There was such edginess at that time in the 70's/80's, inequality, racism, skinheads, the awful troubles in Ireland, industrial strife and the general failing of society to look after people that needed help. 'This Town' picks bits of that and melts it together in a glorious understanding of it all, with a great core story, fabulous tunes and poetry from the lead actor. He stood so tall he made me feel proud to be British. Please give us more of this raw, untamed, shout out feel good of life. There are stories still to be told. A wonderful TV show. Rock on BBC, you can make great drama.

As another reviewer said, they tried to do too much and failed to do anything. They could have done so much more with the music of the time and they failed. But most of all the original music is terrible. The band as such would never have been popular. Then they tried to shoehorn the IRA into the show. Great, do an IRA show or do a Two Tone show. Not both. Then they tried to add M Thatchers in to the mix. Add a dollop of soap opera and you end up with an uneven pile of crap. I did enjoy quite a few parts of this but I would have to be convinced about a second series. More Ska/Two Tone and less IRA.

Wowee. This show is pure class. Loads of authenticacy on the area and its period. Proper working-class boozers promoting the peried tunes of punk and ska and new wave. A dodgy gangsta club boss which was reminiscent of the time from the Krays as well. Proper nuts stuff which compliments what I read about in their reports from the period but providing a unique twist of its own from the genius mind of Stephen Knight. It also shows total capitalism and stark poverty; the Tory age was well and truely alive in 1980's Coventry and Birmingham! People being unemploed and people ripping-off the state in disgust and illegal gross capitalism as well. The record store is just amazing. The sets are perfect. Council estate and the pub is just wow. The attention-to-detail is staggering. Then there's the script. Oh yes! A really epic drama and incredibly well-written with a LOT of dialogue; fighting and dancing and merriment. I loved it. It's one of the best dramas the BBC have had in a long time and it has real Shane Meadows' style vibes from the exceptional 'This Is England' series. I'm astounded by the excellent acting involved and the realistic approach of scripts used for the IRA and the serviceman giving a huge dilemma from the UK Government. Clothes are great. The set team and art team have done amazing with the the props. I love all the vintage Fred Perry and Sergio Tacchini are on display and proudly-worn! The Zulus were a notorious Birmingham football gang in the 1980's yet they were from in the late 1980's and I am wondering if this series is a quiet homage to them?!? Let's talk about the acting! Wow. Lots of talent here. Incredible stuff. Please just watch it and sit-back and enjoy. A sensational series!