A Warp Films Production in association with Big Arty Productions
and Ingenious Film Partners for FilmFour, the UK Film Council,
EM Media and Screen Yorkshire
THIS IS ENGLAND
A SHANE MEADOWS FILM
PRESS NOTES
100 MINS APPROX
DOLBY SRD
RATIO 1.1:85
CERT: TBC
SHOT ON SUPER 16
SCREENING FORMAT 35MM
For press information please contact:
Emfoundation: 020 7247 4171
Zoe Flower / Elizabeth Benjamin
zoe@emfoundation.com / Elizabeth@emfoundation.com
THIS IS ENGLAND
Short Synopsis
This Is England, is the story of a summertime school holiday, those long weeks between
terms where life changing events can take place. It’s 1983 and school is out. 12-year-old
Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is an isolated lad growing up in a grim coastal town, whose
father has died fighting in the Falklands war. Over the course of the summer holiday he
finds fresh male role models when those in the local skinhead scene take him in. With
his new friends Shaun discovers a world of parties, first love and the joys of Dr Martin
boots. Here he meets Combo (Stephen Graham), an older, racist skinhead who has
recently got out of prison. As Combo’s gang harass the local ethnic minorities, the
course is set for a rite of passage that will hurl Shaun from innocence to experience.
Long Synopsis
July 1983. It’s the last day of term and that means ‘no uniform day’. In a down-beat
coastal town 12-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) sets out to school in the flares his
dad gave him. En route, he is banned from his corner shop for being cheeky, and while
everyone gives him jip for his fashion sense (“you look like Keith Chegwin’s son!”) he
gives back twice as hard. On the way home he meets Woody (Joe Gilgun), and his gang
of skinheads. Contrary to their startling appearance they are friendly and fair-minded.
Admittedly a day out with the gang means trashing the new, unoccupied, housing
development, whilst dressing up in outlandish costumes, but they are welcoming and
they are fun. The skinheads offer Shaun two things he has been missing, friendship and
male role models. Shaun’s own father has been killed fighting in the Falklands war.
If he’s going to be a skinhead like them, he has to get the look. There is a trip with his
mum Cynthia (Jo Hartley) to the local shoe-shop. Unfortunately cherry red Dr Martins
don’t come in size fours, but he gets the next best thing. Later that day Lol (Vicky
McClure), Woody’s girlfriend, shaves his head. He’s only missing one thing, a Ben
Sherman shirt, Woody comes to the rescue and welcomes him to the gang. While
Cynthia is less than happy about the new haircut, she is grateful that Shaun has found
some friends to spend the summer with while she is out at work.
At a house party Shaun meets Smell (Rosamund Hanson), a kooky punk who takes him
to the garden shed for his first kiss. Meanwhile, the party is interrupted by Combo
(Stephen Graham) who Woody is initially thrilled to see. Fresh from prison where he has
just served a three and a half year sentence, Combo soon upsets the younger gang. To
the great discomfort of Milky (Andrew Shim), the sole black member of the gang, he
embarks on a vicious racist anecdote about his time inside.
The next day Combo summons the gang and lectures them about ethnic minorities
taking their jobs and the Falklands. Lol is worried, particularly when she sees Shaun kick
off against Combo for bringing up the Falklands, the war where his father died. Combo
manipulates this, and draws a line asking those with him to cross it. Disgusted, Woody
makes to leave. He doesn’t want to be brainwashed. Shaun however, decides to stay
and Combo tells him that looking at him is like looking in the mirror; they have both lost
people.
2
Combo takes his new gang to a local National Front meeting. On the way back to town,
Shaun is given special privileges when he is allowed to sit on the front seat, while the
four fully grown men have to make do in the back. Shaun further gains Combo’s
admiration by revealing that he has stolen an England flag from the meeting. The gang
terrorise the local neighbourhood, scaring off Indian kids who are playing football, and
attempting to spray racist graffiti, though they struggle with the spelling. They trash the
corner shop that Shaun has been barred from, robbing the owner, and defecating on the
floor. To mark his affiliation with the gang, Combo tattoos a cross onto Shaun’s finger.
They take their booty to Smell’s birthday party, and Woody leaves with Lol saying he has
a documentary on Aardvarks that he must watch.
The following morning, Combo stops Lol on her way to work. For the first time he seems
twitchy and unsure of himself. He tells her that all he has thought of since he went to
prison is how much he loves her, and the one night they shared. He gives her a box he
made inside, but Lol rejects him straight, the best night of his life, was the worst night of
her life. She walks away incensed and Combo bursts into tears.
Milky is walking a girl home when Combo approaches him to buy an ounce of hash. With
Shaun, Smell, and Combo’s thuggish friends they all get stoned. Combo and Milky
initially bond – Combo talks about the original ’69 skinheads and their shared love of
reggae music. For his part Milky talks about the beauty of his family life, and extends an
open welcome to Combo. While Milky is describing his close, happy family however, a
look of pure hatred creeps across Combo’s face. In a fit of anger he beats Milky and then
turns on his friends. Shaun is left outside crying hysterically.
Back at home, Shaun looks through old pictures of his dad with his Mum. He takes the
once cherished flag to the beach where he hurls it into the sea.
3
THE PRODUCTION STORY
The Genesis
This Is England is set in early eighties England; a world of Roland Rat, aerobics,
Blockbusters, Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands crisis, racial unease, and skinheads.
Drawing heavily from his own experiences growing up, Shane Meadows has created a
portrait of an often-overlooked moment in cultural history. Against the backdrop of the
skinhead scene in a deadbeat coastal town, we witness this traumatic rite of passage,
both on a cultural and personal level, through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy.
Shane first hit on the idea for This Is England whilst working on his preceding film, Dead
Man’s Shoes, a story of victimisation, abuse of power and revenge, in rural England. It
was a project that made the director reflect on the nature of bullying and violence.
Specifically there was an incident from his own life, when he was about 12-years-old and
had become a skinhead, when as he explains, “I thought the be all and end all in life was
that kind of hard masculinity in men. I craved to be like a Jimmy Boyle, or a John
McVicar, or a Kray. It’s like kids who are into Beckham, I was into Jimmy Boyle in the
same way. I wanted to see men fight, and there was an act of violence that I almost
prompted, and that was something that became very difficult to live with.” Ironically it was
this experience, alongside the example set by a figure like Jimmy Boyle, a criminal who
became an artist, which ultimately became very influential for Shane in a positive way.
Of his childhood in Uttoxeter in the eighties, then a small Midlands town with a
population of around 10 000, high unemployment, and the epitome of Thatcher’s rural
dispossessed, the director reflects: “Coming from a town like Uttoxeter, nobody expects
you to leave and become a filmmaker. In a way my reaction to that act of violence was
the first stepping stone to getting out of that way of life.”
As Shane sees it, making This Is England has become a way of exorcising the demons
of that night of violence, yet the impact of those early experiences can be felt across the
body of his work. Indeed all of his films deal with issues of masculinity, from the boys’
boxing club of TwentyFourSeven to the compromised boyhood friendship in A Room For
Romeo Brass, the question of male power structures and revenge in Dead Man’s Shoes,
through to the teen tribes and father figures of This Is England. “In film terms it’s almost
like the Star Wars series,” he jokes. “Now I’m into my prequel series. This Is England is
made before all of my other films. The others are based on a certain period of time, from
15-years-old onwards when, though I abhorred violence, I was a bit of a small time
crook. I think This Is England has gone as far back as I could probably go and found the
root of what got me making films to begin with.”
The Search For Shaun
Casting is an essential part of every Shane Meadows film: working chiefly with nonprofessionals, he is an extraordinarily intuitive director who allows story to take shape
through workshops. A film’s structure will be organically developed around the
personality of his actors, often young people who have come to acting through far from
traditional paths. For This Is England, he had the jumping off point: skinhead culture,
growing up in the eighties, and childhood interrupted by violence. Yet the substance of
the movie depended on finding the perfect lead, a task that would not only involve hard
work, it hinged on luck and something close to magic.
In the search for Shaun, Shane and his long-term collaborator and partner, Louise
Meadows who had found the rest of the cast single-handed, held many auditions with
4
children in inner city workshops all over the country. They realised that what was needed
was “a real kid of the street” as Louise puts it, and decided to enlist the help of casting
genius Des Hamilton. Having worked with directors such as Lynne Ramsay whose film
Ratcatcher used a cast of non-professional child actors, Des has a special approach and
is a renowned expert in street casting. A strong sense of the character he was looking
for was established through discussions with Shane. Des then targeted those areas in
which he believed the real Shaun to exist. Invites to casting sessions were given out at
holiday camps around the east coast, and Des particularly focussed on the town of
Grimsby. It was at The Space Project, a scheme run for disadvantaged kids, many of
whom have been excluded from school, that Des found the quality they had been
searching for: a canny combination of innocence and hardness that set these children
apart.
Thomas ‘Tommo’ Turgoose
Here the team chanced upon Thomas ‘Tommo’ Turgoose, a 13-year-old boy who had
grown up with the odds stacked heavily against him. Small in stature, he looked far
younger than his years, yet more than made up for it in gumption. All the children Shaun
and Louise met were naturally very eager to be in the film, yet Tommo was different. He
actually charged for every audition he went to, at once wheeler-dealing and street savvy,
and at the same time sadly unable to grasp any other kind of exchange. Producer Mark
Herbert recalls the startling impression he made at his first audition: “He was, you know,
‘one of them’, he had such cheekiness and spirit! Yet he threw things in that were so
unobvious… he was much more subtle.”
“I just got that feeling that directors probably get when they see something that has this
magic, Simon Cowell’s X Factor,” says Shane, for whom the young lad’s impact went
even deeper. “I could see myself in him. I remember there were teachers at school
who’d said I was going to end up in prison, there were only bad things out there for me,
yet somehow some people believed in me and I actually made something of myself.” At
the time of casting Tommo, two other boys were on the shortlist, actors from the Carlton
Workshop in Nottingham, with suitable experience that had prepared them for a larger
role. Tommo on the other hand had little structure in his life, had been diagnosed with an
Attention Deficit Disorder, was in school for one hour only a week as Shane recalls, and
had recently been rejected from playing an extra in the school play.
For Shane though, the choice was not just obvious, it was a matter of artistic truth: “I
thought I’d much rather take a chance on a kid like Tommo and risk failure. If you turn
your back on the person that’s meant to play the part you shouldn’t make the film
anyway. It had become this beautiful full circle thing: that you go out there to make a film
about yourself, and you end up finding yourself. It’s kind of crazy!” Accordingly, This Is
England became as much Tommo’s story as Shane’s. The focus on the loss of a father
figure was emphasised, and Tommo was able to bring a wholly new aspect to the
character of Shaun, a boy who, unlike Shane, is often happiest alone.
It almost goes without saying that the risks of casting Tommo were going to be high – he
is after all in every scene, an exhausting challenge for any actor. The experience was
not without its bumps. At the end of the first week, when Tommo fully comprehended the
depth of how hard he’d have to work, there came an afternoon where he said he didn’t
think he could do it. Momentarily floored, Shane remembers how he even considered
pretending the pint-sized tearaway was contractually obligated. Instead, a serious heart
to heart was called for: “I chose to say, ‘if you turn your back on this now I honestly
believe you’ll regret it for the rest of your life, because if you don’t work your way through
5
this, you’ll never work your way through anything. I got my chance a bit later than you,
and to be honest Tommo, I couldn’t have done it if I was your age…’ I knew it was the
difference between him having a life and never having a life.”
These strong words hit home, and as with Andrew Shim, the young star of A Room For
Romeo Brass, as soon as Tommo decided to dig in, his appetite for filmmaking became
insatiable. From the camera work through to the editing, he wanted to learn about it all.
“We even changed his diet,” laughs Shane of the stunning transformation. “The chips
and Coca-Cola went, and by the end me and him were drinking Purdeys, all we needed
was a fitness instructor on set!”
Tommo particularly bonded not just with Shane, but with his co-stars Andrew Shim who
plays Milky and Stephen Graham who stars as Combo. Of working with Tommo Stephen
says, “you’re looking at Robert De Niro. He’s the finest actor I’ve ever worked with, he’s
completely in the moment.” For Tommo’s part he says the way he watches films has
definitely changed since working with Shane: “I’m looking in the corners [of the screen]
for the boom mike!” Andrew could most easily understand what Tommo was going
through, having been given his first opportunity by the director seven years ago: “He
reminded me of myself,” he says. “I’d never prepare for a scene I’d be the one laughing
and talking right up until they shout ‘action!’ Just like he was! Every time he has CocaCola he goes really hyper and could drive everyone insane and as soon as they said
‘action’ his face dropped and he was straight into it.” Stephen the hard-man character
actor from such films as Gangs Of New York, and Snatch, was someone Tommo
especially looked up to. As they do on screen, the duo became great buddies behind the
scenes, even performing a variety act for the cast and crew during the shoot. Yet
working with a lad like Tommo carries a certain weight of responsibility. It would not be a
simple matter of becoming best friends for six weeks over the course of a shoot, as so
often happens with filmmaking, and then never seeing each other again.
Shane states, “I felt if I was going to say all those things to him to get him to actually do
the film, I couldn’t just turn my back on him at the end of it. As an adult you can’t do that
to a child, because ultimately they would feel so used at the end of it, and as if it was all
a trick.” The three men, Andrew, Shane and Stephen, made a gentlemen’s agreement
that they would be there for Tommo. Tommo regularly goes to stay with the director and
Stephen’s families. He is currently filming a BBC drama with Stephen, and the older
actor is putting him forward for other roles.
Casting The Gang
Shane and Louise have a very special and longstanding relationship with The Carlton
Television Junior Workshop, run by Ian Smith in Nottingham. It was here that they cast
TwentyFourSeven, discovered both Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure who starred in A
Room For Romeo Brass firm friends who are all working together here for the first time
since that film, plus Toby Kebbell who played the defenceless younger brother opposite
Paddy Considine’s avenging angel in Dead Man’s Shoes. Continuing this history of
dynamic collaborations Shane found many of the other members of the skinhead gang
through the workshop.
Joe Gilgun was cast as Woody, the unofficial boss-man of the skinheads, who befriends
Shaun after he has been bullied for wearing flares on his last day at school. While it
would have been all too easy to make this character a hard-man pack leader, Joe brings
an extraordinary freshness to the role. Mark Herbert explains: “Joe is the funniest
person. In the auditions he had us all in hysterics. We cast a lot of the gang then, you
6
could see they responded to him not because he was this big, butch, macho type; it’s
because they laughed at him. Shane just loved that dynamic as opposed to an obvious
hardness.” So too with Rosamund Hanson, who brought a unique comic edge to the
character of Smell, an outlandish looking punk who becomes Shaun’s first girlfriend.
“She’s hilarious,” chuckles Mark. “Her comic timing is impeccable. She’s just got
something about her that is very offbeat and leftfield. I think Tommo really fancied her as
well which helped.”
In the key roles of Milky and Lol, Shane cast his old friends Andrew Shim and Vicky
McClure who he worked with on A Room For Romeo Brass. Milky is the only black
character in this film that deconstructs racist attitudes, while Lol is the leader of the girls.
“Thanks to Shane I’ve been able to get myself into a part where I couldn’t have asked for
a better character to play,” comments Vicky. “I’ve learned a hell of a lot from him.
Through rehearsals we learn so much about each other, and no one’s afraid to talk
about their past experiences.” While they originally appear as background characters
their impact on both events in the movie and on the audience is crucial. It is Milky who
becomes the focus for Combo, the troubled older skinhead’s racial hatred. Andrew
describes this as the hardest thing he’s ever done as an actor. ““People were asking me
how I feel about it and at first it didn’t really bother me. On the other hand I was worried I
wasn’t ready for it and I didn’t want to let Shane down. But when we got into the scene it
really affected me, it’s the first time I ever cried in a scene.” Shane reflects, “I needed
someone who understood my work who I could trust to play Milky, and that had to be
someone who was close to me and believed in what I did.”
In This Is England the girls are just as much a focus of the story as the guys. As Lol,
Vicky brings a strength and believability to her character. “The skinhead girls weren’t
shy! They were aggressive and up for fighting,” says Shane. “My sister was a skinhead
and she was fighting all the time! There was never a choice, it had to be Vicky.” She
describes her character as the observer of the group, who happily claps the lads round
the ear when they get out of line. “I’ll get down and dirty,” she explains. “But we’re not
out to hurt anyone, we’re not going out and getting lairy.”
Shane marvels at the difference between working with the duo on A Room For Romeo
Brass, and This Is England: “To see Shimmy go from being the kid in Romeo Brass to
being the older statesman amongst them all, to see him on set keeping them all in line,
was really funny. When he was a kid it was murder! He was like Tommo, basically, like a
feral cat. Just to see the way he’s come on…”. Mark Herbert adds, “and Vicky and
Shimmy are now a couple! I think he fell in love with her on Romeo Brass, and held a
torch for her until he got a bit older and asked her out!”
Similarly Jo Hartley was an old hand who had worked with Shane on Dead Man’s Shoes.
In that project she had represented the family unit, and as Shaun’s mother in This Is
England she reprises shades of that earlier role.
Stephen Graham who plays Combo, the catalyst for Shaun’s passage into adulthood,
was one of the first people cast in This Is England. Shane had always wanted to meet
the actor ever since he had seen him in Snatch, and when the day finally came he
recollects, how “ I couldn’t believe he was a scouser and he only lived about fifteen miles
away from me! I was convinced he was a cockney.” Stephen seemed perfectly placed
physically and geographically to play the part of Combo, but he also brought a whole
other layer of complexity to the role. His own background is in fact mixed race, and he
drew on his confusion growing up to add depth to Combo’s back-story. Shane recalls
how he responded to the news, “ I said, ‘that is the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life!’ I
7
was blown away. We realised that that was the essence of what we were looking at in
this film. It’s not to do with colour so much, it’s to do with identity and belonging.” Of the
experience of making This Is England, Stephen says “Everyone, the whole crew from the
gaffer to the lighting person, has been blown away by the experience. It went right
through the whole set. Everyone felt it.”
Getting The Look
To recreate the eighties in This Is England would present a new set of challenges for the
director who has never made a period piece before. While it seems a recent memory,
convincingly portraying the eighties can be as involved as creating a Victorian period
piece. While many council estates for example, appear fundamentally the same as they
did twenty-six years ago, subtle differences such as PVC windows and satellite dishes
immediately betray their too recent past. After an exhaustive search locations manager
Richard Knight discovered the St Annes estate in Nottingham, where much of the action
is filmed. This was one of these places that by a fluke hadn’t been touched. The area
was virtually all pedestrianised as it had originally been built in the seventies as a place
that could exist without cars, and had never been modernised.
Working on a tiny budget, production designer Mark Leese was given a brief to create a
world that was simple, authentic, and that, unlike many period pieces, looked like people
actually lived there. Small details like the wallpaper above Shaun’s bed all added to the
believability. “I had very lengthy conversations about my own childhood with Mark
Leese,” says Shane. “About really simple things like having woodchip wallpaper, but how
I picked it off, because when I was bored I used to put my hand about the bed and pick
at it and it had these patches missing. Those things don’t cost anything.” Danny Cohen
the cinematographer found the beauty of this kind of urban world, shooting on 16mm to
give a slightly more raw feeling to the quality of the film, to create a look harking back to
the projects Shane had seen as a kid, Made In Britain, and other early Alan Clarke films,
plus Mike Leigh, and Ken Loach’s cinema.
The coastal town setting was another intrinsic part of Shane’s childhood memories:
“When there was anything major happening, in the ‘skinhead world’, it happened in a
coastal town. I went on a couple of ‘adventures’ as a young boy and fought and ran
around the streets.” The British seaside had a further connotation for Shane as well. “It
brought back all of these memories for me of when I went to Skegness as a kid and saw
it as a beautiful landscape. The sadness of coastal places and resorts as an adult…
when you go back you think it’s changed a lot and you see the dirty water that surrounds
us and you realise how much you’ve changed.” At Mark Herbert’s suggestion, they
decided upon Grimsby for the film’s coastal scenes. It was the town where they would
find their star, and this became an important location where the young actor could
continue to feel connected with his everyday life beyond the film.
Shane had originally revisited many landmarks of skinhead culture in his research
process. Of Gavin Watson’s unique photography book, Skins, he says, “I hold that book
really dear to my heart, they feel like my friends, and feel like the people I grew up with.
Even if the images didn’t make it into the actual film they did inspire me to go out and
find someone like Tommo. For example, there were some images of a young kid in a
Cromby and he’s stood with a bigger lad, that really became the ideal of Woody and
Shaun.”
The skinhead styles from Ben Sherman shirts to Dr Martin boots and of course the
haircuts, have all been meticulously recreated. Mark Herbert recalls his nerves when the
8
actresses in the film underwent their various chops. Vicky McClure’s was the most
dramatic, as hair that went right down her back was shaved into Lol’s distinctive shaved
hairdo whilst Jo Hartley suffered a drastic eighties perm job. “It was one of the most
tense atmospheres I’ve ever experienced,” he says. “We were still closing the finance on
the film and these girls with really long hair were getting it shaved and bleached!”
The Falklands
The character of Shaun, an amalgam of Shane and the young actor Tommo, is growing
up without a father. He has died fighting in the Falklands war, a now almost forgotten
moment in recent history. Unlike those who died fighting in the two World Wars, there is
no big celebration to commemorate that ‘victory’. While it may have seen Margaret
Thatcher sail into power, the Falklands crisis is no longer recalled as a heroic war, if at
all. For Shane, this war is a parallel to the two recent Iraq wars. “We just remembered
Iraq as if we went in, blew a load of buildings up and then came out again. No war is
ever that simple. Iraq now is the epitome of complexity. There was something in it like
the Falklands for me, it was almost like a joke war, and something about the way it was
remembered… From my point of view if just one person dies surely that should be
remembered. I wanted to look at the knock on effect of that through the eyes of a child.”
Woven into the fabric of Shaun’s story of small town life is documentary news footage
that Shane accessed from ITN’s archives. There is nothing extreme and damning, rather
This Is England presents footage of ordinary people going about the task at hand, and it
is here that greatest pause for thought can occur. “Our guys aren’t being pig ugly,
dancing round the body but when you see an English soldier with a fag hanging out his
mouth dumping an Argentinean body on the floor, you realise it’s a no win situation.”
Skinhead culture
According to Gavin Watson, the eighties skinhead photographer, who lived it and framed
it, the skinheads were “just another youth cult”, forget the sociology lesson thanks very
much. Today, racism, neo-nazism, thuggery, and all the other forms of anti-social
behaviour associated with ‘skins’ have become the snap-judgments most people make.
It wasn’t always like that. The original skinheads hailed from the late sixties. It began
with Mods who were welcomed into the world of reggae clubs in London, such as Ruby’s
on Carnaby Street. Here they discovered not only Ska music, but the key style
components that defined the original skinhead look. The skinhead culture was taken up
by black and white working class kids working in shipyards and on factory lines, who
bonded over a love of reggae and forging a particular kind of English identity, with
braces, suits, boots, and sometimes a Cromby hat atop heads shaved, military style.
There was no peace and love for this lot, life was a series of hard knocks and this tough,
fighter’s appearance was how they chose to express those truths.
The second wave of skinheads in the early eighties, were in one sense similar: just kids
from council estates finding their place by being different together, like teenagers
everywhere. Allegiance was now sworn to bands that acknowledged the heritage of Ska
music, like Madness or The Specials. At the same time a new genre sprang up in punk
infused Oi! Music, romper-stomper, screwdriver tunes, charged for fighting. Dressed in
Dr Martins and with heads shaved military style, these kids would give the V to anyone
foolish enough to give them the eye. These were teens who came from areas of high
unemployment looking for solidarity beyond Thatcher’s ‘me’ culture. They were
abandoned by society and that, of course, made them vulnerable to the advances of the
National Front.
9
As a second wave skinhead, who had always been aware of the sixties legacy, Shane
felt it was essential to create a balanced and truthful picture of the scene as he had
experienced it. “The skinheads, because of their aggression and outward appearance,
they’re almost soldier like, were I suppose almost handpicked to become soldiers for the
National Front. You don’t see the contradiction that you’re being indoctrinated into the
National Front whilst listening to black music. When I first heard about the National
Front, the picture that was painted to me was a Churchillian vision of Asian families
rowing into the white cliffs of Dover on boats, and that skinheads would be on the
beaches fighting to stop them entering the country. As a 12-year-old kid that’s quite a
romantic image. It’s almost like ‘what your granddad did.’”
“When you’re twelve and no one in your town can get a job, and someone comes up to
you and says ‘these people are to blame’ it’s easy to believe,” says Shane of the racism
he encountered through skinheads. “I did for about three weeks, some people still
believe that as adults and that’s frightening.” To capture the inherent contradictions of
skinhead culture, Shane presents a motley crew of believable characters whose
behaviour is often as farcical as it is threatening and disturbing. Combo, the racist gang
leader has L plates on his car, and graffiti-ing ‘Fuck Off’ becomes a challenge of spelling
for example. They are losers, but Shane never lets you forget that there is always a
reason behind their behaviour.
A Unique Approach To Filmmaking
Shane Meadows has always pioneered a unique approach to filmmaking, working with
local non professional actors and a core group of friends and family, whilst being open to
fresh talent. With the producer Mark Herbert, who first worked with Shane on his
previous film Dead Man’s Shoes, he is pioneering a Northern Cottage Industry, which
Mark refers to as Shane’s DIY ethos. Forging relationships that will continue through
many films his key collaborators include his Locations Manager and brother-in-law
Richard Knight, Stills Photographer Dean Rogers and his Casting Director, Co-producer
and partner Louise Meadows. Many of the key crew for this film worked previously with
Shane on Dead Man’s Shoes including Director of Photography Danny Cohen and
Editor Chris Wyatt.
Warp Films
Warp Films is the sister company of Warp Records, the Sheffield based label who
released Aphex Twin, and Squarepusher among others.
Their approach to filmmaking mirrors their music policy. Namely to support artists with
individual visions, providing a platform for left of centre projects. Warp saw the revolution
that happened in music 12 years ago, with the accessibility of better equipment allowing
artists to lay down tracks in their bedrooms, being mirrored in filmmaking. The rise of
digital technology in film, allowing people to shoot cheaply and edit at home contributed
to this.
Warp’s first project was the Chris Morris BAFTA winning short My Wrongs. Dead Man’s
Shoes was the company’s first feature film. They now follow up that success with This Is
England.
In the words of producer Mark Herbert, “Warp films are about having a voice. I hate
manufactured indie or manufactured pop. Anything that feels like you’re doing something
just to fill certain criteria. The ethos isn’t a set of rules, it’s about not worrying about
10
commercial influences, or ticking the right boxes, and becoming mainstream. No one
process is right or wrong.”
Of his relationship with Shane, Mark says, “Personally I’ve got a very good friendship
with him. He makes things happen, and he’s got a voice. There’s something very
distinctive and original that only he does, he’s very DIY and earthy as a filmmaker and
that fits with Warp perfectly.
11
CREW BIOGRAPHIES
SHANE MEADOWS – Writer / Director
Raised in Uttoxeter England, Shane Meadows dropped out of school as a teenager. He
embarked on a journey that took him from a clown’s assistant to a spell at steel erecting
before eventually studying acting and photography. Disillusioned with the educational
system Shane volunteered at a local film centre in Nottingham and learned the craft of
filmmaking. He borrowed a camcorder at weekends and taught himself a technique of
making short films with his friends as actors. After producing a short film every month for
a year, he was approached to direct the TV documentary The Gypsy’s Tale (1995).
Meadows also wrote, produced, directed, edited and co-starred in the 60-minute film
Small Time (1996).
After Stephen Woolley, producer of The Crying Game, A Company Of Wolves and
Interview With A Vampire, saw Shane’s eclectic mix of short films he signed Meadows to
write and direct the BBC-financed TwentyFourSeven (1997). Shot in black and white the
film centred on Bob Hoskins attempts to rescue the disaffected youths of a town by
opening a boxing club. The film won him the FIPRESCI award at the 1998 Venice Film
Festival as well as many other festival prizes.
Turning down offers from Hollywood, Meadows opted to complete his Midlands trilogy.
His next film, A Room For Romeo Brass (1999) was a dark and comic rites-of-passage
story featuring an impressive debut performance from Paddy Considine. With huge
critical acclaim and a clutch of awards the film has gone on to be a British cult classic.
The final part of his trilogy, Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, is Meadows’ comedic
homage to the Spaghetti Western genre, in which a man returns to The Midlands to try
to win back his ex-girlfriend. This film was selected for Director’s Fortnight at the 2002
Cannes Film Festival and was picked up by Sony Classics for the United States.
In 2004 Shane’s idiosyncratic, award winning follow up, Dead Man’s Shoes, confirmed
his status as one of British film’s most significant voices.
MARK HERBERT – Producer
Mark Herbert started to work with Warp Films in 2002, My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117,
directed by Chris Morris and produced by Mark was their first production and it won Mark
a BAFTA in 2003. Prior to this Mark produced the critically acclaimed first series of Peter
Kay’s ‘Phoenix Nights’, the series was broadcast in 2001 and was nominated for Best
Comedy at the RTS and Broadcast Awards and has gone on to sell over 500,000 copies
on VHS and DVD.
In 2001 Mark also co-produced the feature film Dream by the Swedish writer of My Life
as A Dog, Reidar Jönsson.
Mark’s freelance career started as a Location Manager with credits including Little Voice,
Brassed Off, Blow Dry and Among Giants.
Mark is currently Executive Producer on a DVD album by award winning director Chris
Cunningham that includes his own musical compositions and new films.
12
Alongside Robin Gutch, he is Managing Director of the low budget digital feature project
Warp X, an initiative of Film Four, UK Film Council, Screen Yorkshire, EM Media and
Optimum Releasing which will produce seven feature films over the next three years.
DANIEL COHEN – Director of Photography
Daniel Cohen’s long list of credits includes photographing the feature films Dead Babies,
Only Human, Creep, Festival, Pierrepoint and Shane Meadows’ previous feature Dead
Man’s Shoes. He was also Director of Photography on Warp Film’s first production, My
Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 which won the 2003 BAFTA Kodak Cinematography Award
as well as the BAFTA for Best Short Film. He has shot music videos for bands including
Blur, Mull Historical Society, New Order and, in another collaboration with Warp Films,
for Arctic Monkeys. His work for television includes the series ‘Nathan Barley’, ‘The
Book Group’, ‘Murder in Suburbia’ and the dramas ‘Longford’ and ‘London’.
MARK LEESE - Production Designer
Mark Leese’s distinguished career as a production designer has included working on
some of the most exciting and provocative UK cinema of the past few years. Prior to
working with Shane Meadows on This Is England, his credits include Peter Mullan’s The
Magdalene Sisters, Richard Jobson’s A Woman In Winter, Danish director Lone
Scherfig’s Scotland set film Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself. His work for television includes
‘The Book Group’.
RICHARD KNIGHT – Location Manager
Richard Knight previously worked with Shane Meadows on Dead Man's Shoes. His
work as location manager also includes Penny Woolcock’s new feature film Mischief
Night and the BBC drama ‘Five Days’.
JO THOMPSON – Costume Designer
Jo Thompson has recently worked as costume designer on the feature film Scenes of a
Sexual Nature. Her extensive work for television includes ‘Aftersun’, ‘The Games’,
‘Dead Casual’ and ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’.
CHRIS WYATT- Editor
Chris Wyatt first worked with Shane Meadows on Dead Man’s Shoes. His extraordinary
talents as an editor have included work on Peter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book and The
Tulse Luper Suitcases Episode 3, and The Baby Of Macon.
13
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
THOMAS TURGOOSE - Shaun
Grimsby native, 13-year-old Thomas Turgoose, is a unique acting talent, discovered by
Shane and Louise Meadows and Casting Director Des Hamilton at The Space Project, a
scheme run for disadvantaged children. Prior to This Is England, his closest brush with
acting was being rejected for the role of an extra in the school play.
STEPHEN GRAHAM - Combo
Stephen Graham is a unique British actor, who, though he hails from Liverpool, is
perhaps best known for his screen stealing role as the Cockney Tommy in Guy Ritchie’s
Snatch. His many standout film credits include Martin Scorcese’s Gangs Of New York,
Kevin Spacey’s Beyond The Sea, Alex Cox’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, and Danny
Cannon’s Goal. His television work includes ‘Band Of Brothers’, ‘Flesh And Blood’, and
‘Where The Heart Is’.
JO HARTLEY - Cynth
Jo Hartley’s first feature film role was Shane Meadows’ preceding movie Dead Man’s
Shoes. She has worked extensively in television, her credits include Bob And Rose,
Hollyoaks, Recovery and Cold Feet.
JOE GILGUN – Woody
22-year-old Joe Gilgun, studied acting at the Laine Johnson Theatre School and
Oldham Theatre Workshop. His television work includes the highly acclaimed Channel 4
series ‘Shameless’, ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Hollyoaks’, and ‘Coronation Street’. This Is England is
his first feature film role.
ANDREW SHIM – Milky
Andrew Shim was discovered by Shane Meadows when he was a young lad acting at
The Carlton Television Junior Workshop, and he landed the title role in Shane’s second
film A Room For Romeo Brass. Firm friends ever since, they also worked together on
Dead Man’s Shoes.
VICKY McCLURE - LOL
Like Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure first met Shane Meadows when she starred in his
second, highly acclaimed feature A Room For Romeo Brass. She had been studying
acting at The Carlton TV Junior Workshop when she landed the role of Andrew’s feisty
older sister Ladine in that earlier film. This is the first time the trio have worked together
since then.
ROSAMUND HANSON (Smell), ANDREW ELLIS (Gadget), KEIRAN HARDCASTLE
(Kes), JACK O’CONNELL (Pukey Nicholls), CHANEL CRESSWELL (Kelly), SOPHIE
ELLERBY (Pob), DANIELLE WATSON (Trev) all studied acting with an emphasis on
improvisation at Ian Smith’s Carlton television workshop. 18-year-old Kieran Hardcastle
has recently starred in the short film Schoolboy. 16-year-old Jack O’Connell appeared at
the National Theatre Cottesloe in Ursula Rani Sarma’s play ‘The Spider Men’.
14
CREDITS
SHAUN
COMBO
CYNTH
MILKY
LOL
WOODY
SMELL
GADGET
MEGGY
BANJO
LENNY
PUKEY NICHOLLS
MR SANDHU
KES
KELLY
TREV
POB
SHOE SHOP ASSISTANT
MR DUDLEY
BULLY
ABIGAIL POLLOCK
ADAM WAGHORN
CHIP SHOP OWNER
GADGET’S NAN
POOR MATE 1
TEACHERS
Thomas Turgoose
Stephen Graham
Jo Hartley
Andrew Shim
Vicky McClure
Joe Gilgun
Rosamund Hanson
Andrew Ellis
Perry Benson
George Newton
Frank Harper
Jack O’Connell
Kriss Dosanjh
Kieran Hardcastle
Chanel Cresswell
Danielle Watson
Sophie Ellerby
Hannah Walters
Dave Laws
Michael Socha
Aisling Loftus
Joe Sentence
Shane Meadows
Pamela Cundell
Elliot-Otis Brown-Walters
Ian Smith
Dave Blant
Seamus O’Neill
Dave Blant
Ladene Hall
Harold Gould
Betty Gould
Stuart Wolfenden
Giorgia Groome
Gabriel Jennings
Matthew Blamires
James Burrows
Harpal Hayer
Terry Haywood
Nimesh Jani
DJ DAVE D
TEACHER 1
MISS SHAW
MR THACKER
MRS THACKER
JAYBO
ABIGAIL’S FRIEND
ADAM’S FRIEND
TEASING KIDS
FOOTBALL KIDS
Additional Casting
Casting Assistant
Script Consultants
Michelle Smith
Alistair Mackay
Andrew Vickers
Mary Burke
Nina Sagemoen
Oliver Allgrove
Libby Durdy
Production Manager
Assistant Co-ordinator
Production Assistants
15
Rachel Clark
Ed Barratt
Marlowe Hurst
Fraser Grant
John Udall
Griffin
Tony Ahearne
Matt Huntley
Nickie Sault
Peter Foster
Christian Rigg
Adam Booth
Vicky Chapman
Olly Sutton
Matthew Taylor
Richard Knight
Emma Yeomans
Leon Ballin
Rushes Runners
Production Accountant
Location Accountant
1st Assistant Directors
2nd Assistant Directors
3rd Assistant Directors
Floor Runners
Location /Unit Manager
Assistant Location Manager
Location Scout
Rigger
Adrian O’Toole
Andy Hill
Austin Voce
Kevin Edwards
Zac Nicholson
Oliver Driscoll
Roy Colin Osborn
Alex Mott
Peter Muncey
Andy Lowe
Lee Martin
Darren Foley
Alan Glover
Simon Marsh
Howard Roe
Jamie Core
Sound Recordist
Boom Operator
Sound Trainee
Dave Sansom
Paul Watson
Rowan October
Art Director
Assistant Art Director
Art Department Assistant
Props Buyer
Props Master
Standby Props
Set Dressers
Caroline Grebbell
Martin Kelly
Anna Sheard
Lee Porter
Simon Bailey
Mat Bergel
Paul Campbell
Kevin Scarrott
Neil Smith
Andrew Duncan
Alex Robertson
Polly Benson
Hannah Boyton
1st Assistant Camera
2nd Assistant Camera
Camera Assistants
B-Camera Operator
B-Camera 1st Assistant
Camera Car
Key Grip
Crane Grip
Gaffer
Best Boy
Electricians
Picture Vehicles Co-ordinator
Construction Manager
Painter
Art Department Trainees
16
Ruth Parker
Mark Shelley
Armourer
Debbie O’Brien
Amy Broatch
Mareill Gireno
Nat Turner
Nadia Dunn-Hill
Charlotte Rees
Lily Beckett
Veronica Lewis
Ailsa Davies
Wardrobe Supervisor
Costume Assistants
Costume Buyer
Costume Trainee
Make-Up Trainee
Make-Up Dailies
Stunt Co-ordinator
Stills Photographer/EPK Director
EPK Operator
Riky Ash
Dean Rogers
Alistair MacKay
Unit Drivers
John Oxborough
Mick Stanton
Bryn Austin
Gary Austin
Minibus Drivers
Additional Photography
1st Assistant Director
2nd Assistant Director
3rd Assistant Director
Runner
Location Manager
1st Assistant Camera
2nd Assistant Camera
Picture Vehicles Co-ordinator
Costume Designer
Costume Assistant
Make-Up Artist
Make-Up Assistant
Sound Recordist
Boom Operator
Stunt Coordinator
Nickie Sault
Christian Rigg
Nicola Parfit
Alastair MacKay
Emma Yeomans
Ian Struthers
Barny Crocker
Andrew Duncan
Jo Thompson
Natasha Bardusco
Donald McInnes
Lily Beckett
John Hughes
Jo Manly
Riky Ash
Colin Batchford
Post Production Supervisor
Post Production Assistant
Helen de Winter
Ally Gipps
Post Production Accountants
Tarn Harper
Polly Wilby
Audio & Offline Post Facility
Studio Supervisor
Supervising Sound Editor
Sound Designers
Spool Post Production
Penny Linfield
Greg Marshall
Ben Harvey
Matthew Hall
Susan Pennington
Leyton Rooney
Dialogue Editor
Supervising Foley Editor
17
Foley Sound Recordist
Foley Artists
Dave Croft
Dave Poulton
Ian Waggott
Jim Holiday
Lee Everett
Sound Assistants
Re-recording Mixer
Assistant Re-recording Mixer s
Re-recorded at
Music Supervisor
Music Clearances
Andrew Stirk
Gareth Llewellyn
Emma Pegram
Videosonics Cinema Sound London
John Boughtwood
Susan Tilly
Digital Intermediate &
Title design
DI Supervisor
DI Colourist & Film Online Editor
Lead Visual Effects Artist
Visual Effects Coordinator
Visual Effects Artists
MotionFX
Camera & Grip Equipment
Lighting Equipment
Rigging Equipment
Catering
Facilities Vehicles
ICE Films
Arri Lighting
Trans-Sport
Abadia Catering
Movie Makers
Martin Clay
Mike ‘Taffy’ Darwood
Andy Livesley
Paul Revil
Colin Batchford & Ren the Dog
Martin Hammond
Andy Kirk
Mike West
Paul Anthony Irons
Kaye Thurgood
Catherine Bettany
Greg Chisholm
Annie Clark
Urban Short Stay
Ice House
Saco World
Premiere Travel Inn
Jurys Inn
Arnold Clarke
Chilwell Van Hire
Anglo American
Wavend Communications
Kodak Vision
Film Lab North
Sapex Scripts
Kodak
Security
Unit Nurses
Tutor
Chaperone
Daily Chaperone
Accommodation
Hotels
Vehicle Hire
Tracking Vehicles
Communications Equipment
Film Stock
Rushes Processing
Post Production Script
Filmed on
18
Justin Lanchbury
Gareth Spensley
Jonathan Cheetham
Clare Heneghan
Andy Keys
Clare Heneghan
Prints by
Insurance
Deluxe London
Media Insurances Brokers
Boyd Harvey
Film Finances Inc
Sheila Fraser Milne
Barclays Bank Plc
The Clearing House
Emfoundation
Keeley Naylor
The Works
Completion Guarantor
Banking Services
Clearances
UK Publicity
Worldwide Sales
For Warp Films
Barry Ryan
Steve Beckett
Kev Fleming
Whitehouse & Co
Nigel Whitehouse
Legal & Business Affairs
For FilmFour
Head of Production
Production Manager
Business Affairs
Tracey Josephs
Gerardine O’Flynn
Paul Grindey
Chris Irvine
For The UK Film Council
Senior Executive
Production Accountant
Senior Business Affairs Executive
Emma Clarke
Andrea Mathuis
Natalie Bass
For EM Media
Executive Producer
Head of Communications
Communications Executive
Location Services
Lizzie Francke
Emily Lappin
Sally Hodgson
Nic Smith and Dan Hodgett
For Ingenious Media Services Limited
on behalf of Ingenious Film Partners
Production
Jane Moore, Peter Touche
Legal & Business Affairs
Alison Brister
Accounting
Mark Fielding
For Screen Yorkshire
Kaye Elliott
Helen Perkins
Victoria Leeson
Developed by FilmFour and EM Media
With thanks to
The staff at the Crocus Café and Community of Lenton; Paul and Marlene
Bailey from Lord Alcester Pub; Vicky Chapman for her hard work as a
daily; Carlton Road Co Op, Nottingham; Nottingham City Council;
19
Nottingham Police; Jim, Theresa, and Susan Walsh; Mark and Geoff
White; Tom and Jeynes; Associated British Ports Immingham; Marion
Spencer; The people of St Ann’s, Nottingham
“54 46 WAS MY NUMBER (F. Hibbert)
Performed by Toots And The Maytals
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd
Courtesy of Island Records US
Licensed by kind permission from the Film & TV licensing division
Part of the Universal Music Group
COME ON EILEEN
Written by Kevin Rowland, James Paterson and Kevin Adams
Performed by Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd
Courtesy of Mercury Records (London) Ltd
Licensed by kind permission from the Film & TV Licensing division
Part of the Universal Music Group
NICOLE
Written by Nicholas Talbot
Performed by Gravenhurst
Published by EMI Music Publishing
(P) 2005 Warp Records Limited
Courtesy of Warp Records
MORNING SUN
Written by Howard/Levin
Performed by Al Barry & The Cimarons
Published by Westbury Music Ltd/Copyright Control
(P) 1970 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
Licensed Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
ISRC: GBAJE7000560
LOUIE LOUIE
Written by Richard Berry
Performed by Toots & The Maytals
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd
World Wide Music
(p) 1972 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
Licensed Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
ISRC: GBAJE7200244
PRESSURE DROP (F.Hibbert)
Performed by Toots And The Maytals
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd
Courtesy of Island Records US
Licensed by kind permission from the Film & TV Licensing division
Part of the Universal Music Group
20
DO THE DOG (Thomas Jr)
Performed by The Specials
Published by Rondor Music London Ltd
On behalf of Birdees Music Corp
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd
RETURN OF DJANGO (Lee Perry)
Performed by The Upsetters
Published by B&C Music Publishing Limited
New Town Sound
(P) 1968 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
Licensed courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
ISRC: GBAJE6800195
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE MARCH NO.1 in D, Op.39/1” (E. Elgar)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ian Hughes
By kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd
LET’S DANCE (J. Cliff)
Published by Lilbert Music
SINCE YESTERDAY (R. McDowall/J.Bryson)
Performed by Strawberry Switchblade
Published by Zoo Music Ltd. /Warner / Chappell Music Ltd
Courtesy of Rhino UK
DARK END OF THE STREET
Written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn
Performed by Percy Sledge
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd
Courtesy of Rhino UK
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, LET ME GET WHAT I WANT (S.
Morrissey/J. Marr)
Performed by Clayhill
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd / Warner Chappell Music
Ltd
Taken from the mini album ‘Clayhill’ out now on Eat Sleep Records
www.clayhillmusic.com
SKINHEAD MOONSTOMP
Written by Monty Naismith and AA Ellis
Performed by Symarip
Published by B&C Music Publishing Ltd / Sparta Florida Music Group
Ltd
(P) 1969 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
Licensed Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
ISRC: GBAJE6900284
WARHEAD
(Harper/Slack)
Performed by the UK Subs
Published by Sparta Florida Music Group Ltd
21
(P) 1980 Gem Records Ltd
Issued under exclusive license from Demon Music Group Ltd
Filmed entirely on location in Nottingham and Grimsby
A Warp Films Production in association with Big Arty Productions
and Ingenious Film Partners for FilmFour, the UK Film Council, EM
Media and Screen Yorkshire
Finance through EM Media, part funded by the European Regional
Development Fund
Made with the support of the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund
Made with the support of Yorkshire Forward and the European
Union through Screen Yorkshire Production Fund and part-funded
by the European Regional Development Fund
Warp Bulldog Limited and Shane Meadows are the authors of this picture
for the purposes of copyright and other laws.
The events, characters and firms depicted in this motion picture are
fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual
events or films is purely coincidental.
Ownership of this motion picture is protected by copyright and other
applicable laws and any unauthorized duplication, distribution or
exhibition of this motion picture could result in criminal prosecution as
well as civil liability.
© WARP FILMS LIMITED, FILMFOUR, THE UK FILM COUNCIL,
EM MEDIA, SCREEN YORKSHIRE
All rights reserved
22