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Caroline Lusin and Ralf Haekel

Yeah, this is England, and this is England, and this is England. And for what? For what now? Ey, what for?

(This Is England, 2006)

The title of Shane Meadows’ award-winning film This Is England (2006) leaves no doubt about its subject: the “era-defining drama” (Harvey) portrays working-class life in the Midlands in a way that strives to convey a realistic idea of England in the 1980s. The film, along with its spin-offs This Is England ’86 (2010), This Is England ’88 (2011), and This Is England ’90 (2015), exemplifies key tendencies in recent British and Irish television series. Set in 1983, This Is England flaunts a montage of iconic news snippets in the opening credits that firmly situate its plot in the political, social, and cultural climate of the time. Apart from repeated shots of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the credits include footage of Sting in concert, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di, BMX bikes, Rubik’s cube, political protest, violent riots, fascist parades, and gruesome scenes of the Falklands War. This socio-historical context is closely entwined with individual lives from the start, as the political climate obviously determines the youth of twelve-year-old protagonist Shaun (Thomas Turgoose): the opening shot shows a photo of his uniformed father, a victim of the Falklands War, and his radio alarm wakes him to a speech which Margaret Thatcher gave to Wembley Youth Rally (Thatcher). Held shortly before the 1983 general election, this speech encapsulates key points of Thatcher’s policies, whose repercussions still make themselves felt in the 21^st century. In describing Thatcherism as “a kind of trauma or ghostly presence that the nation has yet to work through” (Su 1095), John J. Su highlights how “contemporary British literature”, and, one might add, television, “is defined in terms of responses to a set of political, economic, and cultural forces associated with Margaret Thatcher” (1083). This Is England and the ensuing drama series thus investigate the origins of many of the issues contemporary British and Irish society are struggling with today.