More than just acceptable in the 80s

As the credits rolled on the final episode of This Is England '86, I knew that feeling - of emotional exhaustion and dumbfoundedness - was familiar. From the time I was watching the credits roll at the end of Dead Man's Shoes. Suffice to say that, whether on the silver screen or the small one, Shane Meadows has a knack for making your jaw hit the floor.

While the film This Is England told the story of a bunch of characters essentially caught up in societal forces much bigger than them, the TV series focused instead on personal narratives of triumph and (far more commonly) tribulation, though the period setting nevertheless formed an effective backdrop. If the first episode was vaguely unsatisfying in its emphasis on the knockabout comedy present in the film (though only occasionally), then Meadows and his fellow writers made sure subsequent instalments took an increasingly dark turn, culminating in a number of scenes of horrifying power that continue to live in the mind long after viewing.

Its gripping and skilful writing, beautiful cinematography and devastating intensity were refreshing at a time when it seems assumed that only American series which unfold over six times as many episodes can be described as utterly essential television.

I'm now sensing that Once Upon A Time In The Midlands wasn't the best introduction to Meadows' work - a thorough investigation is long overdue, starting (probably) with Twentyfourseven...