‘This Town’ disappoints and impresses at the same time

Well, I didn’t expect to be taking on the role of a TV critic when I started Rude Rebel but here we are!

Returning from my holiday to Jamaica recently, I decided to sit and binge watch the much anticipated ‘This Town’ on BBC iPlayer.

Described as ‘an ode to Two-Tone’, ‘a ska drama’ and other ska/two-tone related promises, the mini series is none of these. That’s not to say however that it isn’t worth watching.

Set in the early 80’s in Birmingham and nearby home of Two-Tone, Coventry, ‘This Town’ tells the story of a bunch of youngsters and their chaotic family lives to the background of civil unrest, the I.R.A’s mainland campaign and substance abuse.

Starting in the centre of a riot in Birmingham 1981, the storyline then weaves its way around Dante, a young lad who considers himself a poet and gets involved in the ‘Rude Boy’ scene. He teams up with local skinhead girl Jeannie, who is a dab hand at writing music and the combination sets them on a path to forming a band. Along the way, we see the violence, booze, drugs, addiction, terrorism, gang warfare, murder and much more, perhaps a little too much.

At times, there may be a little too much going on and it feels as though this could have been spread out over more than six episodes but it’s entertaining nevertheless. There are a few positives to take away – it has a great soundtrack, with a heavy dose of original and Two Tone Ska and the skinheads featured are not portrayed as raging neo-Nazi’s, which is unusual for skinheads on TV! I personally also thought the performance of Michelle Dockery as Estelle was outstanding.

There are a few things that are a bit off – the fashions don’t always feel 100% authentic, I’m sure I saw some uPVC double glazing at one point and some of the Irish characters seem a little clichéd. In addition, although well acted by David Dawson, I thought the role of nightclub owner Robbie Carmen was somewhat of a glitzy caricature but that’s maybe what the aim was. It just didn’t seem to fit for me.

Nevertheless, these were easily overlooked for what was an entertaining watch.

And this may not be the last you see of it. Asked if he had written the show with more than one season in mind, Steven Knight said “Always. I think if you want to do one you have to not plan it, but think that you’re going to be with these people for quite a long time.”

Is it the Two-Tone centred drama a lot of people were expecting? No, but it’s there in the background. Is it worth watching? Definitely!