Stephen Graham and Vicky McClure’s “near-flawless” British drama gets new UK streaming home
This Is England, the 2006 British coming-of-age drama featuring Line of Duty‘s Stephen Graham and Vicky McClure, is the kind of movie you don’t forget after watching. Luckily, if you haven’t seen it (or fancy a rewatch), it’s landed a new UK streaming home.
The movie follows a 12-year-old boy who is alienated and bullied at school, and falls in with a group of skinheads. He finds a father figure in an ex-convict, but the world of far-right nationalism is a cruel and violent one.
Alongside Graham and McClure, the film features a ensemble cast that includes lead actor Thomas Turgoose, Adolescence‘s Jo Hartley, Brassic‘s Joe Gilgun, Being Human‘s Michael Socha, and Trollied‘s Chanel Cresswell, to name a few.
The film has gone on to become a huge chapter in the story of modern British cinema, and spawned three sequel TV shows: 2010’s This Is England ’86, 2011’s This Is England ’88, and 2015’s This Is England ’90. We at Digital Spy also named it one of the best British film of the last 25 years.
If you want to see it this weekend, This Is England is now available to watch for free on Channel 4’s streaming service, following its airing on Film4 earlier this week.
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Over on Rotten Tomatoes, This Is England also has an astounding score of 94% positive from 96 critic reviews.
“Simply put, this is one the greatest British films of the 21st century,” wrote Common Sense Media, adding that director Shane Meadows crafted “a raw, naturalistic drama that takes a fascinating look into such a nuanced and complex time”.
The Sydney Morning Herald called it both “profoundly moving and disturbing”, while legendary critic Roger Ebert labelled it “taut, tense, relentless”.
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“A modest, near-flawless gem, This Is England is a humbly, if insistently political, autobiographical homage to a lost world of youth,” wrote The New York Times, while the British version of The Times labelled it “Shane Meadows’ most personal film [and] his best, combining the director’s impeccably observed comedy with a gathering storm cloud of ominous ill will”.
As well as the movie, you can watch the three sequel series – This Is England ’86, This Is England ’88 and This Is England ’90 – on Channel 4’s streaming service now too.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.
