This Is England

Hilarious, ribald and ridiculous but also achingly bleak and sad. This Is England ’86 is all these things but, more than anything, what it has in spades is humanity.

The 2010 Channel 4 drama features a gang of largely unemployed misfits in an unnamed, impoverished East Midlands coastal town, following England’s progress at Maradona’s “Hand of God” World Cup in Mexico.

The gang comes in all ages, shapes and sizes, sporting the worst 1980s haircuts. There’s no fake tan, fancy nails or gym bodies on show, as you fear there would be in a contemporary version.

Line of Duty 

BBC iPlayer​

Line of Duty has become a national institution, with series six still to come.

In a whole new spin on the police procedural, Line of Duty puts the coppers themselves under the microscope, as the series follows the anti-corruption investigations of AC Unit 12.

How to get into editing: Emma Lysaght: “I left school at 16. My father was a film editor so I grew up watching my dad cut film. It was something I’d always wanted to do.

“It was quite a male environment, I was very nervous and very shy. I didn’t get into the cutting room until I was 19. My dad knew of one female editor.

“She needed an assistant so I stepped in and became her assistant. Within the first few months I was cutting news for Channel 4, which was very pressurised but you know exactly what you’ve got to do in those three minutes.

Over the past couple of decades, Stephen Graham has become increasingly hard to avoid on both TV and film. The variety of roles he’s taken on is extraordinary. He can play cops and robbers, modern and period drama, ordinary and larger-than-life characters. He is convincing in all of them.

Graham – who was named Best Actor at last year’s RTS Programme Awards for his portrayal of the detective investigating the murder of Rhys Jones in the harrowing ITV real-life drama, Little Boy Blue – was in conversation with Alice Feetham, his co-star in current Sky Atlantic thriller Save Me.

Lauded for bringing a unique depth to each role he undertakes, Graham has won praise for appearing in British Indie’s, American dramas and Hollywood Blockbusters. We have gathered together five of his most iconic roles.

This is England

The eagerly awaited final chapter of This Is England ’90 will return to screens this Sunday. 

Following on from the critically acclaimed This Is England feature film, the final instalment of Shane Meadows’ award-winning series will be set in the 1990s.

Channel 4’s extension, This Is England ’86 focused on the Mod revival, following with Christmas special This Is England ’88.

Set two years after the troubled '80s era, the new series focuses on the heady scenes of '90s raving era.