Yeates only interviewed for the film course at Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design [now part of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology] as a way to deal with shyness, on the suggestion of her head of year.
“And I loved the interview,” she tells me over Zoom, elaborating with what I quickly learn is trademark straightforwardness: “I liked the panel.”
This Town, Steven Knight’s pitch-perfect and loving recreation of the early-80s music scene in Birmingham and Coventry, took home three awards from the RTS Midlands Television Awards in late November.
Jordan Bolger won the prize for Best Supporting Acting Performance and Paul Whittington was named Best Director for the BBC One drama, which was made by Kudos and Nebulastar.
The new BBC One drama This Town opens with the streets of Birmingham ablaze with violence during the Handsworth riots of 1981, before the action moves to council estates.
But its creator, Steven Knight, wants to make it clear that his working-class tale is not bleak or tragic, but set in a vibrant world full of energy and promise. He even manages to make tower blocks and Spaghetti Junction look beautiful.
Across six parts, This Town tells the story of an extended family and four young people who are drawn into the world of ska and two-tone music. The genre grew out of Coventry and Brimingham in the late 1970s and early 1980s, uniting the young people of the black, white and Asian communities.
The BBC has announced that Michelle Dockery of Downtown Abbey fame will star, alongside Nicholas Pinnock (Life) and David Dawson (The Last Kingdom).
