On this episode of Bad Dads Film Review, the team reviews This Is England (2006), Shane Meadows’ raw, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama starring Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Vicky McClure, Joe Gilgun, Andrew Shim, Rosamund Hanson, and Jack O’Connell.
In this episode
Recording outside the man cave in brutal heat, with England playing later and possible background birds
Returning to Shane Meadows after the dads’ love for Dead Man’s Shoes
Meadows writing from lived experience and Shaun Field as a loose version of the young Shane Meadows
The film’s 1983 setting: Falklands aftermath, Thatcher-era mood, working-class Midlands anonymity, and immaculate period detail
Shaun’s grief over his father’s death and the brutal school bullying around his clothes
The infamous Mini joke, the playground fight, and Reegs’ detour into the real-world Mini passenger record
Woody’s gang as surrogate family: underpass tea, derelict-house “hunting”, haircuts, boots, braces, and the gifted Ben Sherman
Skinhead culture before the racist takeover: ska, soul, punk, clothes, belonging, and style
Smell, the shed snog, New Romantic fashion, and the very awkward age-gap discussion
Combo’s entrance from prison and the immediate tonal shift from funny coming-of-age story to something threatening
Stephen Graham’s performance as Combo: vulnerable, pathetic, charismatic, manipulative, racist, and terrifying
Combo gaslighting Woody, exploiting Shaun’s Falklands grief, and splitting the gang
The National Front meeting: respectable presentation, simple blame politics, Frank Harper’s speaker, and Gadget’s “NASHNIL” spelling
Shaun’s corruption under Combo: racist intimidation, the corner-shop robbery, and the stolen language of national pride
Lol rejecting Combo and the emotional humiliation that turns outward into violence
Milky and Combo bonding over music and roots before Combo’s jealousy erupts
The brutal beating of Milky, Shaun being forced to watch, and Combo’s immediate collapse into remorse
Shaun throwing the St George’s flag into the sea as a rejection of the racist version of England
The continuing relevance of the film’s politics from 1983 to 2006 to now
Strong recommendations for the follow-up series: This Is England ’86, ’88, and ’90
Bad Dads consensus
Sidey: Strong recommend — sees it as at least a 9/10 and reads the final flag moment as Shaun rejecting the National Front’s corrupted version of England.
Pete: Strong recommend — praises the film’s lived-in authenticity, performances, and the follow-up series; still holds Dead Man’s Shoes as a 10/10 comparison point.
Reegs: Strongly positive — highlights the bleakness, the current relevance of the racist rhetoric, and Stephen Graham’s frighteningly layered work.
Cris: Engaged with the period detail, humour, and discomfort of the film’s tonal shift, particularly once Combo arrives.
Final take
This Is England begins as a warm, funny, scruffy story about a lonely boy finding friends, then slowly reveals how easily grief and poverty can be weaponised by people offering simple enemies and ugly certainty. It is beautifully observed, brilliantly acted, deeply uncomfortable, and still horribly relevant.
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