UTTOXETER-born film director Shane Meadows is set for a small screen debut as his most popular film is to be given a sequel for a Channel 4 drama series.
The critically-acclaimed filmmaker’s 2006 hit This is England is to be developed in to a four-part drama as a direct result of the channel’s new direction after it announced it was to cease production of Big Brother next year.
The former Westlands Road resident received a BAFTA for his work on the part-autobiographical film about his life growing up in Uttoxeter.
The drama will be called We Were Faces and returns to the characters four years on, in 1986, and sees Shaun, played by Thomas Turgoose, finishing his school exams and preparing to find his own way in the world. Details of the cast are due to be announced shortly and all key characters from the film are expected to return.
Meadows said: “When I finished This is England I had a wealth of material and unused ideas that I felt very keen to take further – audiences seemed to really respond to the characters we created and out of my long standing relationship with Film4 and Channel 4 the idea for a television serial developed.
“Not only did I want to take the story of the gang broader and deeper, I also saw in the experiences of the young in 1986 many resonances to now – recession, lack of jobs, sense of the world at a turning point. “Whereas the film told part of the story, the TV serial will tell the rest.” Channel 4 announced yesterday (26) that it will be spending more money on drama and finishing with one of its flagship shows, Big Brother.
Channel 4 Head of Drama, Liza Marshall, said the channel was ‘delighted’ to work with Meadows on the project. She said: “Shane is one of the best and most loved filmmakers working in Britain today. He has a huge passion for these characters and a love of this era.”
This is England earned in excess of $3 million at the UK box office and sold over 300,000 DVDs. We Were Faces will be written by Meadows along with Jack Thorne (Skins) and will be made by Warp films, who also produced the film version.