Shane Meadows - 2010
This first part starts and ends magnificently, we start with a glimpse of what happened after the end of the movie in 2006, the end, well, Shane Meadows and Mike Leigh are among my favorite British directors, they film the people, that's there interest, and mine as well, and if you're filming the people you have to film everything that comes with it. There is a scene that is terrified and magnificent at the same time, this scene is the kind of scene that is not shown on television very often, because it's real, is possible, it happens, sadly more and more, and we can't possibly understand it if we're not in it, and Shane managed to make us understand what could possibly be like, being in such a f*cked up situation, being the victim of a sexual predator, how he talks, how he makes you comfortable before the act. I was speechless after that scene, then I showed it to my sister. Yeah, I did. She should know.
Shane Meadows - 2011
This second part starts with dealing with decisions made in the past, the difficulties of a young women being single mother, the past ghost hunting you, while the rest of the cast is trying to adapt to the system, an education, a career. Is also a magnificent season, it shows those you can actually count on, that are there, even if you don't want them there. Just when the adversities arrive, when you have no one except yourself, you are able to lift that curtain and see them, they were there all along, even when you turned them away. Is really the season about dealing with past "mistakes", how every single character have to deal with a situation they should have being probably avoided, and how tragedy, makes them forget there egos and unites people together.
Shane Meadows - 2015
The drama quality of this last season is incredible and I think all the actors managed to show there potential. This third season starts with the cast all settled, working regular jobs, raising there kids, and the youngsters in new movements, the American pop-culture, sub-culture "invasion" and the raves. I'm trying to write without giving any spoilers, since it's the last season, all goes around endings, what I can say about endings is: the past transgressions always comes to hunt you when you think you're life is on the right track, and since this is, I think, a dramatic series about working-industrial, low class Great Britain, that's the ending we could anticipate, and it's a great ending, raw, cliche free. There's two scenes that are memorable: the family reunion around the table is one, or the greastest acting moment in all the three series, is also a great in terms of psychological study, and the comeback of an old friend, Combo, is without any questions, personally, one of the greatest dramatic scenes I've ever saw in a TV show, probably the best, that
scene alone might make you wanna watch this series.