This is England 88

Amongst the many Christmas specials now packing our TV schedules this is an absolute gem. It must be said though, this is no sugary sweet festive treat. We are dealing with some very dark subjects here.

Shane Meadows continues with his surprisingly enduring story following a group of Mods and Skinheads living in a bleak northern housing estate. Most viewers will have first met these characters in his 2006 film This Is England which was then followed by a harrowing series of hour long episodes last year.

The performances are uniformly excellent again as each character deals with their individual heartbreaks and although the pacing is slow at times I think this allows the emotion to emanate from the screen and also allows us to appreciate the sparse, bleak, beautifully framed shots of the landscape which the characters inhabit. Meadows also manages to intersperse the very emotive scenes with flashes of humour and some remarkably realistic portrayals of human interaction. It seems more awards could be on the way.