There have been many disturbing and frightening moments in the absorbing and unsettling series that began with the film This Is England, but none to match the unexpected appearance of two shocking figures in the upper floors of BAFTA’s Piccadilly headquarters on a chilly November evening.

What Jedward are doing in the building is unclear; thankfully they have nothing to do with the screening of This Is England ’88, Shane Meadows’s new, three-part miniseries, or the subsequent Q&A discussion.

Chaired by Miranda Sawyer, a relaxed and effervescent Meadows discusses the new episodes, the future of the series, the way friends you grow up with don’t seem to change (it’s the photographs and videos of the past that seem different, not the people in the present) and the persisting cultural myths about the 1980s.

Set to begin on Channel 4 next month, This Is England ’88 begins with a montage of British and world events of the time, from boom and bust to the devastating famine in Africa, but as Meadows explains, these events were only tangential to his life growing up in Uttoxeter. ‘I don’t think anyone past Watford ever had a boom,’ he says.

Meadows also reveals his ideas for the forthcoming This Is England ’90 series. ‘I want it to begin with someone putting an ecstasy pill on their tongue,’ he says, explaining that it will feature Combo’s release from prison and Woody and Milky’s gradual drifting away from the gang as the younger members discover raves, MDMA and the indie bands whose popularity blossomed in the wake of acid house, such as the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses.

He also has plans to film a documentary about the reformation of the latter band, lamenting that he missed their legendary gig at Spike Island in the summer of 1990. Even the notorious problems with the sound system and the poor facilities don’t bother him. ‘I wouldn’t have cared if someone had come up and slapped me with a sandwich,’ he says.

Vicky McClure, who plays Lol Jenkins, remains as optimistic about the series which brought her to prominence – and the possibility of further instalments set into the nineties and beyond – as ever. ‘I’d do it for the rest of my life if I could,’ she says, even though her character is constantly being put through the emotional wringer – something that is very much to the fore in This Is England ’88. ‘I don’t get many laughs,’ she wryly admits.

And what of the new episodes themselves? We can’t give away too much about it at the moment – look out for more details on the site a little closer to transmission – but we can say that it’s a festering festive story very much of its time (it begins on the morning of 23rd December, 1988) that is simultaneously shot through with social and political resonances which ring truer than ever in 2011.

Meadows describes it as ‘a very brutal Nativity play’ and the opening instalment is ablaze with the same threads of dirty good humour, gritty warmth and violent pathos that have run through the series since the opening scene of the original film.

The saga of Gadget’s achy balls is fiercely funny; Shaun’s romantic tribulations are touchingly authentic; and the suffering of Lol – poor old Lol, the girl with the least appropriate nickname of all time – is heartbreaking to watch. You will be captivated.

‘The best film and television comes out of this country when our backs are against the wall,’ Shane Meadows says, and with the outlook for the UK and beyond remaining bleak for the foreseeable future, it’s a comfort to think that good things can still materialise from the miserable mire in which the world has found itself.

This is England ’88 will air at 10pm on 13th, 14th and 15th December on Channel 4.

> Order This Is England ’88 on DVD on Amazon.

Watch the trailer…

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