The Gallows Pole
Sadly not a dramatisation of one of Led Zep’s finest, rather the latest telly from Shane Meadows’, and unusually for him it’s a period drama.
Now I love Meadows. His 2013 movie documenting the Stone Roses reunion is a fine piece of work, albeit somewhat of a love letter to the Manc’ baggy gods, and obviously his This Is England triumvirate is perhaps one of the greatest telly ever made. So I assumed this was going to be right up my street.
His work isn’t exactly unscripted, the framework is written by Meadows, but as with all his previous work, the actors have full freedom to improvise. Sometimes this works to startling effect. The dinner table scene from This Is England ‘90 for example. Truly outstanding. There are other times, unfortunately, when it comes across as a bunch of half-arsed amateurs. I.E. this. Having said that, there’s one scene where Meadows’ regular Michael Socha and his on/off screen partner, played by Sophie McShera, are sat on some steps bantering back and forward, and it’s the outstanding scene in the whole piece. But sadly that’s it. And talking of Michael Socha, he’s fantastic in this. Every scene he’s in you can’t take your eyes off him. As already mentioned, he’s one of Meadows' regular cast (along with Thomas Turgoose, who’s also in this), and if he’s improvising then he should seriously consider starting his own theatre school along the lines of Strasberg, because he’s the outstanding actor in this.
The true story of a gang of 18th century ‘clippers’. Clipping was the act of clipping the edges of coins and using the clippings to forge new coins. Socha stars as ‘King’ David Hartley who upon returning from 7 years in Birmingham, where he learned the clipping trade, goes about reinstating his extremely illegal trade in his childhood village which is extremely down on it’s luck due to the industrial revolution mechanising the textile trade. He convinces the whole village to back him with the promise of untold riches to come, and goes about forging guineas. The real Hartley gang were so successful that the sheer amount of fake money they introduced into the system almost collapsed the Georgian economy.
It’s not great to be honest. It looks fantastic, and the music is pretty good as well. The sort of soundtrack that has you reaching for Shazam. But unfortunately it’s not his best work. All three episodes are currently available on the BBC iPlayer.
_________________ For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.
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