Anyone watch this? It’s the latest Shane Meadows short TV series which came out on iplayer last week but I only finished last night. Based on the Ben Myers novel, a story of 18th century West Yorks workers who set up a counterfeit coin scam, this was a very different type of costume drama.
Being a somewhat huge fan of Dead Man’s Shoes, Twenty Four Seven and This Is England etc I had high hopes for this, Meadows’ first attempt at a period drama. Despite the slow pace and relative lack of incident in episode one, this improved quite quickly in episode two and with all the usual Meadows fare in place (good soundtrack, great semi-improvised dialogue, some of the usual actors from his other films) this was, overall, a straightforward and decent addition to the canon, without being anywhere near the standard of the films and shows outlined above.
I will be reading the book which will be an interesting comparison.
Thoughts anyone?
The Gallows Pole
Do plan to watch this at some stage but I have read the book and it is excellent. Myers is a very fine novelist.
I gave it 25 minutes before I switched off, bored to tears. In those minutes (spoiler alert) a man walked very slowly and then there were far too many conversations about him being back and being stabbed. Along with enough swearing to make particularly drunken sailors think, “C’mon now, that’s a little much.”
Yes, I know Shane Meadows is highly praised and likes improvisation. But the tedious, over-long scenes and flat dialogue on display here, along with some anachronistic lines from actors who were too-obviously winging it, just highlighted what a difference a good script can make.
Still, I did like the period job titles in the opening credits.
So far watched just the opening episde. Yes, I was bored to tears on 25 minutes, but thought it picked up and actually produced some laughs towards the end of the episode. It’s only three parts so I’ll watch through.
It got a great review in The Guardian so I intended to watch it, but a friend who’s a big fan of the novel was so scathingly negative about it that it’s rather put me off.
I watched the first episode, which seemed to be a load of padding. It could have been condensed into 15 minutes with no loss to the narrative.
I think I like Shane Meadows more than I like his films. And there’s absolutely no way I could get Mrs F to watch it with me.
His interview on Front Row the other evening was good, though.
Soundtrack is by Goat is it not?
Yes, and quite moody it is too. Sort of suited the show.
Well, I liked it. A bit like Brassic, without electricity. Yes, it was slow and it had a happy ending, neither of which are popular these days. It did sort of beg a second series, mind.
Is it not just an 18th century Happy Valley?
No it is an 18th century Dead Man’s shoes – nowt wrong with that. I like the (very) black humour and the soundtrack is great.
I just said that as it’s set in the same area.
Does anybody get sexually assaulted? That’s usually the case with Meadows stuff. I think his Stone Roses documentary was the only time this doesn’t occur. I know he deals with this dark subject but sometimes I think he goes too far.
That’s why I never watch any of his stuff with Mrs F.
When we were watching Line of Duty, Offspring the Younger entered the room and asked “Is that Lol?”
I replied “Yes”, but Mrs F had no idea what we were on about.
I’m enjoying it so far, and the soundtrack, especially that song about the devil; really good. Waiting now for next week’s final episode, like we all used to do.
Just watched the final episode. Like others I thought it started slowly but then got going. I actually like the way it sounded like the way we speak today though it was blooming muffled. Funny too though.
Didn’t know Shane Meadows had done a Stone Roses film…anyone seen it?
It’s called Made Of Stone and is the kind of thing that turns up on Sky Arts in the middle of the night, or in Fopp for a fiver.
Features Shane reminiscing on how he’d played nothing but the Roses when he worked at Alton Towers, rehearsal, in concert footage, etc. If you’ve ever wondered just how good a drummer Reni is, it will provide the answer.
Overall, I just wished it had more live stuff. It’s like the bonus chapter on an in concert DVD.
This clip from Made of Stone has been posted here before, but it really is one of my favourite videos on the whole of YouTube and everyone should be made to watch it at least once, if not forever. A real showcase for how utterly brilliant both Reni and John Squire were. (Particularly from around 7 mins in, when Brown stops attempting to sing and the musos wig out.)
I think the last episode was very funny and actually very moving. I didn’t want it to be the last episode so in that regard it was a success.
Thank you both.
Yesterday, I bought the 2 disc Made of Stone Blu-ray from the Magpie for two quid via a popular auction website.
Will have to see if it’s available on demand or streaming or whatever it is as I don’t currently have any way of playing a dvd
It turns up occasionally on Sky Arts.
Just got round to watching The Gallows Pole and I’m in two minds about it. I think I feel the same way I originally did about Made In England – I remember that at the time felt like half a story and very light on plot. Then when it was made into a run of TV series it redeemed it a bit and I saw the original film in a new light.
At first glance this seems very similar. Over the three hours running time there seems to be a LOT of extraneous faffing about and semi-improvisational scenes of the characters larking about. You could almost cut the whole first episode out entirely (a third of the whole thing!) and you wouldn’t lose much plot-wise. I’d never heard of the Cragg Vale coin clippers, so I was craving more substance and information.
But then again, it’s the quirky, black-humour, character-led bits where nothing is really happening that you remember most fondly in the end. The bickering and banter between David Hartley and his estranged wife Grace are particularly memorable and well played. I gather that Shane Meadows’ style is a bit marmite: but I love that loose, naturalistic feel that’s right on the edge of feeling like an am-dram production with a mixture of established and new actors (he’s a bit like Ken Loach in that way), but with just a sprinkle of magic (editing choices? casting choices? a combination of everything probably) that makes it special.
Given the heavy, horror-vibey opening (which initially made it feel like a cross between The Seventh Seal and Peaky Blinders) I was surprised how light it was overall. Once it gets going it’s very much a caper story, and at one point my wife came in while I was watching it and commented that the tone seemed similar to that recent period sitcom, The Witchfinder. And I’m so used to Shane Meadows stories having a dark twist in the final act that I expected the same here, but it wasn’t to be.
So, a cautious thumbs up from me, I think. But I can’t decide whether extending it into a longer series (I have no idea if this is the plan or not, but it feels like it) would improve it, or whether having a narrow scope is part of its appeal. On this occasion, is less more? I don’t know. This is England certainly improved as it went on, so I have faith Shane Meadows could make it work.
One thing which is impressive is that, for a story set in 18th century Yorkshire, it manages to squeeze in an admirable amount of diversity in the cast without making too much of an issue about it. We’re at an uncomfortable period where many prime films and dramas are doing their best to integrate actors with disabilities, actors of colour and (heavens) WOMEN into what traditionally might have projects with a predominantly white, male, able-bodied cast; and as soon as this becomes too obvious (especially in the case of period pieces) it becomes very easy for the naysayers to criticise as tokenism (at best) and “PC gone made” (at worst). Here, full credit to Shane Meadows and casting director Shaheen Baig for making a cast of all shapes, sizes and colours seem effortless and doing so without sacrificing historical authenticity.