SKA quality

What to expect from a drama exploring the explosive music scene in the Midlands in the 80s

- IAN MACEWAN

THIS TOWN 

NEW EASTER SUNDAY & EASTER MONDAY, 9PM, BBC1 DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)

Steven Knight’s acclaimed series Peaky Blinders, starring Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, put Birmingham firmly on the period drama map. Now, the screenwriter is returning to his beloved West Midlands for new BBC1 project This Town.

Set against the backdrop of urban unrest in the early 1980s that inspired British two-tone group The Specials’ hit single Ghost Town, the six-part drama follows a collection of troubled youngsters as they come together to form a band in the region’s burgeoning ska-music scene.

‘This is the area where I grew up,’ explains Steven, who is also the co-creator of ITV quiz Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ‘There was this period in Coventry and Birmingham when people who were opposites suddenly came together, and I thought that it would be interesting to tell this story of poor people in very different circumstances."

The cast boasts a mix of up-and-coming young actors alongside more established names, such as Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery as alcoholic mother and former singer Estella, The Last Kingdom's David Dawson as local gangster Robbie, and Geraldine James as matriarch Marie.

The first episode starts with love-struck Birmingham poet Dante (Levi Brown), who has been brought up by his protective father Deuce (Marcella's Nicholas Pinnock), unwittingly stumbling into the 1981 Handsworth riots. Running from the cops, he hides in an outside toilet with young musician Jeannie (The ABC Murders star Eve Austin).