“I hope we’re not shit.”
“Nah, we won’t be shit. We’ll take over the whole fuckin’ world.”
There’s a great deal going on in acclaimed new six-part series This Town, but this exchange between Midlands cousins Dante Williams (Levi Brown) and Bardon Quinn (Ben Rose) gets right to the heart of the matter: an unshakeable trust in the power of one’s creativity and energy, and a confidence that everyone who hears your voice will understand and respond to what’s being said.
That being said, the two young men are up against it in the show’s milieu of early-1980s England. It’s the early days of Thatcherism – spirits are low, tempers are high. There’s rioting in the streets of Birmingham, and even an innocent bystander like Dante can’t walk home from college without running afoul of racist cops. It’s no easier in nearby Coventry for Bardon, who’s being strongarmed by his father Eamonn (Peter McDonald) into aiding the cause of liberating Northern Ireland, which means sidelining his education in favour of calling in bomb threats to the authorities.
Bardon (Ben Rose) and Dante (Levi Brown). Credit: Matt Towers / Banijay / Kudos
The Catholic Church has lost any semblance of moral authority – when Dante and Bardon’s beloved grandmother expresses her misgivings about the IRA’s actions in the confession booth to the local priest, he tells her in no uncertain terms to pull her head in. The traditional family structure is crumbling – parents who mean well still can’t help but succumb to self-pity, abuse and alcoholism. And crime looms large, with gangster Robbie Carmen (David Dawson) eager to establish himself as both a legendary underworld figure and a patron of the arts by transforming his firebombed nightclub into a live music venue.
If history has taught us anything, though, it’s that chaos that can provide fertile soil for creativity. And when Dante, who has a gift for poetry (his verses are supplied by the renowned ), joins forces with Jeannie (Eve Austin), who has a knack for creating tunes (musician and producer had a hand in that) – and the pair rope in Bardon as singer – they’re able to pull together the various threads of influence and inspiration surrounding them to conjure up a new sound: a fusion of reggae, punk, new wave and ska called .
L-R: Bardon played by Ben Rose, Fiona played by Freya Parks, Matty played by Shyvonne Ahmmad, Dante Williams played by Levi Brown and Jeannie Keefe played by Eve Austin. Credit: Robert Viglasky / Banijay / Kudos
There’s also the storyline of Dante’s older brother Gregory (Jordan Bolger), who tried to escape the mean streets of Birmingham by joining the army, only to find himself blackmailed by his ruthless superior officers into spying on his IRA-adjacent family members, a move that surely won’t end well.
Urban terrorism, political activism, organised crime, family dysfunction – This Town (which, as any 2 Tone fan will grasp, takes its title from the opening lines of – and keep an eye out for The Specials: A Message To You, a documentary on the iconic band airing on SBS and SBS On Demand) has it all, and to series creator Steven Knight’s credit, it balances all these disparate elements elegantly and engagingly.
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The Specials: A Message To You
program • documentary • 2024
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program • documentary • 2024
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Knight, an endlessly industrious individual who has dipped his toe into a variety of different genres over the course of a two-decade career as screenwriter, producer and showrunner (he’s perhaps best known for the smash-hit crime drama Peaky Blinders, the show that prompted men the world over to visit their local barber with a picture of star Cillian Murphy’s ; and more recently, created SAS drama ) shrewdly realises that the trouble and strife This Town visits upon its characters is what will hook viewers. But his heart, it seems, is with what can emerge as a response, and even an antidote, to it.
“I’m not trying to set out to make a political or social point at all, but at this time a particular thing happened where a particular type of music attracted equally black and white people,” . “They danced to and made that music together, not in order to prove a point and not as a consequence of any sort of pressure but because that’s just what happened. I thought that was quite an important thing to illustrate.”
In addition to constructing a multi-layered drama that draws together topics both illustrative of its era and relevant today, one of This Town’s most impressive aspects is presenting the creation of art not only as a consequence of turbulent times but as a vital, energetic reply to oppressive circumstances. Dante – brought to life in a tremendously confident and charismatic performance by Brown – may initially seem like a passive non-participant in the world around him but it soon becomes obvious that how he observes and interprets everything around him, and how he expresses that with the help of his friends, is its own form of revolution.
Levi Brown as Dante Williams. Credit: Robert Viglasky / Banijay / Kudos
“There is a real sense of not wanting to be on a certain path, of fighting a destiny that feels like other people are setting for you,” has said. “When injustice and unfairness is rampant the only thing you can do is come together and make some noise. I think back then that was more a thing to do than it is now. Back then we didn’t have social media so you couldn’t just go on Twitter and rant about what’s going on, you actually had to go out there and do something about it. For a lot of the characters it’s about wanting more, wanting more than what’s being offered, expressing themselves and making it work in their favour.”
Knight has long had an aptitude for exploring subcultures (may I recommend , a gripping noir set in the world of London’s undocumented immigrants), folding and melding genres into one another, and exploring social issues in ways entertaining and intelligent. This Town, which pits its vivid, likeable cast of characters against all manner of obstacles and adversaries but arms them with sharp wit, youthful exuberance and indomitable spirit, continues the tradition.
This Town premieres 9.25 pm Wednesday 22 May on SBS, with episodes following weekly. Episodes will also be available each Wedenesday on SBS On Demand. It is also part of SBS On Demand’s . The Specials: A Message To You airs 9.25pm Monday 20 May on SBS VICELAND and will also be streaming on SBS On Demand from 20 May.
Stream free On Demand
This Town
