Monday 22 April 2013

Things I Love - This Life

Image from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2006/dec/08/ilove1996

BBC Two

32 Episodes (1996 - 1997)

Reunion episode (2007)


I was 21 when This Life first aired in the UK and I watched it from the beginning. This was unusual for me at that time, as I watched very little TV (other than SM:TV on a Saturday morning while hungover!). I can't remember quite WHY I did choose to watch it, but I did.

The story centres on a a group of lawyers in training, sharing a house in London.

  • Egg - played by Andrew Lincoln (now the lead in The Walking Dead). Egg is struggling to fit in as a solicitor and is not sure he has taken the right path. He is down to earth, loves football and is in a long-term relationship with. . .
  • Milly - played by Amita Dhiri. Milly is very calm and focussed on becoming a solicitor. Some may say she is not a party animal, unlike . . . 
  • Anna - played by Daniela Nardini. Anna is a vixen! She is strong and ballsy. And a little bit slutty! She also has her demons. One of them being . . .
  • Miles - played by Jack Davenport (went on to star in the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the TV series Smash). Miles is arrogant and scared. Scared of not being perfect. And scared of his Dad. Anna and Miles have a strong attraction that is played on throughout the series. Miles does not have such a happy relationship with . . . . 
  • Warren - played by Jason Hughes. Warren is welsh and gay. His openness causes Miles some discomfort along the way, but Warren is an immensely likeable and warm character. He is only in series one, during which he meets . . .
  • Ferdy - played by Ramon Tikaram. Ferdy becomes Warren's lover, though he is not openly out and is engaged to be married to a woman. After Warren's departure at the end of series 1, Ferdy moves into the house in his place.

This Life was a quality show, as seen in the cast list. The writing was fantastic. The characters entirely believable and could be related to. It also had a fantastic humour.

But most of all it didn't hold back in the storytelling. The show was aimed squarely at the age group being portrayed by the characters and showing issues affecting them. And it did it in a very believable way - the characters messed up, made mistakes and swore! A lot. And shagged. A lot.

It is also an important show in the depiction of the gay characters within it. With Warren and Ferdy, we were given 2 gay men that weren't the stereotypical mincing queens, as it seems they had previously been depicted as. It showed the gay characters in such a light that showed that (shock horror!) they were just the same as straight characters, going through the same issues, having the same feelings. I found this fantastic.

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