This Is England

"Run with the crowd, stand alone, you decide."

2007 1h 42m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 1,476🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●86Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 133,679

DramaCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends, even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.

“Run with the crowd, stand alone, you decide.”

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Where to watch · US

PhiloSubscription

AMC+ Amazon ChannelSubscription

Cast

Thomas Turgoose
Shaun
Stephen Graham
Combo
Jo Hartley
Cynth
Andrew Shim
Milky
Vicky McClure
Lol
Joseph Gilgun
Woody
Rosamund Hanson
Smell
Andrew Ellis
Gadget

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Shane Meadows
Writers: Shane Meadows
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Shane Meadows, shot by Danny Cohen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ludovico Einaudi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Wyatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham and Jo Hartley carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Run with the crowd, stand alone, you decide.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Shane Meadows directs. Danny Cohen behind the camera. Ludovico Einaudi scores. Chris Wyatt cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
3Released 19 years ago.
4Directed by Shane Meadows, shot by Danny Cohen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Ludovico Einaudi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Chris Wyatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Thomas Turgoose and Stephen Graham and Jo Hartley carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Run with the crowd, stand alone, you decide.".
9IMDB entry: tt0480025 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Danny Cohen
Original score: Ludovico Einaudi
Editing: Chris Wyatt
Production design: Mark Leese
Costume design: Jo Thompson
Makeup / hair: Lily Beckett
Sound: Andrew Stirk
Stunt coordinator: Riky Ash
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,380,000
Box office: $8,176,544
Return: 344% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: This Is England (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 86/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 133,679 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

Won 1 BAFTA Award14 wins & 16 nominations total

BAFTA Award for Best British Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Shane Meadows

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

badelf2026-03-12
★ 9/10
Directed by Shane Meadows “How economic precarity and national humiliation curdle into hate” could be the subtitle of This Is England, but that makes it sound more schematic than it is. What Shane Meadows has made here is first and foremost one of the most fascinating coming‑of‑age films I’ve ever seen, and only secondarily a political anatomy of how a lonely child becomes raw material for the far right. Coming‑of‑age stories are often simple, no matter how good. A kid meets friends, discovers sex, music, rebellion, maybe loss. This Is England gives you all of that and then shows you the bill. Thomas Turgoose, as Shaun, doesn’t just play a kid; he is a kid, in all his awkwardness, bravado, woundedness. He stole every frame for me, so incredibly authentic that you forget there’s a camera anywhere near him. You can feel how desperately he wants to belong, how easy it becomes, in that state, to mistake any intense attention for love. I’m not expert enough in the British punk and skinhead scene to audit it for accuracy, but it feels right in my bones. My guess is yes, Meadows got it. What I can say with confidence is that he and his team absolutely nailed the 1980s look and feel on a cinematic level; the textures and colors, the shots and the sets as well as the costumes. The nicotine‑stained walls, the washed‑out council estates, the cluttered bedrooms and worn pub interiors, the harsh daylight and murky interiors, all combine into a visual world that feels completely lived‑in. It’s not nostalgia, it’s immersion. Stephen Graham’s Combo is one of the most disturbingly realistic characters I’ve seen in this territory. There are clues early on that he’s dangerous, that something is rotting inside him, but the way his violence finally erupts is still a genuine shock. He’s not a cartoon fascist; he’s charismatic, funny, intermittently tender, and then suddenly monstrous. Meadows understands that this is how hate works in real life; it doesn’t announce itself in jackboots and banners, it sidles in through damaged men who offer belonging before they demand loyalty. And underneath it all runs that hook: economic precarity and national humiliation curdling into hate. Thatcher’s Britain, the Falklands War, deindustrialization—none of this is explained in speeches, but it’s present in every hallway, every empty lot, every fatherless home. The politics are in the wallpaper, and that’s exactly where they belong in a story about a boy who just wants friends and ends up on the edge of something poisonous. I loved This Is England as a film about a child trying to find his place in a collapsing world. I also respect it as a clear‑eyed look at how easily that search for belonging can be weaponized. Meadows doesn’t overplay the point; he just lets us watch it happen.

Production companies