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Original poster

This England

90 replies

warofthemonstertrucks · 28/09/2022 10:47

I'm off work, ironically with Covid,and started watching this this morning.

Its actually scary how good the acting is.

And it's a bit triggering-it's bringing back some memories of 2020 for sure. I think some people will find it pretty upsetting.

OP posts:
Original poster
warofthemonstertrucks · 01/10/2022 08:41

I was really pleased they put the hit about the care badge in-just because after the day they announced it and the week after when we found it we would have to pay for it and it was £6 (so nearly an hours wages for my staff) and there weren't enough anyway I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned again 😂.
The care home managers reaction to it was exactly my reaction to a T!

OP posts:
Twiglets1 · 01/10/2022 08:46

I wish the actor playing Matt Hancock could have actually been our health secretary during Covid. He’s a lot more convincing in the role ☹️

Twiglets1 · 01/10/2022 08:51

The prosthetics Kenneth Branagh is using are overkill. He looks older & fatter than real life Boris. And I’m sure Boris wasn’t constantly quoting Shakespeare at each & every opportunity. That’s all a bit exaggerated but every other character is portrayed very convincingly.

LuciaPopp · 01/10/2022 08:56

Yes, if Boris does quote that much in real life, I’m amazed Carrie hasn’t strangled him.

I thought it was pretty generous to almost everyone, except Dominic Cummings. The prosthetics were appalling.

StrawberryPot · 01/10/2022 09:01

The prosthetics Kenneth Branagh is using are overkill. He looks older & fatter than real life Boris. And I’m sure Boris wasn’t constantly quoting Shakespeare at each & every opportunity. That’s all a bit exaggerated but every other character is portrayed very convincingly.

Totally agree. I'm not sure why it was felt necessary to try and create a strong visual likeness to Boris. Nailing a few physical attributes/mannerisms and the voice is much more effective. All Branagh needed was the voice, walk and hair. That would have been enough and less distracting. Hancock for example was totally convincing because the actor nailed the voice and expression.
Oddly, having put so much effort into the prosthetics they didn't get his hair right. It wasn't nearly messy enough and I don't think they showed him messing it up himself the way he was caught doing prior to press conferences etc.

Twiglets1 · 01/10/2022 09:12

StrawberryPot · 01/10/2022 09:01

The prosthetics Kenneth Branagh is using are overkill. He looks older & fatter than real life Boris. And I’m sure Boris wasn’t constantly quoting Shakespeare at each & every opportunity. That’s all a bit exaggerated but every other character is portrayed very convincingly.

Totally agree. I'm not sure why it was felt necessary to try and create a strong visual likeness to Boris. Nailing a few physical attributes/mannerisms and the voice is much more effective. All Branagh needed was the voice, walk and hair. That would have been enough and less distracting. Hancock for example was totally convincing because the actor nailed the voice and expression.
Oddly, having put so much effort into the prosthetics they didn't get his hair right. It wasn't nearly messy enough and I don't think they showed him messing it up himself the way he was caught doing prior to press conferences etc.

Maybe messing up his own hair is still to come? I don’t know I’ve only just finished episode 2.
Not sure why they have made him so fat unless it’s to later demonstrate his weight loss after being seriously ill with Covid himself.

NormalNans · 01/10/2022 09:18

I couldn’t watch it. DH manages a care home (and did all through covid), DD worked in ICU. I had covid and ended up CEV as a result of it and still am not better. It is too soon for me to relive that, the sound of people trying and struggling to breathe was scary as fuck.

DS wanted to watch it though and it was great for him, he was too young to really appreciate what was happening at the time beyond his own experience so this has been an eye opener.

StrawberryPot · 01/10/2022 10:13

Maybe messing up his own hair is still to come? I don’t know I’ve only just finished episode 2.

Nope - I've watched all 6

User287264 · 01/10/2022 10:49

Was Carrie really so pregnant before Boris told his kids and it became public? How did they keep that quiet? Surely that would have been worth £££ to the tabloids.

I realise this is a very shallow comment.

Mumrey · 01/10/2022 10:58

Just about managed to get through E1, very difficult to watch 😢
Plan to watch E2 tonight

VivienneDelacroix · 01/10/2022 11:34

User287264 · 01/10/2022 10:49

Was Carrie really so pregnant before Boris told his kids and it became public? How did they keep that quiet? Surely that would have been worth £££ to the tabloids.

I realise this is a very shallow comment.

Yes, if you remember there really wasn't much of a gap between the pregnancy announcement, him getting Covid, and then the baby's arrival.

MarshaBradyo · 01/10/2022 11:40

StrawberryPot · 01/10/2022 09:01

The prosthetics Kenneth Branagh is using are overkill. He looks older & fatter than real life Boris. And I’m sure Boris wasn’t constantly quoting Shakespeare at each & every opportunity. That’s all a bit exaggerated but every other character is portrayed very convincingly.

Totally agree. I'm not sure why it was felt necessary to try and create a strong visual likeness to Boris. Nailing a few physical attributes/mannerisms and the voice is much more effective. All Branagh needed was the voice, walk and hair. That would have been enough and less distracting. Hancock for example was totally convincing because the actor nailed the voice and expression.
Oddly, having put so much effort into the prosthetics they didn't get his hair right. It wasn't nearly messy enough and I don't think they showed him messing it up himself the way he was caught doing prior to press conferences etc.

I haven’t watched it but googled to see what it was

Overkill indeed what a woeful job

whataboutnow · 01/10/2022 14:30

In one of the later episodes he does tell rhe make up person before a TV appearance not to tidy his hair it was ep5 or 6

MrsSkylerWhite · 01/10/2022 14:33

dutyfirstselfsecond · Today 07:03
I think Kenneth looks more like Stanley than Boris but his acting is good“

said exactly this to my husband last night.
the voice is pretty spot on, though.

scary stuff. Who could know it could get even worse, with what we’re stuck with now?

StrawberryPot · 01/10/2022 15:07

In one of the later episodes he does tell rhe make up person before a TV appearance not to tidy his hair it was ep5 or 6

Yes, but Boris is renowned for deliberately messing up his hair - famously as he's walking out to the podium for press conferences during the pandemic. Branagh always seemed to keep a side parting whereas Boris is rarely seen with one and his hair goes in lots of different directions!

I've never seen Boris with his hair as it appears here -

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CDGOYIenGB659GB660&hl=en-GB&q=kenneth+branagh+as+boris+johnson&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip0oWRmbb_6AhWbQUEAHZXkB1EQ0pQJegQIBhAB&biw=414&bih=716&dpr=2#imgrc=VLRPinRxzBSiWM

More typically like it is here -

https://www.google.com/search?q=boris+johnson&tbm=isch&hl=en-GB&chips=q:boris+johnson,g1:hair:obwxsi8BqB0%3D&rlz=1CDGOYIIenGB659GB660&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjb1u60mb6AhUJdRoKHQ8lCRQQ4lYoAHoECAEQBA&biw=414&bih=716#imgrc=t4MAkn8dDSLELM

Yesthatismychildsigh · 01/10/2022 15:15

Branagh looks like Prostetnic Voronezh Jeltz. And at first I thought he was attempting to play a caricature of Churchill. Apart from that I enjoyed it.

Yesthatismychildsigh · 01/10/2022 15:40

Damn! Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 02/10/2022 11:07

what channel is this
google only points me to This is England with Vicky McLure

MrsLargeEmbodied · 02/10/2022 11:08

oh my eyes!
This England is the title,

Cornettoninja · 02/10/2022 11:31

I found it difficult to watch, maybe too soon for me.

I like to think the bad prosthetics were an artistic device to ensure that people would say ‘he looks ridiculous’.

Mumrey · 02/10/2022 11:43

Have plucked up the courage am watching E2, the scientists were spot on and who was running the country, looks like a man in a beanie hat

FeralWitch · 02/10/2022 11:45

I had to turn it off as soon as the first scene in a care home came on.

It surprised me, I thought I’d come through the whole thing relatively mentally unscathed. Seems not.

Mumrey · 02/10/2022 11:53

I'm sticking with it. Hubby works in a care home, April/May was horrendous 😢. Couldn't talk to him, unbelievably stressed out - so unlike him

PanicAtTheBigTesco · 02/10/2022 21:48

We've just finished episode 2, I lost it when the HCP died and his wife was talking to their children about it Sad.

It feels so surreal to be watching it all unfold on TV, some of the acting is incredible.

SammyScrounge · 03/10/2022 00:08

I loved Branagh reciting. Shakespeare in the final scene - it was oddly moving.