'This is England' getting 4 part TV spin off!

[Sharky]

One of my favourite movies in recent years 'This is England' is getting a 4 part TV spin off called 'We were faces'... I cannot wait!

Best of all, it's made with the budget Channel 4 saved from scrapped that blight on my existance 'Big Brother'...

MadeMan take note, This is England is directed by Shane Meddows. The guy that made dead mans shoes!

More info:

This is England director Shane Meadows will make his television debut with a new drama series based on his award-winning film, in what will be one of the first beneficiaries of the extra £20m being pumped into Channel 4 drama following the axing of Big Brother.

Other new dramas announced today by Channel 4 include a four-part adaptation of William Boyd's best-selling novel Any Human Heart and a new four-part Peter Kosminsky drama, Homeland.

Meadows's original film, which was made through Channel 4's movie arm Film4, told the story of a group of characters in 1982 England, winning him a Bafta for best director.

The four-part TV spin-off, We Were Faces, will revisit the lives of Shaun, Woody, Lol and the rest of the This is England characters in 1986, the year of the football World Cup in Mexico when more than 3.4 million Britons were unemployed.

"When I finished This Is England, I had a wealth of material and unused ideas that I felt very keen to take further – audiences seemed to really respond to the characters we created and out of my longstanding relationship with Film4 and Channel 4 the idea for a television serial developed," Meadows said.

"Not only did I want to take the story of the gang broader and deeper, I also saw in the experiences of the young in 1986 many resonances to now – recession, lack of jobs, sense of the world at a turning point. Whereas the film told part of the story, the TV serial will tell the rest."

The TV series will be written by Meadows and Jack Thorne, whose credits include The Scouting Book For Boys and Skins, and will be made by Warp Films with Mark Herbert as series producer and Derrin Schlesinger as producer. Filming will begin next spring.

William Boyd has adapted his own novel, which tells the story of a fictional British writer-adventurer set against the backdrop of the 20th century. Lynn Horsford and Lee Morris will produce for Carnival Films, with Sally Woodward Gentle as executive producer. Filming is due to begin this winter.

Homeland, which follows Kosminsky's Channel 4 drama Britz, will explore the events and aftermath of the British Mandate in 1940s Palestine. The drama will be made by Daybreak Pictures, with Hal Vogel as producer and David Aukin as executive producer. Filming starts in February next year.

"These projects show the quality and breadth of talent that Channel 4 drama continues to attract," said the Channel 4 head of drama, Liza Marshall.

"Given our budgets relative to other broadcasters, Channel 4 manages to consistently punch above its weight in terms of impact and I'm confident that the 2010/11 slate of bold new drama will not disappoint."

The Channel 4 director of television and content, Kevin Lygo, said today that altogether £50m a year that had been previously spent on Big Brother would be freed up for new programming. Of this £20m would be diverted to drama, which would include more single films as well as a long-running HBO-style comedy drama.

The broadcaster's digital entertainment channel E4, which relied heavily on Big Brother content, would also commission a range of new comedy and drama shows, its head Angela Jain said, while it will also look to bring in new acquisitions.

"It is a bittersweet moment for us all. Big Brother has been the most extraordinary programme for us over 10 years, but we decided it was time to move on," Lygo said.

"It is a very exciting time for the channel and independent producers as there is now a rush of money into the system and an opportunity to make new programmes. 2011 will look very different to 2010 on Channel 4."

Lygo said he expected Big Brother to be picked up by a rival broadcaster. "We don't own the show, it is Endemol's business what they do with it. Millions of people watch it every night and they will be disappointed, but someone else might pick it up," he added.

Lygo said the decision did not come as a shock to Endemol. "They were very good about it," he added. "They have had a glorious run, but this didn't come as a shock. They have behaved impeccably."

He said that Big Brother's ratings were still higher than the channel's average, but now that they had dipped to 2 million it was possible to bring in fresher shows that could pull in similar numbers.

"If Big Brother was still getting 4 or 5 million viewers, we might have thought again about the decision," Lygo admitted. "But the sensible thing is to move on. It is still commercially viable, but it is at the level where new programmes can do as well as Big Brother. The Channel 4 audience is very discerning and we owe it to them to give them new stuff."

[George]

This is England was a brilliant movie. Puts another series on download list.

[Monkeroony]

I haven't seen the film, I know it's shot in St annes which s only a couple of miles away from mapperley park where I live (mapperley park is nice and leafy btw).

[MadeManG74]

I think I've heard of this before... Either way I'll keep my eyes peeled, I doubt it'll come to Australian TV, but I might hit up a torrent when it's out. Dead Man's Shoes was very good, so it'll be interesting to see what he can do with a mini-series. I should check out the movie first though I guess.