Shane Meadows Wants To Do Millennium This Is England ’00

It’s hard to believe it has been almost five years since we last saw Shaun, Kelly, Harvey and Gadget tearing up the rave scene against the backdrop of the 1990 World Cup in This Is England ‘90.

From the release of the original film This Is England to the mini-series of ‘86, ‘88 and ‘90, the iconic British series took us through the through the lives of young skinheads in the early 80s and the mod revival scene of the mid-80s, following them as they grew from teens into young adults.

But whatever happened to Milky, Woody, Lol and the rest of the gang?

It’s a question that has been on the minds of many This Is England fans, and now it looks as though we’re finally going to get some answers.

Shane Meadows, the mastermind behind it all, has said he wants to do a millennium series, which would take on the title of This Is England ’00, which is the news everyone wanted to hear to brighten up quarantine.

Speaking to Andrew Shim – aka Shimmy – who famously played Milky, for his YouTube diary vlogs, Shane said:

I don’t know when but I’ve got This Is England ’00 in my head, the millennium one, because I sort of thought it would be nice, because when did we shoot the last one? Was it 2015, 2016?

So, you’re obviously five years away and I don’t massively want to copy the film ideas, but if I went back I’d love to do a millennium one.

And he’s not the only one who is keen to explore what happened after the third series, which ends with Woody and Lol’s church wedding, as Andy Ellis and Tommy Turgoose are also keen to revive their roles as Madchester-loving Gadget and teenage Shaun Fields, who of course, joined the skinhead gang at the tender age of 12.

The pair, who run comedy podcast Overrated Everything, reminisced with Shane over their time on set as kids, where they described filming as being like a ‘summer holiday’ in their latest episode, Sleeve Tattoos with Shane Meadows.

Although a script isn’t in the works, Andy and Tommy have their own ideas of where their characters’ lives may have gone by the time the millennium came around.

Andy told UNILAD:

Gadget at 30 probably still hasn’t grown up, I can imagine he’s well into conspiracy theories like the millennium bug and the predictions of the world ending. I imagine he got well into Britpop and probably dresses like the third Gallagher brother by 2000.

Meanwhile, Tommy was quite content with where Shaun’s story was heading at the end of ’90, after he met a nice girl and finally started to mature from a rebellious youngster.

He said:

To me, I believe Shaun is living on a Mediterranean island with jet skis and lots of Peroni.

In all seriousness, seeing Shaun at the end of ’90 was lovely. He met a nice new girl – Julia – and I’d like to see where that relationship went. Finally some happiness without the stupid childish mistakes we make when we’re young.

Overrated Everything sees Tommy and Andy discussing a different overrated topic every week, with the help of a celebrity guest. They’ve even had several of their fellow This Is England cast members taking part, and for the most part it seems like everyone is keen to get back on set.

Tommy explained:

As we touch base in the podcast with Shane, doing This Is England is like a summer holiday and who can say no to a holiday, especially nowadays – and with your oldest friends too!

Obviously we’re all really busy working on other projects, I’ve been shooting a new Sky series and the DJing is again a bit of fun for us to get together and see each other.

But, there genuinely isn’t another set like a Shane Meadows set, so if this is happening, bring it on.

Andy added:

We’re both fairly busy, which is why we took a short break with the podcast due to filming commitments and family life. We’re both married now and I have kids and a production company too, with a series I’ve co-wrote in development for TV, so it’s all a bit hectic now.

Shane, get your pen and paper out, this has got to happen. Bring. It. On.

Check out the full podcast here.

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