I am always up for trying new British or American dramas, either when they sound good or have a good trailer, or when I know some names in the cast, and I'm glad I came across this three part one off drama. Basically, set in 1996 in Manchester, Daniel Cotton (Philip Glenister) runs a sweet factory with his father Samuel (Bernard Hill), he lives with wife Clare (Saskia Reeves) and their two children, Charlie (Daniel Rigby) and Louise (Morven Christie). His brother Robbo (Underworld: Evolution's Steven Mackintosh) runs a nightclub in the city, but he is not on good terms with his father, and he is getting himself into deep trouble getting involved with gangs and potential crime, involving drug deals and such. But what really shakes up Daniel and the rest of the city is the 1996 Manchester bombing, a bomb was placed in a van by the IRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) on Corporation Street in Manchester city centre, targeting the city's infrastructure and economy, and the blast caused major destruction and devastation, there were no fatalities but over two hundred people were injured. Daniel was close to the blast but survived, and the story continues to see the changes in his life and across Manchester in four years, including during Footballs Coming Home with Euro 1996, the power of New Labour in 1997 government, right up until the hangover of the Millennium celebrations in 2000. With the shock waves of the blast still in most peoples' minds, the lives of two families from different sides of the tracks have their lives changed through these four years, including Daniel who has an affair with hotel cleaner Joanne (Liz White), who ends up pregnant and giving birth to his child, Robbo still has to deal with money problems and the wrong side of the law getting to him, and Samuel has a heart attack but after recovering does his best to bring everyone back together. Also starring Big School's Daniel Rigby as Daniel's son Charlie, Morven Christie as Daniel's daughter Louise, Claire Cooper as Charlie's girlfriend Matilda, Simone Clark as Charlie's girlfriend Fliss, Andrew Sykes as Police Officer, EastEnders' Ace Bhatti as DI Graves Ben Batt as Newell and 300's Vincent Regan as Stapleton. Glenister is a great choice for the leading character, Mackintosh gets his moments as the troublesome brother, and Hill is fantastic as the man who tries to help those close to him through their predicaments. I like programmes like this, because it feels authentic both for the time period and for the specific real life that the characters are put in the middle of, the bombing sequence is done brilliantly, and the events going through the four years are terrific as well, it is definitely the characters and well written script that keep you watching until the end, a most worthwhile drama series. Very good!
Review of From There to Here
