The Gallows Pole, BBC
What does a period drama made by Shane Meadows look like? The man who made his name through minimalist, verité, cheap and often amateur filmmaking? The answer is…it is a bit weird… certainly to start with.
If you’re expecting an intricately detailed period world containing contemporaneous vernacular delivered by highly regarded theatre actors, you won’t get it, The Gallows Pole is This is England, incidentally set in the 1700s.
Meadows sticks to his distinctive long takes, improvised dialogue and working-class mischief in this series. In doing so he takes the period drama genre and shows us a completely different side to it. It’s a jarring and daring set of stylistic choices that demonstrate how unbeholden Meadows is to established ways of doing things.
Dave (Michael Socha) and Grace’s (Sophie McShera) relationship forms the backbone of The Gallows Pole, establishing the show as a nuanced, cheeky and beautiful love story. Both actors are irresistibly charming and full of life across the three episodes. Socha is particularly hilarious with the looks and the lines that Meadow’s improvisational freedom allows him. Grace is an example of how well Meadows creates strong, funny and unpatronising female characters within worlds where the patriarchy is firmly intact.
Like the rest of the Warp Films canon, you can rely on The Gallows Pole to build to an exciting narrative climax and set piece. By the third episode, the show firmly finds its rhythm and has us excited to see how Dave and Grace’s heist will play out. Episode Three is Shane Meadows in his pomp, a finale that contains the threat of terrible violence as well as Shakespearean light relief through Mand (Stevie Binns) and Broadbent (Adam Fogerty).
The series ending is pure euphoria. It uses our expectation of violence as a misdirect, and instead basks in the simple joy that money can bring to a community that has none (a particularly powerful image in a cultural climate where scarcity is not merely confined to the past). The final scenes are set to Nick Mulvey – Fever to the Form one of a number of beautiful and transcendent music choices.
Shane Meadow’s body of work contains some of the most intricate records of British violence, mischief, catharsis and hard won happiness. He can proudly add The Gallows Pole to that stunning oeuvre.
