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Screw is a new prison drama on Channel 4, and as well as being a bit of an edgy title, my first thought was that when I requested it, is Microsoft Outlook going to think I’m using a naughty word, and send it to spam?
So, I changed it to ‘Scr3w’, but that’s Outlook for you. It’ll spend to Spam any emails that are interesting, yet happily show me all those emails from Anya in Russia who’s looking for a husband.
Rose Gill (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) makes her presence felt on day one – making her a ‘sprog’ – by retorting to one of the other guards, Gary (Stephen Wight), who challenges why she took the job, “Because I’m really good at shutting up dickheads“. Meanwhile, the new governor, Simon Ray, has chosen today to make an appearance, news of which unsettles the hard-nosed supervising officer Leigh Henry (Nina Sosanya)…
So, it would be really bad news for her if two prisoners started a fight – one even stripping off, some grumpy new prisoners arrived – one of whom claims to be claustrophobic, while one prisoner has had his loo seat stolen – which seems like an odd state of affairs – so where did it go?
In addition, Rose gets short shrift from Leigh, even though she’s not getting the proper amount of training from her.
Obviously, no spoilers as to how things turn out because there’s several storylines going on here, and you’ll find them out in full by watching the programme.
Now, for one thing that never gets explained – why does eveyone seem to hate Bourbon biscuits? They’re lush!
Overall, the first episode of Screw is a bit manic, and it’s enjoyable. So far, it’s good, but not brilliant, but I will check out more to see how it progresses.
Watching episode 2, again, it was fine, but didn’t wow me. Most of the rest of the series fell almost the same way, but if you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to detail any spoilers here.
Screw begins on Channel 4 on Thursday January 6th at 9pm, and the entire series is already on All 4.
The series is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Episode 1 Score: 7/10
Episode 2 Score: 7/10
Episode 3 Score: 7.5/10
Episode 4 Score: 7/10
Episode 5 Score: 7/10
Episode 6 Score: 7.5/10
Creator: Rob Williams
Writers: Roanne Bardsley, Karla Crome, Rob Williams
Music: Vince Pope
Cast:
Leigh Henry: Nina Sosanya
Rose Gill: Jamie-Lee O’Donnell
Ali Shah: Faraz Ayub
Gary Campbell: Stephen Wight
Jackie Stokes: Laura Checkley
Don Carpenter: Ron Donachie
Google: James Foster
Caplan: Chicho Tche
Governer Cahill: Marianne McIvor
Yogi: Chris Bungard
Stephen Childs: Jake Davies
Tanush: Lawrence Walker
Larry: Nicholas Lumley
Jam: Nathan Vaughan Harris
Dolby: Christopher Fulford
Bilal: Asheq Akhtar
Dino: Jack Simpson
Works man: Rodney Matthews
Jelani: Garfield Badza
Tanush’s cellmate: Simon Donaldson
Simon Ray: Karan Gill
Raheem Bennett: Jordan Myrie
Dean: Alistair Lock
Hoodie: Joss Thompson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.