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This England is the long-awaited six-part Sky drama in which Kenneth Branagh plays the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, even though the sweaty oaf still was at the time of the recording.
Interspersed with actors playing real people at the time of his coming to power, Brexit and then COVID19, one such example is Charles Dance as Max Hastings, Boris’ former editor at the Telegraph. He looks nothing like him, but then Dance is legally obliged to appear in everything, these days.
It’s also telling that when we see Sonia Khan, special advisor to Sajid Javid, the then Chancellor, I’d forgotten he ever was Chancellor because they all shifted around jobs quite often.
This isn’t a drama for which you can give spoilers (even though I wouldn’t anyway) because it’s simply detailing events in chronological order, rather than taking certain elements and trying to create a drama around it, and that’s rather the problem. I was so looking forward to this, and seeing how Branagh would carry him off, but even though I’ve only seen the first two episodes, it’s quite a slog to get through.
A lot of the time, he sounds nothing like Boris, making me wish they’d got someone else on which to apply all the facepaint and wig. You’ll hear the “Bwaaaaaa” sort of voice, occasionally, as if he’s stepped off the set of Blackadder, but whenever he has to talk normally, it’s just Branagh being Branagh. At least he tried a Belgian accent in Murder on the Orient Express, even though he was awful in that. Tenet was great, though.
That said, Ophelia Lovibond (Popcorn) does look a lot like Carrie with the blonde wig, although I don’t know what Carrie’s voice sounds like. However, best of the bunch goes to Simon Paisley Day (Doctor Who: Face The Raven) as Dominic Cummings. His head is more oval compared to the original, but aside from that, he has the snidey appearance and attitude – sacking anyone he feels like as if he runs the country(!) Plus, we see how he had a huge amount of influence in Number 10.
If you’re unsure, then check out the first episode of This England and make your decision on it. I’m sure whatever you feel at the end of episode 1, is how I feel after two of them, and I’m not sure I’ll be back for any more.
Finally, if you believe that Boris Johnson was actually hospitalised with COVID19, rather than hidden away from the public for everyone’s good, then I’ve got some magic beans to sell you. He is a disgusting, sad, disgraceful individual who buried the country in the sewer… and now we have Liz Truss to help finish it off.
This England is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but streams on Sky Max from today.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-75 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: September 28th 2022
Studio: Sky Max
Format: 2.39:1
Series Director: Julian Jarrold, Michael Winterbottom
Producers: Josh Hyams, Melissa Parmenter, Anthony Wilcox
Writers: Kieron Quirke, Michael Winterbottom
Cast:
Boris Johnson: Kenneth Branagh
Carrie Symonds: Ophelia Lovibond
Dominic Cummings: Simon Paisley Day
Carrie’s mother: Belinda Lang
Matt Hancock: Andrew Buchan
Chris Whitty: Jimmy Livingstone
Patrick Vallance: Alec Nicholls
Chris Wormald: Neil Stuke
Michael Gove: Christopher Reynolds
Jonathan Van Tam: Tom Nguyen
Steve Walsh: Mike Truelove
Max Hastings: Charles Dance
Sonia Khan: Kuran Dohil
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.