The Gallows Pole

I love Shane Meadows and mostly everything that he has done. If there is one tip i can give you, it'll be give it time. It gets better as the episodes go on.

There are rumours that Shane loves ad libbing and improvisation and you can see it in parts, but it's typical Meadows dialogue and always has that feeling of it could kick off at any second but if you give it time, it'll grow on you.

All we need is Woody, milky and Lol to turn up and it'll be the icing on the cake.

Gritty, grubby and sometimes a bit too sweary, it's definitely one that you have to give time. Maybe one day we will see the return of This is England, but until we do, this'll do.

I'm local to Cragg Vale so really wanted to enjoy this. Yes it's watchable but ending poor and nothing about what happened after for viewers who don't know. Sadly there's much better historical dramas out there, love to see this remade in the future but done right. The characters came across quite wooden I wanted to like it more but fell short.

Also going all Peaky Blinders and playing modern music didn't do it for me! The stag scenes were just ludicrous almost comical just doesn't sit well for an historical drama.

There so much more that could have been made of this, let's hope someone picks up the reigns maybe make a film of it.

David Hartley returns to his home town after several years away, guided by visions of Stag Men, he presents his community with an unusual, but lucrative business opportunity.

I do get a little worried now when The BBC does a historical, they were always so reliable, recent clunkers like Great Expectations hardly fill you with confidence. The Gallows Pole however is something very different.

It's definitely contemporary, visually and in terms of dialogue, I'm sure there was a degree of improvisation, at times it feels quite free flowing.

It isn't going to be for everyone, and I can understand why people may quit at Episode one, it was slow moving, and a bit heavy, but it definitely improves as it develops, pacing also improves somewhat.

I was very excited when this was announced a few years back, checking the original announcement, it was planned as a six part series, it gives me hope that this show will be back for a second run.

I'd be staggered if this didn't win awards for its production, it's a decadent looking series, the camera work, costumes and settings are wonderful. The accompanying music alters the mood significantly, at times it's haunting and atmospheric, it works so well.

The acting impressed me, Michael Socha and Sophie McShera both really stood out.

Nice little touches, I loved the quirky titles for the production team during those lengthy opening credits.

It took me some time to get into, I wasn't crazy early on, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

7/10.

Shane Meadows brings us the tale of the Cragg Vale coiners in a strange tonal mash of modern improv and psychedelic folk horror. It's an intoxicating brew but the three-part first series is bizarrely paced and seems to shudder and stall like it thinks it has Vince Gilligan levels of set up time to waste. The cast are mostly great and I adore Thomas Turgoose. The 18th C mixed with retro garage psych music is also exactly my jam but the use of artificially generated artwork in the title sequence sticks deeply in my craw (and seems rather against the themes of the show) so it very much is a project of two halves for me.

Well - this seems to have split people! Lots of 1/10's, lots of 10/10's!

1/10 or 10/10? I'd suggest neither mark-giver is really worthy of any attention?

It's an informative, well-delivered and infectious depiction of the real story of the Cragg Valley Coiners - a community of cottage weavers who, deprived of their trade during the early years of the industrial revolution, turned to a much simpler, though criminal, way of making money.

The nature of the crime is clearly played out as the local squire gets aboard - coin-cutting. Now, we may know similar modern parallels, but this was simply edging the gold from guineas to make more guineas. Incidentally, the Cragg Valley Coin Cutters cause a major problem to the British economy at the time.

Wooden acting? Give me a break. Shane Meadows is a master at allowing improvisation. I love it. It's intended, btw.