This Town, the new BBC drama series set against the 2-Tone ska scene of the early-’80s from Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, will debut March 31 on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer. The series features Michelle Dockery, Nicholas Pinnock, David Dawson, Levi Brown, Jordan Bolger, Ben Rose, Eve Austin, Freya Parks, Geraldine James, John Heffernan, Stefan Asante-Boateng, Séainín Brennan and Brendan Gibson, and here’s the synopsis: “This Town opens in 1981 at a moment of huge social tension and unrest. Against this backdrop, it tells the story of a group of young people fighting to choose their own paths in life, each in need of the second chance that music offers.”
You can glean a little more of This Town‘s story from the trailer, which works in the 1981 race riots and the IRA alongside the porkpie hats and music. You can watch that below.
As for the music, much of the series’ original music and songs were written by Dan Carey and poet/rapper Kae Tempest, which makes a lot of sense when you learn in the trailer that lead character Dante Williams (Levi Brown) starts the show wanting to be a poet before applying his words to music. “It was an absolute privilege to write the lyrics for the new drama This Town,” Kae wrote on Instagram. “I loved thinking about the character of Dante and where he was pulling his words from. I felt real kinship with him. I recognised the turmoil and unrest of the times, and also the joy of being in bands and singing lyrics in the face of the chaos all around you. I think it’s testament to Stephen Knight’s writing how well he writes about now by writing about then. It was a brilliant project to have been a part of. Very grateful to have been involved.”
Singer-songwriter ESKA has also written songs for This Town, and all six episodes feature an era-appropriate cover over the closing credits which will be performed by Celeste, Gregory Porter, Olivia Dean, Ray Laurél, Sekou and Self Esteem.
No word on when This Town will get a North American release. As they say in TV, stay tuned.