The Street BBC1, 9pm Of course it's not perfect. It tries too hard, sees dramatic incident as something that only happens in capital letters and bold type.
But in an age when TV drama tends to be bottom of the barrel trash, through the motions soaps or one off all-singing, all-dancing specials that are advertised with the sort of hard sell (recall the advertising for the likes of Freefall and Occupation) that suggests we really should be grateful that our TV companies are doing this for us, the great thing about Jimmy McGovern's The Street is the fact that it sees good, meaty drama as something that's worth our time each and every week.
Best of all, the Britain it presents to us on the screen is a recognisable one. A scuffed-around-the-edges, grey-weathered kind of place.
In tonight's film, Jonas Armstrong (aka Robin Hood) is a TA soldier who returns from Afghanistan badly scarred on one side of his face after a female suicide bomber walks up to him during a phone call home. The scars cut just as deeply and as painfully into the lives of his family and friends as much as his own.
In truth, it's not the best of the series, and the resolution is more than a little pat, but it is worth your time. And that's all we can ask of TV drama surely. Oh and here's some great news. This will be the last series of The Street because of cuts at ITV studios in Manchester where the series is made. It's okay though, we've still got River City and Skins to look forward to. Whoop de doo.
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