Monday the 12th of March is the day that every good Shane Meadows fan will be getting their hands on a brand-spanking-new copy of This Is England 88 as the mini-series is released on both DVD and Blu-ray.

Extra features include:
Deleted Scenes
Episode 3 commentary from Vicky McClure and Joe Gilgun
Behind the Scenes In-Between Takes
Cast & Crew Interviews

Also released on the same day (Reminder: the 12th of March), is a box-set containing both This Is England 86 and This Is England 88. The double set also comes in both DVD and Blu-ray flavours.

To pre-order (or buy if you're reading this on or after the 12th of March) you can head over to the Meadows shop HERE.

In the run up to the release, Andrew Shim appeared on the Shaun Keaveny radio show to talk about This Is England 88 and about how he first got to work with Shane. You can have a listen on the BBC iPlayer until the 13th of March HERE (skip to 2:16:20 to get straight to the interview).

The 2nd of March was National Doodle Day! You may have missed it, but it definitely did happen. The idea for National Doodle Day was created by the charity, Epilepsy Action, and as part of the event, a number of celebrities have doodled their own magnificent doodles!
These works of variable genius are now currently up for auction through eBay, and Shane himself has one such doodle up for grabs. The doodle expertly depicts the moment Shane received the BAFTA in 2008 for This Is England which was of course presented to Shane on the night by the most famous Sylvester of them all (CLUE: not McCoy).

To bid on this stunning one-of-a-kind authentic, and signed Meadows doodle, head on over to eBay and get bidding. It's all for a good cause! The eBay listing is HERE
The auction ends on the 11th of March.
You may also be interested to learn that Mr Stephen Graham also has a signed doodle up for auction too. You can find it on eBay right HERE

In other news... Forum regular Gareth stumbled across an old clip of Channel 4 film review show, MovieWatch. The clip is all about the release of David Lynch's film, The Straight Story. The video starts with an interview with Lynch before cutting back to the studio guests for their thoughts on the film. Amongst the guests is Mr Meadows himself.
Shame we don't have the whole episode, as I'm sure I recall something quite funny at the end involving a Home Alone boxset. Anyway, have a watch of this surprising find on YouTube HERE

Oh yeah, This Is England '88 DVD and Blu-ray release is now scheduled for the 12th of March. I'll post more info on the extra features when I find out what they are!

Something from the very earliest days of Shane's beginnings in film-making has cropped on YouTube very recently.
It's a short collection of spoof advertisements made during a days filming and editing at Intermedia in Nottingham. Intermedia is the place where Shane's career in film-making began. He worked there as a volunteer and in return he was given the freedom to borrow cameras and editing equipment to make his very first short films.

This small collection of clips comes from circa 1994 and has been posted on YouTube by Damianclaytonbull (Thanks Damian) and comes with the following description:
"Some ads made with Shane Meadows back in the 90s. I made these with Shane at Intermedia in Nottingham when on work experience for 2 weeks for my Video Production course at uni. Shane was a volunteer there from memory....very funny guy, never stopped writing scripts, make short films....generally a video/film addict."

Shane has commentd on the forum:
"The Ads were only made as fillers to go in between my short films at a screening but I was gutted when 2 got lost, so to see them alive and well is ace."

In This Is England '88 news... It seems that the release date for the DVD and Blu-ray has now been changed to the 5th of March (whereas previously both Amazon and Play has it listed for the 23rd of January!). Longer to wait now, let's hope that means more extras are being cooked up for the release!

So, This Is England 88 has drawn to a close, but I'm sure for most of us it's powerful presence is still swimming through our minds. So with the experience still fresh in the memory, what better time to catch up on the This Is England 88 interviews and articles you may have missed. Plus, you no longer have to worry about spoilers (unless of course you still haven't seen the series, in which case you may want to avoid the following links and instead head over to 4OD to catch up HERE.. UK only though sadly).

Before you dig into the interview links, you should take a minute to read a fantastic message from Johnny Harris (who plays Lol's dad Mick in This Is England 86 and 88). You can find it on the forum HERE. Thanks Mr Harris!

So, the first interview you may have missed is with Joe Gilgun on Absolute Radio with Geoff Lloyd. It's the video below!

Other video interviews you may have missed:
The cast interviews on Channel 4's website (which now features an extra interview with Thomas Turgoose and Rosamund Hanson). Watch them HERE.
An interview with Rosamund Hanson on the Radio Times website HERE.

That's it for the videos, the rest of the links are to written interviews and articles:
Shane talks about the making of This Is England 88 and digital film-making in general on the Guardian website HERE.
Interview with Shane and Vicky McClure on the Telegraph website HERE.
Short interview with Vicky McClure on the Wonderland Magazine website HERE.
Transcribed extract from the BAFTA Q&A after the preview screening of episode one on the Digital Spy website HERE.
Interview with Thomas Turgoose on the ThisIsGrimsby website HERE.
Interview with Shane on the TVChoice website HERE.
Interview with Vicky McClure on the Indie London website HERE.

You may also be interested to know that the DVD and Blu-ray of This Is England 88 is scheduled to be released on the 5th of March (this has changed from the 23rd of January)! I have popped this on the shop page where you can make a pre-order. The shop page is fuelled by Amazon.co.uk so if you aleady have an account with them you're well away! You can visit the shop HERE.

Right, I think that's everything! There are a few more links in the earlier news items below, so take a look.
If you find any more interesting articles or videos do let me know via the forum.

Channel4.com have recently added four video interviews to their This Is England '88 area of the website.
The interviews feature Joe Gilgun (Woody), Vicky McClure (Lol), Chanel Cresswell (Kelly), Danielle Watson (Trev), and Andrew Shim (Milky).

The interviews do contain some small mentions of This Is England '88 plot points, so if you're super keen to avoid spoilers you should probably avoid these interviews until youve seen all the epsiodes.
You'll find the videos HERE.

Big thanks to Kelpie on the forum for finding these interviews. Kelpie also found a couple of great articles about This Is England '88 on the Shortlist.com website.
First is an on-set report which you can read HERE.
The second is an interview with Shane which you can read HERE.

This Is England '88 starts on the 13th of December on Channel 4 at 10pm.

No need to elaborate on the headline any further, just watch the clips. WARNING - Clip three features some heavy duty swears, so it's not safe for work (or home... if you have someone of a sensitive disposition in your vicinity).

Clip one (below) features Shaun being introduced to some Christmas nibbles (requires Flash to view).

The second clip features a nice bit of Sam Fox karaoke and you can watch it HERE.

Clip three features a seething Woody and his boss. WARNING! This is the sweary clip. Watch it HERE.

This Is England '88 starts Tue 13 Dec at 10pm on Channel 4. For more exclusive stuff visit: http://www.channel4.com/thisisengland.

...and to keep you occupied for a tiny bit longer as you wait for the 13th of December to arrive, here are a couple of interviews which have appeared online in the last couple of days.
Shane interview on TV Choice Magazine website HERE.
Thomas Turgoose interview on the Grimsby Times website HERE.

Just under two weeks to go now before the first episode of This Is England '88 will be screened on Channel 4 in the UK, so it's about time there was some sort of trailer to promote this momentous event.
Well, would you believe... by sheer coincidence a trailer has appeared! It's almost as though it was planned or something!

The trailer only runs for a brief 30 seconds, but there are plenty of intriguing moments for the keen of eye to ponder on.
Anyway, stop reading this, and watch the trailer instead.

If you're still looking for more sneaky peeks at This Is England '88, then you may want to have a look at the 14 promotional stills which have been released into the wild. You'll find them in a nice little gallery over on the Simply TV website HERE.
You can click on each of the images to see a nice high resolution version.

The three parts of This Is England '88 will be screened on Channel 4 on the 13th, 14th and 15th of December at 10pm. The proof is HERE.

Thanks to AlexMcNeill on the forum for being the first to spot the trailer, and thanks to Dazza for finding the gallery!

The Warp Films website was updated yesterday with this splendid new promotional image for This Is England '88.

You can check out the This Is England '88 page on the Warp Films website HERE

If you click on the image above you will load a rather massive, high resolution version of the image which you could adapt into a desktop wallpaper, or simply use to study the scene in obsessive detail.

This Is England '88 is scheduled to be shown on the nights of the 13th, 14th, and 15th of December on Channel 4 at 10pm.

Last week Shane gave a talk at the BVE North Expo in Manchester in which he discussed various technical aspects of filming and new camera technology, but along the way he also talked about the making of some of his earlier works, and some of his proposed future projects.

The video is split into four parts on YouTube and you can see an automated playlist of these videos by clicking HERE

Otherwise, you can get to part one HERE (which is quite tech heavy)
Part two is the video below, where Shane begins to talk about his earlier work.

Part three is HERE
Part Four is HERE

Yesterday, the website of the Independent newspaper carried a story claiming that Shane is in discussions to document the reunion of the Stone Roses. You can read the article HERE.

The news story has now also appeared on many more websites, including The Sun which you can read HERE.

Much of the speculation has arisen from the fact that Shane was indeed filming at the Stone Roses press conference last week.
So far, the only official word has come from Warp Films producer, Mark Herbert via Twitter (@MarkSherbert);
"Just to clarify rumours on Shane Meadows and Warpfilms doing Stone Roses documentary. We filmed the press conference last week but until we finish post on This is England 88 in Dec nothing will be finalised. We just jumped at chance to film the announcement. Exciting tho!"

EXTRA EXTRA!
Shane has posted on the forum with his own update on this news. This is what he says about it:
"There should be a statement out about it today but in brief, once TIE88 is in the bag, me and mark are gonna talk to the band and financiers (C4/Film4 first of course) about getting it rolling. The fact that they happen to be my all time favourite band that there ever was, has been or will ever be, means that it will defo be bumped to the top of the 'to do' list if I can come up with a good enough idea. I missed Spike Island, I'm not missing this frikker!!!!"

Exciting!

It's been quiet round these parts for a while now as we all patiently wait for the This Is England '88 promotions to begin, but at last we have some news to break the silence!

On Tusday the 15th of November (2011 incase you're wondering), the first episode of This Is England '88 will be screened at the BAFTA Princess Anne Theatre in London.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Shane, Vicky McClure (Lol), and Joe Gilgun (Woody)!
To book tickets, head on over the BAFTA website HERE.


So far there hasn't been much in the way of photos from the shoot of This Is England '88. In fact, the only images that seem to have surfaced through official channels both feature men in pants and were posted by producer Mark Herbert on Twitter (@MarkSherbert).
There's Joe Gilgun (Woody) HERE
...and there's this unsettling image which came with the caption, "Tommo does not realise we have his room key. Shane taking the picture. Nice cuddle for @Goose357800". If you're feeling brave, you can see the photo HERE.

The BAFTA Television Awards took place on Sunday night and This Is England '86 came up trumps once again!
Specifically it was Vicky McClure's night as she beat off stiff competition to take home the BAFTA award for Best Actress!

There is also a nice BBC news article about Vicky's reaction. Have a read HERE.

Congratulations Vicky!

This Is England '86 went into last nights BAFTA TV Craft award ceremony with four nominations, and came away from the event with a great win for Catherine Scoble for the Best Make-up and Hair award!
You can see Catherine with her award on the BAFTA website HERE (it's picture number 10).
YOu can also take a peek at Shane and Vicky McClure turning up to the BAFTA proceedings HERE

This Is England '88 is now well into the editing stage, and Shane recently left an update on the forum about this. Could we get more This Is England '88 than we originally thought?
You can read Shane's post on the FORUM.