Too much of everything

Some things I liked some I did not.

Please don't spend money on this.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

I am always up for trying new British or American dramas, either when they sound good or have a good trailer, or when I know some names in the cast, and I'm glad I came across this three part one off drama. Basically, set in 1996 in Manchester, Daniel Cotton (Philip Glenister) runs a sweet factory with his father Samuel (Bernard Hill), he lives with wife Clare (Saskia Reeves) and their two children, Charlie (Daniel Rigby) and Louise (Morven Christie). His brother Robbo (Underworld: Evolution's Steven Mackintosh) runs a nightclub in the city, but he is not on good terms with his father, and he is getting himself into deep trouble getting involved with gangs and potential crime, involving drug deals and such. But what really shakes up Daniel and the rest of the city is the 1996 Manchester bombing, a bomb was placed in a van by the IRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) on Corporation Street in Manchester city centre, targeting the city's infrastructure and economy, and the blast caused major destruction and devastation, there were no fatalities but over two hundred people were injured. Daniel was close to the blast but survived, and the story continues to see the changes in his life and across Manchester in four years, including during Footballs Coming Home with Euro 1996, the power of New Labour in 1997 government, right up until the hangover of the Millennium celebrations in 2000. With the shock waves of the blast still in most peoples' minds, the lives of two families from different sides of the tracks have their lives changed through these four years, including Daniel who has an affair with hotel cleaner Joanne (Liz White), who ends up pregnant and giving birth to his child, Robbo still has to deal with money problems and the wrong side of the law getting to him, and Samuel has a heart attack but after recovering does his best to bring everyone back together. Also starring Big School's Daniel Rigby as Daniel's son Charlie, Morven Christie as Daniel's daughter Louise, Claire Cooper as Charlie's girlfriend Matilda, Simone Clark as Charlie's girlfriend Fliss, Andrew Sykes as Police Officer, EastEnders' Ace Bhatti as DI Graves Ben Batt as Newell and 300's Vincent Regan as Stapleton. Glenister is a great choice for the leading character, Mackintosh gets his moments as the troublesome brother, and Hill is fantastic as the man who tries to help those close to him through their predicaments. I like programmes like this, because it feels authentic both for the time period and for the specific real life that the characters are put in the middle of, the bombing sequence is done brilliantly, and the events going through the four years are terrific as well, it is definitely the characters and well written script that keep you watching until the end, a most worthwhile drama series. Very good!

From There to Here traces the repercussions of the Manchester bombing by the IRA in 1996 on the city and the Cotton confectionery family that includes Philip Glenister (Dan), Steven Mackintosh (Dan's shiftless brother, Robbo) and Bernard Hill (miserable dad.)England might have eventually lost the semi final on penalties in Euro 1996 but Manchester regenerated due to public-private finance initiatives and an injection of over a billion pounds worth of investment.For the Cottons, the outcome is less certain. Dan is restless as he tries to reunite his adopted dad and estranged brother Robbo. He forms a friendship with Joanne (Liz White) a survivor from the bombing and they have an affair.Robbo uses the opportunity to clear his debts with the local drug gangs by setting up another bombing incident that can be blamed on terrorists so he can get compensation.By the time of the second episode set in 1997, Joanne has given birth to a baby and the father is Dan who is now juggling two families. Dad wants the confectionery business to be galvanized by his financial wizard grandson and his left wing granddaughter is swept into Parliament as part of the New Labour landslide where she takes a rock solid Tory seat.The pressure of lying to his wife and mistress who wants to keep both parts of his lives separate takes his toll on Dan as he ends up in hospital.By the time the final episode arrives things have moved on for Dan who has separated from his wife, his politician daughter is having an affair and his son seems to be talking financial garbage and has run the family firm to the ground. Dan also finds out that his adopted dad is in fact his real dad.While the acting is good and Peter Bowker infuses his drama with some good, funny lines I expected more here. The Cottons do come across as a real family but I expected the political backdrop of the Blair led Labour government to have more impact. A mixture of politics and social drama affecting the north of England in a modern period setting.What we have is a disappointing OK but so what drama that will soon be forgotten.