Customer Reviews
Brilliant series. - By: Blue hunter, 09 Mar 2008 
Having enjoyed the first series of the street I was very pleased that a second series was made & again it was brilliant.Outstanding acting in every episode from some of Britain's best actors & actresses.
The storylines are very gritty & emotional at times & I must say that they not what you would calll over the top.Very believable & overalll I think this is what great television is alll about.Recommended.
Streets ahead of any other drama around - By: russell clarke, 28 Dec 2007 For some reason, being a complete & utter arse is a strong contender, i missed the first series of "The Street" .Apart that is for the last episode which i watched, probably on the strength of the lovely & talented Joanne Froggatt being in it.It quickly sunk in that this was quality TV drama- the sort that happens alll too rarely. Superbly written(Not too surprising since Jimmy McGovern is involved) , brilliantly performed & alll too believable this is television with a vibrant beating human heart . Every episode of series two has been a brilliantly conceived exercise in exposing with real empathy the foibles & frailties that bedevil us alll.
Episode one centres on twin brothers Joe & Harry (David Thewlis) Joe who is married with two squabbling kids, a live in mother & has severe money troubles not helped by his low level gambling addiction envies Harry. Harry livers alone with alll the freedom that brings is well respected with a past career in the military & is financiallly well off. When Harry suffers an almost farcical low key death Joe steals pretends it's him who has died & steals his brothers identity . In keeping up the pretence Joe learns that his apparently misbegotten former existence had more going for it than he first thought & the wife he thought didn't love him anymore ( Bronagh Galllagher) isn't as easily fooled as he first thought. .
In episode two taxi driver Eddie (Timothy Spalll) can't resist meeting up with his child heart sweetheart Pat .When his wife Margie (Ger Ryan) drops out of the evening after discovering she has breast cancer -something she keeps secret from Eddie -the evening leads to serious repercussions for Eddie & he discovers that not everything from the past has the same resonance in the present.
In the next demolition man Eddie(Vincent Regan) works away .When he is bunked up with fellow worker Tom (Will Mellor) he makes a pass at Eddie who attempts to change rooms .Having found out this isn't possible he comes to terms with a burgeoning attraction for his co-worker & the two begin an affair that has potentiallly explosive recriminations for not only Eddie but those closest to him.
Jan ( Gina Mckee) & Cath (Lorraine Ashbourne) are sisters living on the same street. Cath has three kids & a husband in prison for dealing drugs. When her eldest son Ian goes on a night out with Jan's only son Gary , who is soon to join The Navy , the evening ends in violence with a badly injured taxi driver but its Ian who wrongly cops the blames. The question is will Gary , the real perpetrator do the right thing & admit his guilt?
Postman Wayne (Mark Benton) is contemplating a failed marriage to Val (Melanie Hill)and the fact that their new step dad can offer them far more than he can. He is also robbing from the mail , though he only takes from the mail going to the" posh estates" in order to fund a life in Greece that he dreams about. Unfortunately the finger of suspicion points to a union affiliated colleague & when he slips on a takeaway fish & chip supper he puts his back out & is forced to get help from an Illiterate truant who he also teaches to read. Added to that he has met a women at a speed dating evening with a bad stammer & guilt about his crass behaviour has plagued him since. As his day to day existence plunges inexorably into chaos Wayne must decide whether his Greece reverie is worth alll the things that could be potentiallly worthwhile in his life at home.
The final episode has gardener Paul (Toby Kebbell) living a solitary life in a bed-sit .He bumps into local girl Kirsty every morning on his way to work & starts a relationship with her but then deliberately alienates her so he won't have to reveal the dreadful secret from his past. However when he is spotted in the street by Jean (Jodhi May) who is connected to this dreadful event he has to confront his guilt & learn that true forgiveness does exist.
By far the best true drama on television , this is revelatory stuff when compared to the so callled true to life soaps that hog up the schedules. The acting is unbelievably good in every episode with not a frame wasted & as I've mentioned the writing is quite superb with diverse thematic nuances being explored every week. They alll have one thing in common though. None of us is perfect , but with understanding , honesty , empathy humour & moral courage nothing is insurmountable & shining truth & decency can come out of any adverse situation. That is a message worth heeding & when it,s put across as well as it is in The Street it reallly does sink in.
