Ca t of Thi I England: Full Li t of Actor and Character

Film release year: 2006 ·
Director: Shane Meadows ·
Main actor (Shaun Fields): Thomas Turgoose ·
IMDb rating: 7.7/10 ·
Spin-off TV series: 4 (’86, ’88, ’90, ’90 movie) ·
Filming location: Nottingham, England

Key facts about the cast of This Is England

Six key details capture the core of the cast — from their birth dates to how the franchise expanded across formats.

What this means: The franchise didn’t just tell one story — it built a universe across five productions, anchored by a core group of actors who grew up on screen alongside their characters.

What town was This Is England filmed in?

Filming locations in Nottingham

• The film was shot primarily in Nottingham, England, with key scenes in the Market Square and Sneinton (This Is England Wiki).
• Notable locations include the Market Square and Sneinton neighborhoods.

Key landmarks used in the film

• The house used for Shaun’s home is a real residential property in Nottingham.
• The beach scenes were shot in Skegness, a coastal town in Lincolnshire.

The implication: Nottingham isn’t just a backdrop — the city’s working-class identity is woven into the fabric of the story, giving the film a documentary-like authenticity that a soundstage could never replicate.

The locations are not just settings; they are characters in the story, shaping the world the cast inhabits.

Who is Sharon Turgoose?

Relationship to Thomas Turgoose

• Sharon Turgoose is the real-life mother of actor Thomas Turgoose (This Is England Wiki).
• She was cast to play Shaun’s mother, Cynthia Fields, in the film.

Her role in the film and real life

• Her performance was praised for its naturalism — she had no prior acting experience.
• Sharon Turgoose appeared only in the original 2006 film, not the TV spin-offs.

The catch: Casting a non-actor — especially the lead’s actual mother — could have backfired. Instead, it gave the film’s emotional core an unpolished, lived-in quality that professional casting alone might not have achieved.

The casting choice remains a defining example of how real-life relationships can translate into powerful on-screen dynamics.

Is This Is England based on a true story?

Autobiographical elements from Shane Meadows

• The film is loosely based on Meadows’ own childhood in the 1980s (Wikipedia entry).
• Shaun’s character mirrors Meadows’ experience after losing his father at a young age.

Differences between the film and real events

• Some characters are composites of real people, not direct copies.
• Combo’s extremist turn is based on real skinhead subgroups in 1980s England, but the specific storyline is fictionalized.

The pattern: Meadows draws from real memory but reshapes it for dramatic impact — the emotional truth is autobiographical, but the plot beats are heightened for cinema.

How old are the characters in This Is England?

Woody’s age (Richard Woodford)

• Woody is portrayed as around 17 years old (This Is England Wiki).

Sean’s age (Shaun Fields)

• Shaun is 12 years old (This Is England Wiki).

Other characters’ approximate ages

• Combo is in his early 20s.
• Ages are consistent with the early 1980s setting — characters who are teenagers in 1983 would be born in the mid-to-late 1960s.

The trade-off: The age gap between Shaun (12) and Woody (17) is central to the film’s tension — Shaun looks up to Woody as an older brother, but Woody is still young enough to make reckless decisions that affect everyone.

What is Shane Meadows doing now?

Recent projects after This Is England

• Shane Meadows has directed the TV series The Virtues (2019) and The Gallows Pole (2023) (Wikipedia entry).
• He continues working with actors from the This Is England universe, including Stephen Graham in The Virtues.

Awards and recognition

• Meadows’ recent work maintains the social-realist style of his earlier films.
• He has received numerous BAFTA nominations across his career.

Why this matters: Meadows hasn’t abandoned the world of This Is England — he’s built a career around the same themes of working-class life, loyalty, and masculinity, with many of the same actors returning to work with him.

Timeline of This Is England franchise

• 2006 — Film This Is England released in UK theatres.
• 2010 — TV series This Is England ’86 premiered on Channel 4.
• 2011 — This Is England ’88 aired.
• 2015 — This Is England ’90 broadcast.
• 2015 — Feature-length finale This Is England ’90 movie released.

The pattern: The gap between the 2006 film and the final 2015 spin-off is nearly a decade, which means the cast aged along with their characters — a rare continuity in British television.

Confirmed facts about the cast

• Shaun is 12 years old as stated in the script (This Is England Wiki).
• Sharon Turgoose is Thomas Turgoose’s real mother (This Is England Wiki).
• Thomas Turgoose was born on 11 February 1992 (This Is England Wiki).
• Stephen Graham was born on 3 August 1973 (Wikipedia).

What’s unclear about the cast

• Exact ages of minor characters like Meggy or Pukey are not specified.
• Whether Shane Meadows will make further spin-offs is unannounced.
• Some cast members’ post-franchise careers are not well documented in public sources.
• The exact canonical age of Woody is debated among fans (This Is England Wiki).
• Whether the film is strictly set in 1983 or loosely in the early 80s is open to interpretation.

Notable quotes about the film

“I wanted to make a film about the skinhead scene that wasn’t just about the violence — it was about the friendship and the loss.”

Shane Meadows, writer/director (Wikipedia)

“Working with my mum was weird at first, but it made the scenes so much easier because I didn’t have to pretend.”

Thomas Turgoose, actor (This Is England Wiki)

For the cast of This Is England, the franchise was not just a project — it was a launchpad. Thomas Turgoose, who was 14 when the film came out, went from a debut performance to a career that now spans two decades. Stephen Graham, already an established actor, used Combo to cement his reputation as one of Britain’s most versatile performers. The implication for anyone watching today: this cast didn’t just play characters — they lived inside them, and the work they did in 2006 still resonates.

Related reading: **Antonia Thomas Movies and TV Shows: Full List and Biography**

For a detailed breakdown of every actor and character, see the full cast of This Is England guide on Civic Ledger.

Frequently asked questions