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This Life History This Life was
what is occasionally termed a cult success.
However, it was more than that; it was a commentary
on late 1990s life in London. The first episode
began with the words, 'Out there is chaos', which
was spoken by Warren to his therapist. This scene
would be used to link the show's many story lines
and it certainly was an accurate
description. This Life was a
drama based around a four-bedroom house in
Southwark, London. As the series opened, three
recently qualified lawyers - Egg, his girlfriend
Milly and Miles - were sharing this house. Anna and
Warren would soon join them. All five worked at one
of two law firms although Egg was to leave law very
early as he couldn't stand it. Several other
characters, who would share the work place or
private lives of the main characters, added plenty
of variety and plot twists. The first series
of 11 episodes was shown in 1996, while the second
series of 21 shows was screened twice weekly in
1997. Both series were repeated in the summer of
2000 and continue to enjoy regular repeat showings
on the BBC and various satelite/cable
channels. This Life was a
groundbreaking television series. Both series were
filmed in the increasingly trendy style of the late
1990s, which was made popular by US shows such as
NYPD Blue and was tried less successfully in The
Bill and later in The Cops (by the same team that
produced This Life). The style was recognisable by
multiple camera cuts, very unstable and jerky
movements and exceptionally tight editing. Every
word in every scene was just the minimum needed to
move the plot. It was left up to the viewer to fill
in the gaps. For its time, the
show had a fresh and radical approach to life. It
showed life for what it was and included sexually
explicit scenes, violence, drug taking and
drunkenness, all of which were portrayed
realistically. Perhaps the biggest shock to those
who believed the show marked the end of
civilization was the explicit scenes of gay sex.
From the very start, gay characters, first Warren
then Ferdy and Lenny, and then finally, however
briefly, Warren again, played key roles in the
show. Along with an attempted lesbian seduction of
Anna, homosexuality was portrayed as a normal part
of life. However, it didn't hide the bigotry and
fear still felt in the 1990s. Press coverage
was, at times, less than favourable: "The
destruction of young minds proceeds apace." -
Yorkshire Post "... appalled
at the drugs, booze and, worst of all, simulated
sex between homosexuals." - Daily
Mail "... shows
young people behaving as they actually do
behave." - Financial Times The frequent cut
scenes of key characters unloading their troubles
to an unseen therapist aided the storylines. This
device allowed the viewer to see and hear what the
characters were really feeling. All the
characters were well thought out, fully dimensional
people. This was not Friends set in the UK. None of
these people were perfect and many were very messed
up. That did not stop the show being both
hilariously funny and thought-provokingly
sad. The storylines
relied on key interactions between Anna and Miles'
love/hate relationship which had started sometime
before the first episode and no doubt continues
after the final one. The attitude of the gay
characters' families to their sexuality, the
relationships between work colleagues, the
relationships between most of the main characters
and their parents and the overall desire to succeed
even when the measures of success may be different
for different characters. The first series
was a quiet success whereas the second series was
hyped and drew bigger audiences. When it ended its
viewing figures were over four million. When the
second series ended everyone thought a third was a
certainty. Alas, it was not to be. Various reasons
were given, the most convincing was simply that the
production company didn't believe they could top
the second series; they had done everything they
wanted to do with the characters and wanted to go
out on a high. This is certainly what happened. The
British viewing public are still waiting for
something to come close to This Life
again. The final scene
in the final episode saw the return of Warren from
his world travels to say just one word as he viewed
the carnage that was the final episode ('Apocalypse
Wow'), and with this word, he also summarizes the
run of the show: "Outstanding." This Life
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