This Life Ten Years On

By Rob Last edited 222 months ago
This Life Ten Years On
thislife.jpg

There have been rumours going around for a few months now that Amy Jenkins' 'seminal' drama series This Life was to make a comeback ten years on.

Yesterday though, the Sunday papers seemed to be pretty confident that the cult series was due to return around Christmas time with the original cast:

Its creator and principal writer, Amy Jenkins, has met members of the cast to discuss a one-off special to mark the BBC show's 10th anniversary next year. For nostalgic fans, many of whom have themselves left their twenties behind, the prospect raises tantalising questions about the fates of Anna, Miles, Milly, Egg and Warren, who shared a house in London...

...Jenkins, now 38, is hopeful that all the actors will be available to reprise their roles despite the success This Life brought them.

Later in that Observer article Jenkins is quoted as saying that "As far as I know it's not a done deal, and I haven't started writing yet. But it would be fun to see what has happened to the characters. My one idea so far is that Warren has been on a reality TV show. It looks as if all the actors will come back; if not, saying one of the characters had died would have been a possibility."

And today Jenkins has an article of her own in the Guardian which looks at the cultural shifts the last decade have inflicted on the 'This Life generation':

Ten years ago the world's problems weren't ours, they were the problems of another generation. Margaret Thatcher and her progeny definitely weren't anything to do with us. The atom bomb wasn't showing any sign of dropping. The Berlin wall had been destroyed more by McDonald's than missiles, crumbling in the inevitable march of benevolent capitalism. Enviromental issues were heating up but not yet at the boil. There wasn't anything to march about. There wasn't much to do.

Perhaps, now that we've got fuck-ups of our very own (buzz words: Bush and bombs and terror) we can relax our pursuit of self at last. Perhaps, after all, that's what growing up is.

Which is all well and good, but it doesn't answer the big question: should they really reprise This Life, or will they just end up tarnishing a cherished TV memory?

This Life on IMDB.

This Life on TV Heaven.

Last Updated 12 September 2005