This Town’s Michelle Dockery ‘relives my childhood’ in 80s drama from Peaky Blinders creator

ok.co.uk:

Michelle Dockery is back in another period drama – but she has swapped 1920s high society for the two-tone music scene of the 80s.

In BBC drama This Town – from the pen of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight – Michelle plays Estella, a mother and singer who never hit the big time, due to her difficult relationship with alcohol.

Against a background of social unrest and IRA terrorist threats, a group of young people harness the power of music to escape their grim reality. “It’s very different to anything I’ve played before,” says Michelle, who first shot to fame as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey. “I play Estella, who is the mother of one of the band.” When we meet Estella she has been “banished from her community” and is struggling with alcoholism. “She’s very much on the outskirts of what’s happening in the story, then she’s drawn into the music,” says Michelle. “Estella once could have been a very successful singer but due to her problems with alcohol she had to walk away.” Levi Brown plays poet and songwriter Dante.

His fellow band members are Eve Austin, who plays Jeannie, Ben Rose as Bardon, and Jordan Bolger as Gregory.The series is set in the West Midlands, where writer Steven grew up. “It’s so joyful and it’s so beautiful, the way it’s been shot and the way Birmingham and Coventry is shown.