MovieChat Forums > This Is England '86 (2010) Discussion > No Puke?

No Puke?

posted 14 years ago by SoundOfConfusion
5 replies | jump to latest

First off, I thought this mini-series was great, and I was really impressed that Meadows managed to get 99% of the original cast back to film it...
But does anyone know why Puke (Jack O'Connell) wasn't included in the ensemble?!
His role in the gang was instead filled in by newcomer to the old gang - Harvey (Michael Socha); who although appeared in the movie, played the 2 Tone dressed bully that teases Shaun about his clothes.

Anyone know why this change was made? Did I miss a line somewhere that explains how Harvey joined the gang, or what happened to Puke?

"Not Gods, Englishmen! Which is the next best thing."

[–] thelostkelpie 14 years ago

The Harvey role was originally written for Pukey, but Jack O'Connell was commited to doing a film and couldn't take part. They didn't want to recast Pukey as they hope they may be able to bring him back for a future series, so they rewrote it as Harvey.

No idea why Kez wasn't in it though.

[–] alxander50 13 years ago

Seems weird that they ended up friends with Shaun's bully. Did they reference that at all?

[–] night_owlkc 13 years ago

It would have been great to have Jack O'Connell back as pukey...maybe they can get him back for This is England 90. As far as Michael Socha and Harvey replacing Pukey...it's not unlikely that the character would have joined the gang as they seem like a welcoming bunch...it's even possible that he was friends with them all along. The town seems pretty small and Woody was the one who started the friendship with Shaun and the rest followed suit. I don't think it's necessary to explain why he's there. In fact with the show there's a chance to explain the character better...he probably learned bullying from his abusive dad, and at the same time, he's the type that takes the piss out of people (when he convinced Gadget that a smashed cookie was cocaine). He might not have even been a bully in the first place and was just winding Shaun up.

[–] RoundTheTwist 9 years ago

Wasn't a smashed up cookie, night_owlkc. It was sherbert from a dip

Like this...

http://retromash.com/nash/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SweetsSherbertFountain.jpg

...dunno if they had that sort of thing outside the UK or not.

I agree about Harvey. I do think he was a bully at first right enough. I know it was just a short scene but the joke about his Dad being in the ashtray of a mini seemed to lend itself to not being the first time he'd teased Shuan. I took Shaun's reaction (not just because of the comment about his Dad) to be the breaking point after many previous comments to him.

For all that, it's not uncommon for people to become friends after all that sort of stuff. They're young kids and friends / enemy lists change reasonably regularly when things are forgotten.

[–] Cine2003 9 years ago

Totally agree. I felt that Harvey wasn't really a bully (in 1983 / the film) but was just an older kid in the school who was the p*** taker, and probably not realising what offence and distress he was causing. Sure he was way over the mark with his taunting of Shaun and it sure was like bullying, but its defo realistic that they could have become friends as they both grew up.