https://youtu.be/qIkEmW1PkYE (Series 1 only. Not one it seems for Series 2 although the two flow seamlessly into one another)
This was a fantastically powerful series that for me often seemed more like a documentary, opening my eyes to a place and lives that were are far as could be imagined form my own experiences. I found myself very personally involved in the lives of all these very flawed people. They were drawn as rounded figures with almost all having some positive/or some negative qualities that rounded out their character as it was primarily drawn. No comfort was given either with the more overall positive and good characters - this did not mean that they survived or succeeded.
The power of the series was in its showing of how so many lives can be marked and wasted, almost from birth, due very largely, it suggests, to environment and upbringing. The value of education was rightly stressed and the work of those who tried to help people was very movingly and powerfully shown - and how anyone managed to get out from and succeed having come from this environment seemed to be a miracle - although with one family (Jem and his father) at the end there was the suggestion that they will succeed but only by moving away completely which was not an option for the vast majority it seems. Ive read that it compares very favourably with and is something of a UK equivalent, of USA The Wire, but not having seen this cannot say how accurate this is.
The physical environment was superbly evoked and I loved the way that the view from one of the central character’s estate buildings allowed him (Ra’nell) to see the modern London skyline with iconic buildings like the Gherkin - an utterly different world that was at once so near and so far away. In the same city and yet not the same city.
Superb then and I am looking forward to Series 3 that was picked up (by Drake?) when the original was dropped.