hairless: This is England

This is England

In 1983 a twelve-year-old boy is befriended by a group of skinheads after being bullied at school. Sisters Lol (Vicky McClure) and Kelly (Chanel Cresswell) give him the haircut. But soon the group is split by the return from prison of Combo, an older, nationalist skinhead, and former boyfriend of Lol.

There is follow up TV series This is England ’86 in which Kelly (Chanel Cresswell) and Smell (Rosamund Hanson), another member of the group, have mohawks hairstyles – coming soon.

In 2011 Vicky McClure won both the Best Female Actor RTS Award in 2011 and the BAFTA for Best Leading Actress for her role as Lol in This is England ’86.

The makeup

Catherine Scoble was the makeup & hair designer.

Vicky McClure said:

The image drastically changed me and helped me in creating my character … When I had my hair shaved and I put my costumes on, I just held my head up high and all of a sudden I was there …

[When Shane – the Director – asked me to have a skinhead haircut], it was like ‘'what’? Because when he first told me about it I thought it might be a practical joke as that’s quite typical of Shane. And I thought he’d never make me shave all my hair off, especially because out of all the cast, me and Chanel [Cresswell] – who plays my little sister in it – we’re the only two who had really long hair, like down to my backside. It was only when I sat in the chair and we were thinking of ideas that I actually said to Shane that I just want a full skinhead, just all off. Then the fringe was there and he said ‘I really like that’, with the little rat tail at the back. He said: ‘That’s it! You have to keep it like that.’ And I said ‘fine’. Then I got my costume on and it just felt right, it felt perfect for Lol.