The Football Factory

Rating: 5/10 (8 September 2016)

Before he joined EastEnders, I knew the sweary cockney actor for films like Human Traffic and Severance, and of course his many straight-to-DVD releases, EastEnders has given him the opportunity to get away from his usual hard man character, when it comes to his film career, this is the film most people know him for, directed by Nick Lowe (The Business, The Sweeney). Basically Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer) is a member of a Chelsea hooligan firm, his friends and fellow hooligans are his best friend Rod King (Neil Maskell), hot- tempered Billy Bright (Frank Harper), and young and impulsive members Zeberdee (Roland Manookian) and Raf (Calum MacNab). Tommy's pensioner and veteran grandfather Bill Farrell (EastEnders' Dudley Sutton) is disappointed as Tommy spends his days drinking, using drugs, womanising and fighting, Bill plans to move to Australia with his best friend Albert (John Junkin). Tommy has an epiphany about his lifestyle during a fight with the Tottenham hooligan firm, Tommy, Billy and Rod are arrested for assaulting two Stoke City fans, Chelsea firm leader Harris (Tony Denham) is furious by these actions, especially by Billy's aggressive outbursts. Other things going on include Rod beginning a relationship with court clerk Tamara (Sophie Linfield), she pressures him to skip his weekend meets, and Billy's house being accidentally robbed by Zeberdee and his friend Raff, Billy himself deals with increased loneliness overhearing his irrelevance to Harris, and Bill's friend Albert dies the night before they are due to leave for Australia. Tommy is caught and held hostage by the brother of a girl he picked up at a club, Shian (Michele Hallak), Rod saves him, hitting the man on the head with a cricket bat, the brother turns out also be the brother of the rival Millwall firm's leader, Fred (Tamer Hassan), who is hunting Tommy down. Throughout the various characters encounter a racist taxi driver (EastEnders' Jamie Foreman), this is a subplot recurring. All the fighting culminates in a battle between the Chelsea and Millwall firms, with Tommy severely beaten up, ending up in hospital with Bill who has suffered a heart attack. In the end Tommy remains with the firm, Bill moves to Australia, Billy Bright is imprisoned for seven years, Zeberdee is killed by a drug dealer, this was a dream that Tommy kept being tormented by. Also starring EastEnders' Kara Tointon as Tameka. Dyer as the leading star and narrator certainly serves his purpose as a low-life football hooligan, the other actors do their parts fine as well, there is no real storyline as such, it is really a view into the life of a thug who like to beat people up and loves football, it does not hold back with the violence, so it neither condoning or condemning it, I could not follow everything going on, but overall I found it an average British sports crime drama. Worth watching!