Films like A Room for Romeo Brass, Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England have rightly cemented Meadows’ place in the pantheon of great British directors.

His last film, This is England, told the story of a troubled boy growing up in England in the 1980s against a backdrop of skinheads and racism.

Two years on, Meadows’ latest effort, Somers Town, sees the young star of This is England, 16-year-old actor Thomas Turgoose, return to the fore.

Turgoose plays Tomo, a youngster who leaves his Nottingham roots to seek a new life in London.

Life in the big smoke does not start well for Tomo and on his first night he is attacked by three youths who leave him bloodied and bruised and without his money and possesions.

Alone and afraid he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Polish teenager Marek, played by Piotr Jagiello.

Marek lives with his father in a flat in the Somers Town area of London, and while his father is at work on the nearby construction site at St Pancras station, Marek walks the local streets with his camera slung round his neck snapping anything that catches his eye.

The primary focus of Marek’s photographic attentions is Maria , a French waitress who works in a local cafe. It is at this cafe where Tomo and Marek meet and they immediately bond over their mutual affection for the beautiful Maria.

The pair do odd-jobs for a local Del Boy-style character and spend most of their time concocting schemes in a bid to win Maria’s affection.

Somers Town is shot entirely in black and white which adds to the gritty realism of the film. But this is not to say Somers Town is a dour and depressing affair, far from it.

It has its moments of genuinely laugh out loud humour, and although bleak in parts, overall it has a warm feelgood factor.

All this is thanks in large part to some cracking, razor-sharp dialogue which is complemented by the performances of the excellent Turgoose and Jagiello, as well as the supporting cast.

Whereas the likes of Romeo Brass and Dead Man’s shoes launched the career of the brillant Paddy Considine, if This is England and Somers Town are anything to go by then Turgoose has a glittering movie career ahead of him.

The brilliance of this film is that you feel that you are part of it. It is up close and personal – startlingly realistic.

It offers a fascinating insight into life in modern day working class Britian, more than any fly on-the-wall documentary ever could.