So, Eighties Britain is back with a bang. Thanks to the likes of Starter for Ten, The History Boys and the forthcoming Shane Meadows film This is England, audiences are being exposed to the cultural textures of that infamous decade, presented to us by a generation of thirtysomething film-makers. Even the highly anticipated UK cop comedy Hot Fuzz (from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the creators of Shaun of the Dead) is inspired by Eighties action cinema and TV.

There is a danger, however, that we are actually witnessing the emergence of cinematic revisionism. A punishing British decade defined by unemployment, strikes and terrorist bombings is allegedly encapsulated by a jauntypop tune or a wacky haircut. This is certainly true of Starter for Ten and The History Boys.

It’s ironic, of course, that British cinema in the Eighties was exemplified not by zany Britflicks (the term had yet to be coined) but by serious grown-up films such as My Beautiful Laundrette, Gandhi and Cry Freedom. Richard Attenborough, the director of the latter two, is wary of today’s tendency to elide real political context in favour of crowd-pleasing, quick-fix nostalgia. “Cinema is primarily an entertainment medium,” he acknowledges, “but I believe that the industry would be betraying itself and its capacity for serving human dignity if commercialism dominated every decision.”

He adds: “Nelson Mandela says that Cry Freedom changed the attitude of white South Africans more than any speech he’d given”.

But while directors have shied away from tackling Thatcherism head on (where is the Iron Lady biopic?), thankfully, the 34-year-old Shane Meadows seems to have the same instincts as Attenborough. This is England, set in Yorkshire in 1983, comes complete with Knight Rider references and Ben Sherman shirts, but it’s also rooted in the experiential realities of the decade. Here, among a group of skinheads, the Falklands conflict hangs heavy in the background, unemployment is endemic and the racism is growing.

This is England, of course, has none of the gurning populist instincts of Starter for Ten, and it won’t be as audience-friendly as The History Boys. But perhaps it will be a warning. Nostalgia will only get you so far. After that, the real work starts.

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