Spike Island

Director Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll) encourages the literally Rose-tinted mythology surrounding iconic Manchester band the Stone Roses with this heartfelt drama set around the band's seminal gig in front of 27,000 ravers at Spike Island in Widnes during May 1990. Chris Coghill's fond fictional story of an unsigned local four-piece caught up in the heady anticipation also makes dramatic capital of less glorious aspects - desperate non-ticket holders, bottleneck access to the site across a footbridge, stage sound distorted by the wind. With a lively young cast of small-screen repute including Elliott Tittensor (Shameless), Nico Mirallegro (The Village) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Spike Island is on sure footing with the era's colloquial bravado, comedic street slang and inter-band rivalry. But the intended hospital-corridor gravitas of a father's terminal illness feels more forced, and the drama lingers too long after the gig is over. Nevertheless, with an end-credits dedication to the 2012 incarnation of the Roses, whose music buoys the mood throughout, Whitecross's sophomore feature acts as a vibrant time capsule.