Bill Hayward (Charlie Creed-Miles) is paroled from prison after an eight-year stretch, and determined never to go back. On returning to the  East End streets where he grew up, he's more convinced that he needs to get out of town altogether, to leave his hard-nut reputation and shady past behind. That proves easier said than done. He visits his family to discover his ex-wife has left his 11 and 15-year-old sons alone, doing their best to fend for themselves. The older boy, Dean (Will Poulter), is fiercely independent and wants little to do with a dad who deserted him, but when social services get involved Dean needs Bill to stay temporarily and put on the front that they are OK, so he can get on with managing as they are. Bill is torn between facing paternal obligations to the sons he never bothered to get to know, and avoiding the pernicious tentacles of criminal cohorts, which could see him back in jail. Evocatively filmed in tower blocks and shopping centres in the shadow of the Olympic development, Dexter Fletcher's directorial debut is a hugely impressive achievement, with a whip-smart script, authoritative performances from some of Britain's finest acting talents and a killer soundtrack.

Michael Hayden