''Essex Boys'' is a 2000 British

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

. It was directed by

Terry Winsor Terry Winsor is a British film director who has worked with such stars as Richard Harris, Sean Bean and Tom Wilkinson. He has directed a number of films, TV programs and even a game, which has led to a reasonable amount of success within the world ...

and stars

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...

Alex Kingston Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963) is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ...

Tom Wilkinson Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...

Charlie Creed-Miles Charlie Creed-Miles (born 24 March 1972) is an English actor and musician. Creed-Miles was born in Nottingham, and had his first starring screen role, aged 21, in ''The Punk'' (1993). His brief relationship with actress Samantha Morton Sam ...

and

Holly Davidson Holly Davidson (born 26 April 1980 in London) is an English actress, model and personal trainer. Davidson is most known for her recurring roles on the TV series' ''Renford Rejects'', ''The Bill'', and ''Casualty''; and roles in the films '' Fin ...

Plot

The film is based loosely around events in December 1995 that culminated in the

Rettendon murders The Rettendon murders (also known as the Range Rover murders or Essex murders) occurred on 6 December 1995 in the village of Rettendon in Essex, England, when three drug dealers were shot dead in a Range Rover on a small farm track. The murders w ...

of three drug dealers in Rettendon, Essex, UK.

Cast

as Billy Reynolds/narrator *

as Jason Locke * Gareth Milne as Chippy *

as Lisa Locke * Amelia Lowdell as Nicole *

Larry Lamb Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born 1 October 1947) is an English actor and radio presenter. He played Archie Mitchell in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', Mick Shipman in the BBC comedy series ''Gavin & Stacey'' and Ted Case in the final series of ...

as Peter Chase *

Michael McKell Michael McKell (born 10 February 1959, in Bethnal Green, London) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Inspector Trevor Hands in ''Murder Investigation Team'' (2003-2005), Dr. Nick West in ''Doctors'' (2006-2008) and DS Nicholas "N ...

as Wayne Lovell *

as Suzy Welch *

Terence Rigby Terence Christopher Gerald Rigby (2 January 1937 – 10 August 2008) was an English actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. In the 1970s he was well known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series '' Soft ...

as Henry Hobbs *

as John Dyke * Billy Murray as Perry Elley * George Jackos as Kiri Christos * Sally Hurst as Beverley * Louise Landon as Jemma *

Gary Love Gary Joseph Love (born 26 November 1964) is a British actor and film director. He is best known for playing the role of Sergeant Tony Wilton in the British Army inspired award-winning series ''Soldier Soldier'', and as Jimmy McClaren in Grange ...

as Detective * Rachel Darling as Club dancer * Trevor Kirton as Man on street #1 * Carl Smith as Man on street #2

Locations

The film was shot on location around

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. In particular

Southend on Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, Jaywick in Clacton and the

Dartford Crossing The Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent in the south and Thurr ...

, where the gang travels from Kent to Essex.

Reception

The film met with generally negative critical reviews, maintaining a 17% rating at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. The viewer ratings have generally been more positive.

Similar films

The films ''

Rise of the Footsoldier ''Rise of the Footsoldier'' is a British crime and gangster film franchise written and directed by Julian Gilbey, Will Gilbey, Ricci Harnett, Zackary Adler, Andrew Loveday and Nick Nevern, distributed by Optimum Releasing. The franchise and i ...

'' (2007), ''

Bonded by Blood ''Bonded by Blood'' is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus. Although the album was completed in the summer of 1984, it was not released until 1985 due to issues with Exodus and the record label. It is considered one of th ...

'' (2010), ''

The Fall of the Essex Boys ''The Fall of the Essex Boys'' is a 2013 British gangster thriller film based on the true story of the Rettendon murders in 1995. It follows the rise and ultimate fall of the feared criminal gang The Essex Boys. Plot On a boat in the North Se ...

'' (2013) ''

Essex Boys Retribution Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

'' (2013) and ''

Essex Boys Law of Survival Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

'' (2015) are also based – to varying degrees – on the

References

External links

* * The Hit (2016) *
Essex Boys
on

* 2000 films 2000 action thriller films British crime films Films set in Essex British independent films Films shot in Kent Films scored by Colin Towns 2000s English-language films Films directed by Terry Winsor 2000s British films {{2000s-UK-film-stub