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Thomas Turgoose pranked into announcing a new 'This is England' series

Thomas Turgoose and the cast of "This is England 90" on stage after winning the Best TV Series award during the Jameson Empire Awards 2016. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
Thomas Turgoose and the cast of "This is England 90" on stage after winning the Best TV Series award during the Jameson Empire Awards 2016. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

Fans of the hard-hitting This Is England saga were momentarily united in excitement when star Thomas Turgoose appeared to announce another series of the TV show - and then immediately went back on his word.

In a since-deleted message, the 27-year-old actor excitedly tweeted in all capital letters to his 87,000 followers that he had “some news” before adding “This is England ‘92 confirmed”.

It has been four years since This is England ‘90 appeared to conclude the story that director Shane Meadows started in his classic 2006 film This is England, in which Turgoose played a young boy seduced by the ideology of a racist skinhead.

Meadows, who received acclaim for intense TV drama The Virtues earlier this year, was quick to quash the news.

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The official account for the director’s website tweeted a rebuttal to Turgoose’s tweet and joked about the recent events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Turgoose himself confirmed the following morning, in a tweet exchange with This is England producer Mark Herbert, that his friends had stolen his phone and were responsible for the errant message.

He referred to his friends as “w***ers” and clarified that he wasn’t the one who sent the tweet.

Thomas Turgoose had strong words for his friends after a 'This is England' hoax. (Credit: Twitter)
Thomas Turgoose had strong words for his friends after a 'This is England' hoax. (Credit: Twitter)

A representative for Meadows poured further cold water on fan excitement, telling NME: “Sorry to say, it isn’t true. Shane is working on lots of great projects, post The Virtues, but not This is England.”

The original This is England film was set in 1983 and followed the corruption of Turgoose’s character by National Front-affiliated skinhead Combo, played by Stephen Graham.

Three subsequent television series for Channel 4 visited the ensemble of characters at various points in their lives.

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Although Meadows initially suggested This is England ‘90 would mark the culmination of the story, he has repeatedly hinted that a final film sequel, set in the year 2000, could bring the series neatly to a close.

So the door is still ajar for now, but fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet.