The film contains examples of:
- Fridge Brilliance: The actor who plays Combo is of mixed ethnic ancestry and, judging from the name, so is the character. This puts the conversation about black absentee fathers in a hell of a whole new light.
- Funny Moments: Lots.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Shaun has a dead father, and grows apart from his mother during the course of the story. It becomes sadder when you learn that young Thomas Turgoose lost his own mother to cancer before the film was even released.
- Heartwarming Moments: Woody buying Shaun the Ben Sherman shirt.Shaun: I just wanted to say thanks. This has been the best day of my life.
- Nightmare Fuel: Combo is a living, breathing example of this. He's a violent, possibly sociopathic, racist bigot and when he gets angry, people get hurt. The scene in which he beats Milky into unconsciousness is particularly gruesome.
- Retroactive Recognition: Michael Socha, who plays Harvey, would become very well known for playing Will Scarlet in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
The miniseries provides examples of:
- Funny Moments: The fight between the skinheads and the biker again.
- Complete with Flip hamming it up with the immortal line "You are all standing in the danger zone!"
- Nightmare Fuel: Mick, Lol's father - especially when he appears in Lol's visions/nightmares in '88 and '90.
- Tear Jerker: Lol's final confrontation with her father, followed by Combo's redemptive act when he stumbles upon the aftermath.Combo: "Let me do a good thing..."
- And Lol and Combo's emotional conversation about everything in the following series.
- Kelly and Gadget's conversation at the end of the second episode of '90.
- The entire dinner scene in the third episode of '90.
- Woody and Combo's reunion, with both brought to tears.
- Combo and Milky's conversation in the finale, along with Combo being dragged off to his death, begging for his life.
