Read about the setting of Fish Tank and how Andrea Arnold rescues the reputation of Essex
Oddly seductive … Fish Tank
What do you call an Essex girl with half a brain? Answer: Gifted! Witticisms of this kind are all that many know of England's eighth largest county. Some are aware it's the preferred retirement destination for East End gangsters. The refined classes shudder at accounts of its unlovely new towns, hacienda-style residences, carriage lamps, white strappy sandals and orange tans. Perhaps the majority would share Spitting Image's view of the county as "a boil on the bum of the nation"
