This watchable film, a product of the enterprising Film London Microwave project, is Eran Creevy's account of a bad day in the life of Shifty (Riz Ahmed), a young, Muslim drug dealer. He's forgone the honest life his Pakistani-immigrant parents raised him for and is peddling dope of all kinds in an anonymous new town outside London.

Accompanied by an old schoolmate, returned after a long absence up north, Shifty goes about his work of intimidating the weak, supplying crack to the elderly (Francesca Annis), getting robbed by a coke addict, dodging the Old Bill, deceiving his devout older brother, bargaining with his supplier and dodging enforcers from the big city. The relationship with the boyhood friend (Daniel Mays) is well managed, the film has a sense of authenticity and there's no sentimental suggestion that Shifty's way of life is the inevitable result of his background.