[5] At the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, Our Friends in the North won the categories for Best Drama Series or Serial, Best Actor (Eccleston), Best Actress (McKee) and the Writer's Award for Peter Flannery. And of the latter, "Peter Flannery seems to want to suggest that friendships are the only cure for a life blighted by deficient parents. Knowledge translation takes time — as does any cultural change. Realistic story of working class Yorkshire life. "[2] The serial was also included in an alphabetical list of the 40 greatest TV shows published by the Radio Times magazine in August 2003, chosen by their television editor Alison Graham. Our friends in the north. The most changed character was Geordie, who served in the army in Rhodesia in the original play, but finds himself instead in swinging London in a strip club in the finished series.Do yourself a favour. [27] George Faber was briefly attached to the project as producer before he moved on to become Head of Single Drama at the BBC. [64] This would have told the story of the Jarrow March. [33] The total running time of the serial is 623 minutes. 31:55. After Tosker's repeated infidelity, their marriage breaks down and he moves out to live with his new girlfriend, Elaine (Tracey Wilkinson). [3], Following the success of Our Friends in the North, Flannery proposed a "kind of prequel" to the serial under the title of Our Friends in the South. [5], In 2000, the British Film Institute conducted a poll of industry professionals to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, with Our Friends in the North finishing in twenty-fifth position, eighth position out of the dramas featured on the list. Despite his insistence he is in the right, his anarchist activities are brought to a sudden halt regardless as the cell's hideout is raided by the police and everyone but him is arrested. Nicky's girlfriend Mary (Gina McKee) is also unhappy with his lack of attention and they drift apart. Taking nine pivotal years (1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1987, and 1995) the personal lives of the characters become intertwined with the political struggles of their home town of Newcastle, and the capital, London. This was introduced in later episodes of the television version, but had not been part of the original play. [62], In the United States, Our Friends in the North was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Television Drama Miniseries category at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1997. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. [76][77], In August 2016, Flannery was interviewed for an event, part of the Whitley Bay Film Festival, that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the series being broadcast. [42] Christopher Eccleston also later went on to achieve success in a screen role when he appeared as the Ninth Doctor in the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who in 2005. "[74] The writer Paula Milne drew inspiration from Our Friends in the North for her own White Heat (2012); she felt that Our Friends in the North had been too centred on white, male, heterosexual characters, and she deliberately wanted to counter that focus. When the paths of these two men cross, things are ... See full summary ». "[30], At the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs) in 1997, Our Friends in the North won the award for Best Drama Serial, ahead of other nominees The Crow Road, The Fragile Heart and Gulliver's Travels. BBC drama series following the lives of four friends from North East England over three decades. Seven years later in 1995, Nicky has been living in Italy and returns to Newcastle to attend Florrie's funeral. [7] This was because McDowell was then a resident in the United States. Roy Johnson (Tony Haygarth) is brought in from Newcastle as an outsider to run the investigation but is obstructed at every turn by Blamire, dirty squad Commander Harry Chapple (Donald Sumpter) and his henchman John Salway (David Schofield). [57] At the same ceremony, Gina McKee won the Best Actress category. Our Friends In The North E4 1970 [Part 1] Series. He wrote Our Friends in the North as a stage play in the early 80s, while he was a writer-in-residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. [3][43][44][45], After Stuart Urban left the production and the decision had been made to re-shoot some of the material that he had completed with Pedr James directing, producer Charles Pattinson suggested to Peter Flannery that the first episode should not simply be remade, but also rewritten. Then, the last episode on this tape, Our Friends in the North – 1984. Examines the politics and change across Britain from the Sixties to the Nineties seen through the varying fortunes of four friends. This is NOT a clinical advice group, it has been set up solely for peer support from people wanting to help... Diabetes UK chat: Your Friends in the North | Contains strong language, violence, sex and sexualised nudity. [64][65], Our Friends in the North was given a repeat run on BBC2 the year following its original broadcast, running on Saturday evenings from 19 July to 13 September 1997. Afterwards, Tosker spends time with his grandchildren, Nicky decides to try and patch things up with Mary, and Geordie walks off to an unknown fate. [40] Strong later claimed that Christopher Eccleston took a dislike to him, and outside of their scenes together, the pair did not speak for the entire period that Our Friends in the North was filming. [59] Also at the 1997 BAFTAs, Peter Flannery was presented with the honorary Dennis Potter Award for his work on the serial. Our Friends is as relevant now as it was in the mid-90s; perhaps more so. It will make you think, it will move you, and we will never see its like again. [15] At that time, Wearing was based at the BBC English Regions Drama Department at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham, which had a specific remit for making "regional drama". [52], Both during and after its original transmission on BBC2, the serial was generally praised by the critics. [32] The speaking cast of Our Friends in the North numbered 160;[22] more than 3,000 extras were used,[22] and filming took place across 40 weeks, from November 1994 until September 1995. In fact we still hardly know these people – zooming from one decade to the next has a distancing effect,"[55] she wrote of the former point. [6][7] It was also a controversial production, as its stories were partly based on real people and events. Out of prison and back living in Newcastle, Geordie is devastated to learn that Julia has been killed in an apparent accident. A nine part series depicting the varying fortunes of four friends, Nicky, Geordie, Mary, and Tosker, from the optimistic times of 1964 to the uncertainties of 1995. Stuart Urban was assigned the first five episodes and Simon Cellan Jones the final four. Starring: Christopher Eccleston, Peter Vaughan, Gina McKee. In 1964, twenty year-old university student Nicky Hutchinson (Christopher Eccleston) returns to Newcastle after volunteering for the summer in the U.S. civil rights movement. 1. These include general elections, police and local government corruption, the UK miners' strike (1984–85), and the Great Storm of 1987. [20], By 1989, Wearing had been recalled to the central BBC drama department in London where he was made Head of Serials. Tosker meanwhile has made his fortune as a slum landlord, straining his marriage with Elaine. Hitler's Circle of Evil. Gina McKee, too has opted for a slightly shorter look. [41] All of McDowell's scenes were therefore shot by Stuart Urban as part of the first block of filming, as opposed to the rest of the production which was filmed roughly chronologically. The four friends finally reunite at Florrie's funeral for the first time in 31 years. [20][26] As Wearing was now a head of department at the BBC, he was too busy overseeing other projects to produce Our Friends in the North. [2][3][4] It was awarded three British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), two Royal Television Society Awards, four Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, and a Certificate of Merit from the San Francisco International Film Festival.[5]. We are not likely to look upon its like again". You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Our Friends in the North is in many respects a master work: a thirty year sprawl through the personal trepidations of a host of full-bodied characters against a social/cultural/political backdrop in perpetual tumult. Need some help finding the best things to watch on Netflix? Series Info. [69][70] In 2002, BMG released the complete series on DVD, which along with the original episodes contained several extra features, including a retrospective discussion of the series by Wearing, Pattinson, Flannery, James and Cellan Jones, and specially shot interviews with Eccleston and McKee. "A Very British Coup" has just as much satirical relevance today. [29] This was in spite of the fact that Jackson and Wearing were not close and did not get on; Pattinson took to dealing with Jackson directly. While Nicky decides he wants to change the world, Mary and Tosker make a big mistake. 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