The story of England, from 1964 to 1995, as seen through the interconnected lives of four friends. This is the ambitious premise of the BBC drama series ‘Our Friends in the North.’
Asked what his drama was about, the screenwriter Peter Flannery jokingly relied: ‘postwar British Housing Policy.’ And it partly is, only what makes it so gripping is how real political decisions touch the personal lives of the characters – characters that are so skilfully drawn and acted that we can’t help but care about them.
We follow Nicky, Mary, Geordie and Tosker from youth to middle age, from idealism to disillusionment or perhaps a greater pragmatism. Housing, homelessness, politics, corruption: no trial or tribulation ever quite erases the bonds of friendship founded in their early lives.
Of course, the four young actors became stars.
I can’t imagine anyone playing Mary as well as Gina Mckee, so effortlessly evolving from downtrodden housewife to politician – ‘the story of women and England.’ Daniel Craig was the last character to be cast, at that time a totally unknown actor. He’s brilliant! I still remember the scene where, down and out and held in the back of a police van, the guards accidentally leave the door open. Geordie runs out wildly happy, only to run back into the van, unable to take his chance at freedom.
Taking over a year to film, unfolding over nine episodes, it’s British drama at its best.
