Our Friends in the North 

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. Taking nine pivotal ... See full summary »

Stars:

Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong, Gina McKee

9 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Christopher Eccleston	...	Nicky Hutchinson (9 episodes, 1996)
Mark Strong	...	Tosker Cox (9 episodes, 1996)
Gina McKee	...	Mary Cox / ... (9 episodes, 1996)
Daniel Craig	...	Geordie Peacock (8 episodes, 1996)
Peter Vaughan	...	Felix Hutchinson (8 episodes, 1996)
David Bradley	...	Eddie Wells (8 episodes, 1996)
Freda Dowie	...	Florrie Hutchinson (7 episodes, 1996)
Alun Armstrong	...	Austin Donohue (5 episodes, 1996)
Malcolm McDowell	...	Benny Barrett (5 episodes, 1996)
Danny Webb	...	Detective Inspector Ron Conrad / ... (4 episodes, 1996)
David Schofield	...	DCI John Salway / ... (4 episodes, 1996)
Geoffrey Hutchings	...	John Edwards (4 episodes, 1996)
Donald Sumpter	...	Commander Harold Chapple (4 episodes, 1996)
Frank Couchman	...	Patrick Soulsby (4 episodes, 1996)
Daniel Casey	...	Anthony Cox (3 episodes, 1996)
Rod Culbertson	...	Bede Connor (3 episodes, 1996)
Tony Haygarth	...	Roy Johnson (3 episodes, 1996)
Tracey Wilkinson	...	Elaine Cox / ... (3 episodes, 1996)
Peter Jeffrey	...	Commisioner Colin Blamire / ... (3 episodes, 1996)
John Dair	...	Charlie Dawson (3 episodes, 1996)
Mark Drewry	...	Michael Frisch (3 episodes, 1996)
Louise Salter	...	Julia Allen (3 episodes, 1996)
Anne Orwin	...	Mrs Weightman (3 episodes, 1996)
Saskia Wickham	...	Claudia Seabrook (3 episodes, 1996)
Val McLane	...	Rita Cox (3 episodes, 1996)
Tony Hodge	...	Brian Cox (3 episodes, 1996)
Julian Fellowes	...	Claud Seabrook (3 episodes, 1996)
David Begg	...	Billy Shaughnessy (2 episodes, 1996)
Terence Rigby	...	Berger (2 episodes, 1996)
Trevor Fox	...	Harry (2 episodes, 1996)
Harriet Keevil	...	Helen Windsor (2 episodes, 1996)
Craig Conway	...	Christopher Collins (2 episodes, 1996)
Granville Saxton	...	Commissioner Jellicoe (2 episodes, 1996)
Larry Lamb	...	Alan Roe (2 episodes, 1996)
Leon Lissek	...	Walensky (2 episodes, 1996)
Chris Walker	...	DCI Paul Boyd (2 episodes, 1996)
Andrew Grainger	...	Detective Constable Fred Black (2 episodes, 1996)
Gavin Muir	...	Father Kyle (2 episodes, 1996)
Siobhan Burke	...	Lucille (2 episodes, 1996)
Pete Lee-Wilson	...	Colin Butler (2 episodes, 1996)
Elspeth Charlton	...	Mrs Soulsby (2 episodes, 1996)
Jack McBride	...	Mr Soulsby (2 episodes, 1996)
Harry Herring	...	Arthur Watson (2 episodes, 1996)
Sam Lathem	...	Bouncer / ... (2 episodes, 1996)
Mark Pegg	...	Detective Constable Tony Weir / ... (2 episodes, 1996)

Storyline

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. Taking nine pivotal years (1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1995) the personal lives of the characters become intertwined with the political struggles of their home town of Newcastle, and the capital, London. We also see the machinations behind the scenes that affect their lives, often for the worse: slum housing projects, police corruption, the rise of Thatcherism, political sleaze, and specific events like the 1984 Miners' Strike.

---

Plot Keywords:

newcastle | tv mini series | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pohjoiset ystävämme

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

623 min (9 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The entire BBC2 drama budget for 1996 (approximately £4m) was spent on this one series.

---

Quotes

Benny Barratt: Women are rubbish, Geordie. Most people are rubbish, but all women are.

---

Connections

References Panorama (1953)

User Reviews

As time rolls by

Our friends in the North is one of those things you grow to admire in time, long after the details have left your mind and its melancholy essence has been absorbed by your consciousness. You will go back to this essence many many times as you grow old and find yourself identifying with someone or the other in this majestic work.

It covers 30 years for the most turbulent period in modern British history starting from the early sixties with its anxious flirtations with radical Marxism and ending in the bland nineties enmeshed in the muck of decadent consumerism. The plot revolves around four friends who are archetypes of the times and the greatness of Peter Flannery's script is to lay out in exquisite detail the fantastic interplay of archetypes and time. Some of the greatest of British actors played their life defining roles like Gina Mckee, Christopher Ecclestone, Mark Strong and a young Daniel Craig whose performance alone should make it worth seeing. Its a kind of work which is now largely impossible today primarily because of the class it focuses on; lower middle class Britain and their problems. In our post political age, where the public has been largely relegated to be spectators to their lives, its refreshing to witness a time where politics was the heart and soul of many lives who wanted to change the world albeit a bit foolishly. Nick ( Ecclestone ) is one such character. The cinematography is not the best but the plot makes up for it. Multi episode TV series like this was a creation of British TV and there is no better example to show how time is such a valuable thing to have in narrative expositions. Every episode focuses on a year and three decades gives the audience the chance to see characters play out their fated, entangled lives amidst all their joys and failures, swimming in the turbulence of sweeping historical changes.Every work of literature invariably comes up against the shores of narrative completeness where it faces its most troubled critics. Our Friends in the North has that self contained completeness where you are hard pressed to find leakages and thus you can say with a proud boast that its complete. There is an inevitability to the flow of lives that gives it a self sustaining rhythm till the end where you realize that nothing could have been any different. You feel for every character because by the time you have reached the end, you have come to believe in the old Buddhist maxim which exhorts man to believe in no judge-mental God who sits and punishes from above but to believe in man himself who weaves his own destiny, thread by thread which at the end of time, can chain him to the rock or carry him over to the heavens. A masterpiece which will last many a storm of time.