Our Friends in the North

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.

I felt compelled to comment after reading a disparaging comment, I too come from a 'North/South' family with a mix of working and middle class and in no way found this patronising or contrived.

Instead I found a drama that personalised Britain's modern history, which also gave me an anchor of historical facts while watching to really emerse myself in the stories.

I found the characters at times to be self important but this was clearly the intention- Eccleston's character Nicky was self-important and selfish with his views- these are character flaws. This was the brilliance of the length of the series as you become so intimately knowledgeable of the characters. The tragedy of Geordie and the on/off nature of Nicky and Mary's relationship. By the end you feel like you have lived their lives with them, something only achievable with a top notch cast and great script.

I would unreservedly recomend this to anyone, even outside of the UK, as it is quite simply brilliant drama.

Brilliant series documenting 4 Geordie's lives, from young adulthood to middle/old age, and set to a backdrop of politics. More a social documentary than a mini series, not only on our times but on the fallibility of the human race.

The acting is outstanding, particularly from Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Craig and Gina McKee who have all become very successful, in part, no doubt, due to this series.

Combine this with an amazing soundtrack covering over 30 years of great music and it gets even better. The inclusion of Pulp's "Common People" in the final episode is one of the most effective uses of music in film ever! The song builds as the action builds and the crescendo is heartbreaking but so realistic that I challenge you not to cry in despair for our young.

US citizens may find the accents a bit hard to cope with, heck even some Londoner's will struggle, but it is well worth persevering.

Moving, gritty, realistic OFITN is a must-see.

This is one of the very few programs in British TV that actually lived up to the hype. It was billed as one of the best TV drama's we would see and it delivered. It is the story about a group of friends from Newcastle and how they grow up from being angry young teenagers to mild middle aged parents. It starts off in the 60's and finished in the 90's. In that time it documents the change that they themselves have and the change that the north east had during the 30 years. The rebellious 60's to the 70's strikes and power shortages and the 80's hard times for working class families dished out by thatcher.

The series culminates in one of the most unforgettable endings in British dramatic history. Never has and Oasis song been more appropriate. I also have to admit that i cried at the end. This truly was top quality drama from the writing to the acting..

Possibly one of the greatest Drama of the Last 10 years.

This story of Characters and events of post war britain is fantastic.

A must see. The Cast are all excellent and a times this will amaze you to see the changes that have happened in Britain.