Our Friends in the North

When this drama first hit our screens in '96, there was a certain cynicism about lengthy serials set in contemporary times, and whether it could hold a nation's attention. Casting was wide and varied - the four leads, who grow up together, grow apart, and grow together again - were played with class by Gina MacKee, Chris Eccleston, Daniel Craig and Mark Strong. Others in support included David Bradley, Peter Vaughan, Malcolm McDowell, David Schofield, Daniel Casey, and many more. Each episode moved the story along through its thirty-year span, while we watched each character reach their highs and lows until the last episode which left them all reunited.

Two things in particular stand out - the episode about the miners' strike, which was brilliantly done; and the closing credits over which Oasis' 'Don't Look Back in Anger' was played. I can't think of a better tune to close this excellent serial. One of the BBC's best.

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.

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..

No offence Burrobaggy but the review is stereotypical of people with historical chips on their shoulder the size of Knots Landing. WAKE UP. The north east has changed / is changing/ will keep changing. It is not the outpost of England so "fondly" reconciled by anyone living south of the Midlands.

OK, so it's gritty, grim and depressing at times and the one thing I completely agree with is that the smug McKee is truly vile. But put the history of the program in context - it portrayed things "at the time". And that's exactly what it was - yes - even with the heavy dialogue and accent. Take it for what it was, a portrayal of life when it happened throughout the decades.

I happen to think it was a tremendous series brilliantly created for TV depicting credible characters which you warm to, relate to and sympathise with. Heck you even want to be on the frontline with them battling against the Police for the rights of the Miners (and I never agreed with that dispute!) Having recently rented the series after watching it originally on TV I retained the same feeling on conclusion. It left me feeling sad, fulfilled and wanting more even though that was never going to happen. This is truly an excellent drama. Put aside a weekend, rent it and lock out the world. And whatever you do, don't believe the north east is grim.....

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.