Our Friends in the North BBC - Peter Flannery, Adam Usden

Written by Peter Flannery, Adam Usden
Read by Tom Goodman-Hill, Norah Lopez Holden, James Baxter, Luke MacGregor, Philip Correia, Trevor Fox, Tracey Wilkinson, James Gaddas, Tony Hirst
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Dramatization

Our Friends in the North
Based on the Landmark BBC TV Drama
By: Peter Flannery, Adam Usden
Narrated by: Tom Goodman-Hill, Norah Lopez Holden, James Baxter, Luke MacGregor, Philip Correia, Trevor Fox, Tracey Wilkinson, James Gaddas, Tony Hirst
Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
Radio/TV Program
Release date: 05-01-2023
Language: English
Publisher: BBC Audio

Peter Flannery’s adaptation of his own iconic BAFTA award winning TV series - with a brand new final episode by award-winning writer Adam Usden

‘A stunning state-of-the-nation social commentary’ The Telegraph

First broadcast in 1996, Our Friends in the North was one of the most highly acclaimed TV shows of the 1990s. It launched the careers of Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee and Mark Strong, won numerous awards including three BAFTAs, and is widely regarded as a modern classic.

Now, 26 years later, Peter Flannery has recreated his epic saga for radio. Ambitious in scale and scope, the drama follows the fortunes of four friends over three decades, beginning in 1964. Drawing on real-life controversies from the Sixties and Seventies, it tackles corporate, political and police corruption in the 1960s, the Soho porn empires of the 1970s, the nouveau riche and the Miners’ Strike of the 1980s and the rise of New Labour in the 1990s. A final episode by Adam Usden brings the story up to the present day, picking up on several characters from 26 years before and showing them dealing with familiar challenges including housing conditions, young people’s engagement with politics and father/son relationships.

Starring four talented young actors - Norah Lopez Holden, James Baxter, Luke MacGregor and Philip Correia - this powerful, poignant audio retelling immerses us in the world of Tyneside pals Mary, Nicky, Geordie and Tosker, as they face personal, political and social upheaval, experience triumph and tragedy, and make decisions that will change their lives forever.

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17 March-9 June 2022

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