Show Notes
Ho'way man! It's time to gan 'yem hinny.
Andy, who grew up in the North East, first watched the series half his lifetime ago, aged 24, while Martin enjoys it for the very first time. They both agree however that 'Our Friends' is a stone-cold classic.
Because there was just too much to say about this phenomenal series we've divided our episode on Peter Flannery's epic award-winning drama about love, politics, police corruption, and housing policy, into two parts. In this first part we discuss the four leading characters: idealistic Nicky (Christopher Eccleston), long-suffering Mary (Gina McKee), troubled Geordie (Daniel Craig) and flawed dreamer Tosker (Mark Strong). We also share our favourite moments and plotlines from the first five episodes which were set between 1964 and 1974. Next time we'll cover 1979 onwards.
We don't always find this watch of Our Friends a comfortable experience with it's vivid depiction of corruption, self-serving Tories, and self-defeating Labour factionalism, all of which underline that very little has changed here in the UK. However, at the same time we absolutely revel in the series' ambition, complex characters, and intricate plotting. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too.
"I'm coming home Newcastle. You can keep yer London wine. I'd walk the streets al day al neet, for a bottle of the River Tyne."
Next Time: Our Friends in the North - Part 2 (1979-1995)
More from An A to Z of UK Television Drama
[Spoiler alert! This series is almost 50 years old but we will be revealing - around 90 minutes - in who spectacularly dies in the literal cliffhanger to episode 7. You have been warned!]
After a brief hiatus, Andy and Martin resume the second season of A to Z with the letter V. Admittedly cheating a little, their choice was 'Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton', the second of two autobiographical Dennis Potter plays from 1965 in The Wednesday Play strand. They also cover the first play, 'Stand Up, Nigel Barton'. Both feature Keith Barron as the title character who we follow from childhood, to university, to a reluctant attempt to stand as a Labour candidate in the General Election.
Andy and Martin travel back in time to the summer of 1965 and the adventures of HR consultant Drew Heriot and his sister-in-law Anne as they face up to the machinations of 'Undermind’: aliens who have brainwashed British citizens in order to cause national unrest ahead of their imminent invasion. Their various schemes include: spreading pirate radio misinformation; inciting youth violence in a seaside resort; influencing the works of a popular children’s author; the distribution of suicide-inducing birthday records; interference with the printing of exam papers, and most abominably of all, the assassination of Eamonn Andrews! Yes, really.
This month Andy and Martin review the highly regarded 1987 BAFTA-winning Scottish drama Tutti Frutti, written by John Byrne and starring Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson.
Twenty-one years after their first recorded interview on the first Survivors DVDs back in 2003, Andy catches up with Carolyn Seymour who played Abby Grant in Survivors.