STEVE HATCHER on OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH (part one of two).

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on April 19th 2026.

OUR FRIENDS IN THE NORTH was an epic drama series produced by the BBC in 1996. Written by PETER FLANNERY and based upon his own stage play, it consisted of nine 63 to 75 minute episodes, each of which charted events in a particular year in the lives of four friends from Tyneside as they survived the ups and downs of their complex, interconnected, and political experiences across three turbulent decades from 1964 to 1995.

Often heart-breaking, but also occasionally life-affirming, it’s been argued that this series does a lot to confirm some suspicions that it’s grim up north, but it starred (and arguably made stars of) CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON, GINA McKEE, MARK STRONG and DANIEL CRAIG as NICKY, MARY, TOSKER and GEORDIE respectively, and weaved tales of corruption in local government and the police force, as well as documenting the effects of civil turmoil and several destructive political choices, and how they affected the lives of these four particular northern friends as they grew older.

Also featuring a host of notable actors, and featuring star turns from PETER VAUGHN and FREDA DOWIE as NICKY’S troubled parents, this production cost £8 MILLION to make which famously consumed half of the entire drama budget of BBC2 for the year.

Earlier this year STEVE HATCHER had been eagerly devouring this series and posting his thoughts about it on FACEBOOK, and offered to talk about the series with me for VISION ON SOUND. Naturally, this gave us a lot to talk about, and we over-ran somewhat, so this week we’ll be talking about the first half of the story, and next week we’ll come back and do it all again to cover the second part, as well as the radio remake from 2022 which attempted to bring the story up to date.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.