Our Friends in the North (1996) User Reviews

Far better than average UK mini series

[toncasgirl · 9/10 · 20 September 2005]

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.

Checking In On "Our Friends in the North"

[MrPeterJohnson · 8/10 · 8 September 2022]

Watched this over Labor Day weekend and, as an American, found myself intrigued by the surreal, yet quite real, world depicted. From 1964 and 1995, the series follows the turbulent lives of Nicky, Geordie, Mary, and Tosker, four friends from Newcastle. By observing their lives, we are offered a dramatization of the major cultural and political shifts that occurred in Newcastle and London over the span of 31 years presented. What anchors this dramatization is the way these characters become involved in the changes of their time. Each of the series' nine episodes focuses on a significant year in the lives of these characters, presenting snapshots of these people's lives.

One of the series' greatest strengths is its cast. Each of the four leads is worthy of praise. Gina McKee's BAFTA-winning turn as Mary is a remarkable example of the way sensitivity can imbue a character with strength. As Geordie, Daniel Craig demonstrates tremendous range as a performer, displaying remarkable restraint in some of the show's most heartrending scenes. Christopher Eccleston gives an excellent performance as Nicky, capturing his character's creeping disenchantment with politics and life in Newcastle. As Tosker, Mark Strong does a remarkable job tempering his character's worst tendencies with a credible sense of vulnerability. Supporting players are quite strong as well, with special regard for Peter Vaughan's portrayal of Felix, Nicky's father.

These performances anchor a solid, if not perfect, set of scripts for the series. One of the show's central narrative elements is the way it generates snapshots of its characters. Snapshots seems an apt descriptor because the writers choose to present characters at specific moments in their lives. Though the series' narrative progresses chronologically, the series' narrative causality is interrupted with the start of each new episode. The series' writing is strong when it connects the lives of its characters to the tides of political and cultural change in the time periods depicted. This strength balances out what I believe to be the more melodramatic and sentimental elements of the script. Nicky's desperation to make a meaningful change births an anti-establishment sentimentality that is laid on thick as the series progresses. Also, that same character's infidelity toward Mary later in the series seems to have little grounding in Nicky's character as developed to that point. (Yes, Mary endures an unhappy marriage with both Tosker and Nicky.)

As far as criticisms go, some elements of the series' make up have not aged well. The old age makeup employed in the episode is not convincing. Mary looks no different in that final episode than she does at any point in the series, and she is supposed to be at least in her 40s.

While I do enjoy the series, the series does contain many tropes common to working class dramas, as well as melodramas that involve the passing of large amounts of time. It should be stated that the series plainly sympathizes with left wing politics against anything else.

Outside of that, the series was a fascinating foray into British drama for me.

Best Episode: "1984"

A landmark British series

[rp-j · 10/10 · 16 May 2005]

This is truly one of the finest series to come out of Britain. It took writer Flannery 15 years to get the series made, and when it was eventually produced the UK channel BBC2 spent their entire drama budget for the year on it. However, it was a fine investment.

The lives of four friends from Newcastle are followed from 1964 to 1995, against a backdrop of massive social and political change. It says much for the quality of the writing and the performances of the principal actors that you find yourself getting heavily involved with the characters' lives and caring a great deal for them. The leads have gone on to further successes, but this series catches them all early in their careers, and on astonishing form.

It was, in hindsight, a good thing that it took so long to get the show made. Flannery's original play ended in 1980, but the elongated production process enabled him to write more and more about the characters' fortunes, and take them another 15 years into the future. The most changed character was Geordie, who served in the army in Rhodesia in the original play, but finds himself instead in swinging London in a strip club in the finished series.

Do yourself a favour. Pick up the DVD set, and savour 14 hours of top television. It will make you think, it will move you, and we will never see its like again.

One of the greatest TV Dramas

[mattjtemp · 3 December 2003]

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.

Portrait of A Generation of Friends from the 1960's to the 1990's

[barryrd · 9/10 · 6 June 2020]

This series is excellent, both heart warming and tragic, as the characters go through thirty years of youth to middle age experiencing the cycle of life as the society and its politics evolve in a very haphazard way. The major actors are Gina McKee, Daniel Craig, Mark Strong and Chris Ecclestone. I like the role of Gina McKee who is a favourite of mine. Aristocratic and sexy, she has a tremendous presence in any role she takes. The love scene with Chris Ecclestone in the first show is one of the most stunning I've ever seen. Over time, she evolves to become the most admirable character. Ecclestone is the political idealist who finds that the practise of politics doesn't measure up to his ambition to make life better for ordinary people. He's a man in a hurry. To his credit, he does care about people but his ambition overrules his judgement. Mark Strong seemed to be the least impressive and the one most likely to mess up. This he did. In time, however, he matured and found happiness in a second relationship. Daniel Craig grew up in a dysfunctional family. As a youth, he seemed to handle it well and was a model youth. Time and the wrong people eventually took their toll. When it was over, I was disappointed but also hopeful that sometimes things can go well. I seem to be one of the relatively few viewers in North America to follow this series. I was fortunate to be a subscriber to Britbox because I developed a taste for British television watching PBS from 1975 on. British television now provides more gritty fare than in the days of Alastair Cooke. I'm not complaining because this series is a good example of the best of British television. It was actually made in 1996 but I only became aware of it through Britbox.

An absolute classic. One of the best.

[dave-ditchburn · 10/10 · 31 July 2021]

When the story kicks off,I was 2 years old. As it progresses I could recall more and more of what it was all about.

It doesn't attempt to be a documentary but many of the situations the characters find themselves in are incredibly close to what went on over the decades in my families home area.

Yes there's a few dodgy accents but thats entirely forgivable when you're watching what they're up to.

The cast and the casting is superb just about every actor in the production instantly recognisable 25yrs on . The scripts and story line fantastic. Even the sets and costumes 100% bang on.

I've not put any spoilers because a snapshot comment won't help but I will say we binge watched it. Too good not to but were actually quite sad when it ended.

Perfect TV

[mikeiskorn · 10/10 · 2 August 2021]

What a real tour de force of British television. I love these 80s and 90s dramas and this one is probably one of the best I've seen. It's long, dark, gritty, dialogue heavy and all the characters' stories interact so beautifully. The writing is second to none and when people say 'they don't make them like this anymore' .. with regards to this, never before or since! Just watch it. It's perfect tv.

5 Star Series

[theinvestigator · 9/10 · 25 September 2005]

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.....

The Greatest TV Serial In History

[spiro_sea · 10/10 · 4 April 2005]

Forgive the hyperbole but I want to make it very clear how highly I rate this incredible series.

A little background on the series first: Set from the 60's through to that strange decade the 1990's, Our Friends In The North was at the time, a benchmark series for BBC and was the most expensive drama series produced up to then. Featuring hundreds of characters, a huge and talented cast, good production values and a truly unrivalled script and story, OFITN set the benchmark for a dramatic production that only a few other TV projects have ever matched.

The story sees four characters, linked as a circle of friends at first, go about their lives in England and attempt to make sense of the world. All four are different in their own right and more so than the broad brush strokes that first mark them out. Geordie (Daniel Craig) is sensitive, charming and intelligent and a long time friend of both Tosker and Nicky. He is arguably the most vulnerable of the four and his terrible home life causes him to run away to seamy London. Nicky (Chris Eccleston) is brash, opinionated and full of pretencion but is an optimist and has genuine beliefs. he also sees his father a burn-out who doesn't understand that the world is at a crossroads. Nicky makes the most attempts to change the world by varying means, politics, journalism and even terrorism. By the end, Nicky has seen his dreams utterly destroyed.

Mary (Gina McKee) is the adult character, being that she has a tough family to deal with (her brother is disabled) but she makes the most of things. She is Nicky's girlfriend at first but it isn't to last as she has plans that don't include saving the world. Mary has to deal with being a young mother in a crumbling tower-block before her husband makes good of himself. Tosker (Mark Strong) gives the most unsympathetic performance as the rather basic Tosker. He seduces Mary away from Nicky and gets her pregnant. He is hell-bent on his plan to get rich and despite many different methods, A fruit and veg van, real estate and a restaurant, it seems that Tosker is destined to always just fall short of his aims. And in love he also fails to win over Mary as the two contest a loveless marriage.

Over the series it covers myriad issues, from Poverty to Organised Crime and Police Corruption. The entire storyline with the criminal world of London is the most exciting but equally gripping is Mary's struggle to raise her son and make something of herself which she does ably. Nicky goes through a rough ride with his parents but ultimately finds a redemption. Geordie however is almost totally destroyed by following the wrong people the wrong way and ends up in prison. For Geordie, the system has no time for him.

The four lead performances are varied but all very good. Gina McKee gives the best all round performance across the series but Chris Eccleston is typically fiery. Daniel Craig has perhaps the easiest role to play but does it brilliantly. Mark Strong has less to work with but does well with the rather weak Tosker.

The supporting cast is a packed house of likable and hatable and inbetweens. Daniel Webb is great as honest cop DS Ron Conrad, equally David Bradley is superb as grass roots Labour politician Eddie Wells. Malcolm McDowell gives an epic performance as vice kingpin Benny Barret and Tony Haygarth is brilliant as optimistic old cop Roy Johnsen. There really are no poor performances and the whole story passes by like a real life watched in intervals.

The project isn't perfect, but as a piece of evolving art is quite without comparison. Over the 30 years of the story, people come and go, die and are born, grow up and fall apart, love and lose love and all end up being badly hurt by the system and when their beliefs are challenged. Nicky learns that the world is a hard place to change, Mary that she has become a martyr to her family, Geordie that if you fall through the cracks you are left behind and Tosker, perhaps he learns that sometimes it is right to be satisfied with what you have.

The stand out scenes in this epic are many, from young Anthony cox's crazy ride into Geordie's past, to the shocking double cross in London, to the sad collapse of Nicky's father to the beautiful ending where the four share a moment of pathos and are "in the moment" together, perhaps for the last time.

In all of TV history, only HBO's phenomenal Band of Brothers even comes close to this level of excellence. Not to be missed.

10/10

10/10 Drama Of Epic proportions

[tiberijegrozni · 10/10 · 17 December 2020]

One of the finest moments of British Television and any other television for that matter. Three decades in the lives of 4 friends covering their youth, their dreams, defeats, disappointments and tragedies while at the same time showing us all the changes happening in the English society from 1960's-1990's. First class acting, wonderful use of music to depict the time period and marvelous production values make this one of the viewing events that will stay forever in your memory since after watching this it will be hard to find anything better.

Masterpiece if there was one

It's worth the time

[ferdinand1932 · 8/10 · 10 March 2010]

When this was broadcast in 1996 it was really important. Britain was tired of the Tories and they were incompetent but also the soul of what drives political ideals was gone. A year after this series was shown the Labour party swept to power. Not that there is a correlation there but the mood of the country had changed.

Fourteen years later - in 2010 - there is so much to admire here, even if the political urgency has past: the writing, production, casting, and threads to the long story, but there also parts that don't work anymore: the sex and corruption theme stands out here. As this is a single writer's work it has great features in character and in the human play that covers 40+ years. It also tends to fall into dirge over the miner's strike - as important as that was but like some other elements it is a bit close to agitprop-theater of the 1970s.

The biggest impression made now is that we have lost this type of story on TV. We are too involved with reality TV rubbish and contest shows of dubious merit and consuming more junk than stories about how people live. And finally, in an era of spin politics it reminds us that politics starts from simple things like housing and respect.

It's over 9 hours to watch the whole series and it's worth the time.

Blurs the line between drama and real life.

[filterlab · 10/10 · 22 January 2007]

Realistically, words cannot describe just how superbly written and beautifully played this drama is. It grips so tight that it's almost hard to imagine that it is in fact a story and the characters become real people, almost giving the impression that their very existence influenced certain political factors throughout the 1970's and 1980's.

It begins in 1964 with the main character Dominic Hutchinson (Christopher Eccleston) arriving home in Newcastle after a trip to New Orleans, and follows his life and the lives of his three childhood friends. It begins so innocently in fact that it's hard to imagine where the story is heading when one first sits down to view.

It's soon apparent though that the main driving subject of the drama (and in fact the stake that's driven through the friendships of the characters) is the politically uneasy period in British history, and the story is exceptionally deftly woven with real life occurrences, from the electricity rationing and the resulting three day working week to the surge of pornography, strip clubs and Police corruption in Soho, from the uprise of Thatcherism to the destruction of the mining industry.

Everything that happened in this time period in Britain has a showing here, whether it be a main hinge-point of the story or a television programme in the background. And just as it affected our lives at the time (storm of 1987 for example), it affects the lives of the characters in turn. It also highlights the rags to riches to rags nature of life that luckily only taints a few of us, but one poor soul - Geordie - has the kind of life that would send most of us to tears, played beautifully by Daniel Craig in the role he was really made for.

Geordie is the epitome of 'floating down the stream', and literally goes from unemployed Newcastle escapee to Soho Porn King's number 2. His portrayal of the character is absolutely superb, with real attention paid to the nuances one would expect to see in life without noticing.

In fact all the cast play beautifully, the main four being Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, Daniel Craig and Mark Strong supported by the acting superiority from the likes of Peter Vaughan, Alun Armstrong, Malcolm McDowell, Donald Sumpter and many others besides.

The one thing that really struck me was in the final episode. There is a momentary glance between all four of the characters when after all the years and all the problems and all the arguments, they've all ended up exactly where they started, it's just 21 years later.

It made me realise (bearing in mind I was only 19 when I first saw it), why people say 'I don't feel as old as I am', and why I now don't feel any older than I did fifteen years ago. It can't be quantified, you'll just have to watch it to understand.

I don't know of any other drama/film/series that could convey so much sense of focus and proportion and really show life for what it is (and what it was in the 70's and 80's), but if there's something out there that does, I'd love to see it.

Just sit down quietly with this drama, listen to every word, watch every scene and concentrate on the social commentary. I swear if this doesn't communicate, you can't be a human.

British politics. A little slow for non-brits

[jc811 · 6/10 · 30 March 2020]

Not nearly enough focus on the 4 main cast members. Anything that does happen, it is usually with British politics as the backdrop. Great for Brits, Pretty slow for anyone else.

After 9 episodes, I really didn't care about anything I watched.

NorthEnders - The Greatest Show of Working Class Clichés on Earth

[burrobaggy · 2/10 · 18 May 2005]

Looking at all the reviews here claiming this as the greatest British TV drama ever and looking at all the awards it won and rave reviews it got, I'm just left asking if there's another show out there called our Friends in the North, because the one I finally finished slogging through on video is a template for every bad I-wanna-be-Ken-Loach cliché out there. I can't vouch for the London scenes, which look as unbelievable as any of the amateur-hour post-Lock Stock gangster movies we slept through over the past few years, but the Newcastle scenes play like a bad joke - the Beeb drama department's version of the 'Thick Scousers' characters that Harry Enfield used to do in his TV show. Every possible cliché is ladled on with a trowel and with heavy handed dialogue that sounds like someone reading from a manifesto or a history book. The performances are also either incredibly self-important - Eccleston in the first of his humourless pompous leftwing stereotypes and McKee so smug you want someone to thump her stand out especially - or so over the top it's not even funny (yes, Malcolm McDowell, I do mean you).

Sure there are a few big themes, but they're swamped by the trite writing, dodgy performance (and bad old-age makeup) and blah direction. Forget all the raves. This is just an unconvincing, overlong timewaster, one of the great so whats? of British television.

As time rolls by

[shoreup · 16 November 2015]

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.

Old Friends Revisited

[denise-882-139023 · 10/10 · 2 July 2023]

This was a must watch series for me when it was first on television.

So much of it resonated with me as, the issues portrayed, featured heavily in my lifetime. The three day week, the miners strikes and the Thatcher years, in particular. What's more, even though relatively young for most of the years covered by the series, and being a Londoner, I was acutely aware of the injustices of those times; frankly it was miserable.

The performances, the script and the story telling were excellent.

People still talk about how good the series was , it truly was landmark television.

I have just rewatched the series. My goodness, it seems even more brilliant today.

As an aside, it seems that both the major political parties are just as bad now as they were then; nothing really changes.

Strangely, I was not that interested in Geordie's storyline the first time around, but this time I was riveted and often in tears.

The choice of music also resonated more this time around.

The other factor is seeing how well these actors have done since.

Just brilliant TV.

One of the finest dramas ever...

[mikelivesey-93314 · 10/10 · 29 October 2022]

I have just finished watching this superb drama for the first time in 2022. In 1996 when it was released for a multitude of reasons I simply didn't watch it. Probably because I was out on the piss.

The start of the drama is in 1964 ironically the year I was born. And the story of the characters within OFITN are basically revisited every few years to see how their characters have changed, this is fascinating because each character makes life changing decisions based on their immediate circumstances and the knock on effects over time are mesmerising to watch.

The drama quite clearly catapulted nearly every actor and actress within in it on to bigger things. I always remember Freddie Vaughan as the character " Grouty." in Porridge opposite Ronnie Barker. But his turn in this was quite simply oscar worthy. To see him go through his life with morals and decency to an aging father with alzheimer's slowly slipping away whilst trying to search for something is truly tragic and heart breaking.

Christopher Eccleston's character as Nicky is awesome as his son who becomes angry and disillusioned with his father as his father slips away with alzheimer's. Amazing performance.

I couldn't help but shed tears for Daniel Craig's immense performance as the unlucky Geordie Peacock. The transformation of him from film star looks to a homeless person was a combination of amazement and sadness at the realization that it could happen to anyone.

Gina McKee was fantastic throughout as the sort of person an entire group communicates with at any and all times. Mark Strong was again fantastic ( he had a good head of hair back then ) For a drama to span from 1964 to 1995 at roughly every 3 year intervals in 1996 was not only commendable and highly original but it displayed the differences of the North / South divide and the political decisions at the time .

If only they would have done a second season...

Absolutely wonderful

[sheenajackie · 10/10 · 23 November 2009]

Agreeing with all the other commentators, this drama is the best that the BBC can produce. Gina McKee, Mark Strong, Daniel Craig, and Christopher Eccleston all cut their teeth in this series and went on to bigger things - but never better. Even Daniel Craig's James Bond does not outshine his performance as Geordie. Watching the DVD set years after the first viewing, I cried all over again at human weakness, corrupt politics, illusions and disillusionment, and marvelled afresh at the supremely accomplished acting skills. I have lived right through the period of the play and empathise all the way with the four protagonists' dreams and aspirations then disappointment and demoralisation. And all credit to Peter Flannery whose script's excellence matches those of such playwrights as Poliakoff and Stoppard. He never misses a trick and his grasp of the vagaries of human behaviour are pitch-perfect, and nor do his actors ever fail in conveying his meanings and intentions. And despite everything in the plot lines implying a diastrous ending, the final scenes are upbeat and positive - an admirable achievement.

I disagree with some of the other commentators who felt Mark Strong's acting was not quite as good as the others. Oh yes, it was. His character was a deceptively difficult one to play and Strong was convincing in every scene. His ingenuous naivete in its own way compared equally with Eccleston's. The different directions the four lives take were totally believable and every scene in all nine episodes was brilliantly played. And to maintain this the back-up cast were superb. The exceptional performances of veteran actors David Bradley and Peter Vaughan, and also Freda Dowie and Alun Armstrong, added acute verisimilitude, making the whole a complete and perfect drama. If I had to choose, then Daniel Craig's portrayal of the doomed but not defeated Georgie has to be the most powerful in a whole cavalcade of outstanding performances.

I can't praise this series enough and would recommend it to any teacher of drama, film studies, general studies, current affairs, or history. All the younger generation should see this. It encapsulates their immediate historical background and provides a context by which they could understand why England is in the state it's in today.

The Bohemian Rhapsody of British TV drama

[mbpaterson-1 · 10/10 · 5 October 2021]

Sprawling, epic, jaw-dropping, moving: OFITN is unparalleled. Eccleston, Craig, McKee and Strong lead a stellar cast on top form in an episodic saga that visits the central characters at key moments in British history from 1964-95.

Great TV

[ian1000 · 10/10 · 7 November 2009]

Just a few years ago the BBC could and did make quality drama that was not a poor impression of American shows (Spooks), yet another costume drama or a mere vehicle for whatever large TV star had recently been signed up.

Back in 1996 the BBC amazed us over 9 weeks with a sprawling drama covering the lives of four friends over 31 years and the immense changes in the UK over that time.

It's not without its faults - Malcolm is an odd London porn baron; I can think of several actors who would have been better suited, and it does display its left wing credentials - although of course some of the chief villains are Labour councillors.

The scenes in Scotland Yard in 1966,67,70 and 74 are the most compelling, and a little research will reveal the accuracy of the tale; the northern property corruption was famously accurate too, the real life persons died in 1993, paving the way for the screening of this show.

I remember reading an interview with Daniel Craig, complaining that he was typecast as Daniel "Geordie Peacock" Craig; presumably his present 007 status has exorcised that ghost!

Still the best 25 years later

[abarson · 10/10 · 24 January 2021]

If you get the chance to watch this, do it and watch it all. If you can do it in one go even better although after watching the 1st episode you will find it difficult trying to stop watching. Much has been said in other reviews on this but to make a drama like this now for mainstream television would be impossible. Amazon / Netflix and a.n.other could do it but my god they would have to fork out a lot of money. The idea of the drama is superb, the production values are impeccable but the genuine genius of this was the casting. All the main four actors were relatively unknown at the time but just look at where they are now. I will not say who was best as it is impossible, all of them made stunning portraits of people you can really relate to. The "support" cast are magnificent, each and every one of them, but special mentions go to Peter Vaughan, Marlcolm McDowell, David Bradley and especially Alan Armstrong. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry (Geordie and Nicky at the bar at time of Nicky's mums funeral).

Watch it and you will see how drama with the right team of people behind it can work and work well.

Pure genius.

[gaz_murfin · 10/10 · 10 July 2001]

OFITN, is quite simply brilliant. It is well directed, well filmed and well acted. Basically, combine this with the all star cast it has and you can`t go wrong - definately recommended! I paid over £50 for the originals - and I`m glad I did! :)

gripping stuff

[mickey dripping · 8/10 · 7 July 2001]

This is good gripping stuff which will hold your attention. Realistic characters and storylines based on real life North East scandals are fun to watch.

Eccleston is great. Mckee carries it through. David Bradley is the mortar which holds the series together.

Depressing

[fairacre · 7/10 · 25 March 2019]

This series was well acted, sometimes slow, but almost always depressing. I watch TV for entertainment and I enjoy British drama and murder mysteries, but this series was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.