Tuesday 12 July 2011

Thank you Telly for... Our Friends in the North


Sorry guys, been a busy bee lately with not much time to watch much new telly, hence very few posts so to rectify this I thought I'd revisit some classic series and say thank you Tellly! So today Thank you telly for Our Friends in the North. 'But Suzanne! When it was aired in 1996, weren't you but a young child, living in jodpurs, giddy on super strong Irn Bru Soda Stream and watching the episode of the Monkees where Peter tries to get a job so many times that you memorise the entire scene where the computer interviews him, so much so that you can still recite it today word for word?' Well, yes... 'Shouldn't you have been in your bed dreaming of going to an Enid Blyton style boarding school, ruddy-cheeked and boisterously playing lacrosse with a robust sports captain jollying you along on the sidelines?' Yes, I should have been but I've never been a bedtime fan, I've always been a telly addict and, most importantly, THERE WAS A TELLY IN THE KITCHEN.


I remember the 1960s period trailors and at the age of ten I believed it to be hugely unfair that I was born in 1986 and missed the Beatles, the beehives and the Biba. Anything that even remotely suggested the period was a definite must, hence the dozen Woolworths-bought 60s compilation and my overuse of the word groovy (I was only ten). I took note of when Our Friends in the North was on and stayed up until I knew it was safe to sneak downstairs in the dark, turn the volume knob right down low before switching on the television with a clunk from the giant on button.


I remember very little from the series when it was originally aired, but the history arc that it followed always stuck with me, the housing scam, Margaret Thatcher, the miners strike, the 1987 hurricane, I drank it all in. Recently I re-watched the series with the benefit of being older and somewhat wiser. At ten I thought the actors were good and the make-up that aged them through the decades was good but I appreciate now what a brilliant ensemble cast Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, Mark Strong and particularly Daniel Craig, were. As an adult I'm now more drawn to the story of the four individuals; Mary and Nicky's love story, 40 years in the making; Mary and Toskers desperate struggle to keep their family together; Nicky's socialist political activism; Geordie's heartbreaking blows dealt by increasingly unfortunate circumstances.


Today it's still as impressive and moving as ever. An ambitious project, that could have easily fallen flat was excellently researched and executed by all involved. A journey through Britain's turbulant recent history combined with compelling stories of the people who lived it, Peter Flanery's epic drama still packs a punch today.