Our Friends in the North

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Our Friends in the North: Episode 8: 1987

Episode 8: 1987

BBC Radio 4 - Our Friends in the North, Episode 8: 1987

Award-winning series rewritten for audio by Peter Flannery.

Playwright and screenwriter Peter Flannery has rewritten his multi-award winning and highly acclaimed television series for BBC Radio 4.

Peter Flannery once famously said of Our Friends in the North, "I've always said it's just a posh soap opera - but it's a posh soap opera with something to say."

And now he has rewritten his multi-award winning and highly acclaimed television series as an audio drama for BBC Radio 4.

Ambitious in scale and scope, the drama chronicles the lives of four friends over three decades beginning in the 1960s. The series tackles corporate, political and police corruption in the 1960s, the rise and fall of the Soho porn empires in the 1970s, the nouveau riche and the Miners’ Strike of the 1980s and the rise of New Labour in the 1990s. Some of the stories are directly based on the real-life controversies involving T. Dan Smith and John Poulson in Newcastle during the 60s and 70s.

And the adapted series will now end with a new, tenth episode by writer Adam Usden, bringing the story up to the present day.

In episode 8 it’s 1987, the year of The Great Storm. Nicky, now a well-known photographer, has been married to Mary for two years, Tosker and Mary are now grandparents, and Geordie is still missing. 

Cast
Florrie / Psychiatrist: Tracey Wilkinson
Felix: Trevor Fox
Nicky / Christopher Collins: James Baxter
Tosker: Philip Correia
Elaine / Alice: Eve Shotton
Mary / Francine: Norah Lopez Holden
Geordie: Luke MacGregor
Eddie Wells: James Gaddas
Colin Butler: Tom Goodman-Hill

Writer: Peter Flannery 
Studio Engineer: Paul Clark
Sound Design: Steve Brooke
Trainee Production Co-ordinator: Emma O'Mahoney
Producer: Melanie Harris
Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4

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Peter Flannery's own adaptation of his highly acclaimed TV series for BBC Radio 4.

Peter Flannery's own adaptation of his highly acclaimed TV series, chronicling the lives of four friends over three decades, for BBC Radio 4.

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Episode 8: 1987

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