Episode 1: 1964

Available for over a year

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. This first episode opens in 1964, with 20-year old Nicky Hutchinson meeting his girlfriend Mary on the beach. They’ve been apart all summer while Nicky was involved in the emerging US Civil Rights Movement. Her plans for them to spend the rest of the summer together are scuppered by Nicky’s sudden decision to throw himself into canvassing for the Labour Party ahead of the general election. His friend Geordie can’t see the point. He wants Nicky to join the band he’s putting together with Tosker. But Nicky’s far too busy. By the end of October, with Harold Wilson as PM, all four friends have made decisions that change their lives forever. Cast Mary: Norah Lopez Holden Nicky: James Baxter Geordie: Luke MacGregor Tosker: Philip Correia Felix: Trevor Fox Florrie: Tracey Wilkinson Austin Donohue: Tom Goodman-Hill Eddie Wells: James Gaddas Bede Connor: Tony Hirst Writer: Peter Flannery Studio Engineer: Paul Clark Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore Producer: Melanie Harris Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4