Culture Digest 29.05.26
A weekly round up of some of the arts and culture stories from across the North East, which caught our attention
Robson Green narrates North East’s latest starring role
Robson Green has voiced a new BBC film projected onto Alnwick Castle as part of a renewed push to showcase and grow the North East’s screen industry.
Projected onto the castle and captured using drone footage, the film references landmarks including the Tyne and Northumberland coast alongside shows such as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Byker Grove, Smoggie Queens and Robson’s own Weekend Escapes.
The announcement comes off the back of BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland and amid a fresh wave of BBC-backed productions being filmed across the North East.
A very good week to be Elijah Young
In related news (which also gets a mention in the full story above, but we wanted to give it a big slice of the spotlight here, too), Teesside actor and writer Elijah Young has had a belting week.
Exhibit 1: He and his Smoggie Queens co-star Alexandra Mardell had a ball at Radio 1’s Big Weekend and loved seeing the trailer for the second series of the hit Middlesbrough sitcom on the big screens.
Exhibit 2: Elijah was also delighted to celebrate the unveiling of a Smoggie Queens mural in Middlesbrough on Thursday. Created by local artist Stephen Irving (aka Zero Gradient) the artwork was commissioned by the BBC as part of its Made Of Here campaign.
Exhibit 3: The sitcom idea he has been working on with Gateshead production company, Candle and Bell for the past three years has had a comedy short commissioned. Sarnies is set in a sandwich shop in the Bigg Market and follows aspiring manager Sharon as she tries to keep staff and a new recruit out of trouble
Posting on social media, Candle and Bell founding producer, Maria Caruana Galizia, said: “The news is finally out! We’ve been working with Elijah on his sitcom idea since 2023 and we’re so excited to work on the next phase of this project. It’s hilarious and full of heart.”
A night with The Futureheads: Sunderland band to close city's Year of Music in style
More than two decades after they emerged from Sunderland’s thriving music scene to become one of the UK’s most distinctive bands, The Futureheads are taking to a home for a special one-off event celebrating their journey to date.
Hosted by Sunderland Music City, An Evening with The Futureheads will take place at The Fire Station on June 20, offering audiences the chance to hear directly from Barry Hyde, Ross Millard, David ‘Jaff’ Craig and Dave Hyde as they look back on more than 20 years in music.
The event forms part of the closing weekend of Sunderland Year of Music and also sits within Summit Week Sunderland, a programme of events surrounding the Music Cities Network Summer Summit, which will be hosted in the city for the first time.
Rather than a traditional gig, the evening promises a mix of conversation, memories, photographs and live performance as the band reflects on a journey which has taken them from local venues to international stages.
Star cast announced for Richard Bean birthday celebration reading at Live
Denise Welch and her son Louis Healy will come together at Live Theatre next month for a special reading celebrating the 70th birthday of acclaimed playwright Richard Bean.
The one-off performance of Smack Family Robinson, taking place on June 19, revisits the darkly comic Whitley Bay-set play which premiered at the Newcastle venue in 2003.
Best known for the international smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard has long enjoyed a close relationship with Live Theatre, and this anniversary reading will bring a host of familiar North East names back to the Quayside stage.
Alongside Denise and Louis will be Trevor Fox as family patriarch Gavin Robinson; Beth Crame in the role of daughter Cora, and actor and performance coach Luke Maddison as son Robert. Read more
Jeff Brown tells the story of Sunderland AFC’s first Black player
North East broadcaster and journalist Jeff Brown has helped bring the story of Roland Gregoire, Sunderland AFC’s first Black player, to a wider audience through a new film, now available on BBC iplayer.
The documentary sees Gregoire reflect on the racism he experienced during his time at the club during an emotional return to Wearside.
Jeff has written about the project for Cultured. North East. Don’t miss this weekend’s Cultured. On Sunday to read more.
All dolled up!
More than 10,000 dolls are on display in a line-up continuing last year’s celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the world’s first passenger train journey.
Organisers of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Bicentenary Festival distributed 22,000 peg dolls which people could decorate or craft to represent their own most memorable rail journey.
There was a huge response and ranks of the dolls have been displayed in an exhibition, Memory of a Journey at Durham County Council’s Durham Town Hall, which closes on Sunday (May 31).
The exhibition coincides with a major milestone for the venue, with the Great Hall, where the dolls will be on display, marking its 175th anniversary this year.
Art students sock it to us with degree show exuberance
As another academic year draws to a close, the fine art degree shows are blossoming around us – a parting gift that students on creative courses bestow on the public at large.
A popular attraction on Level 1 at Baltic is the Northumbria University show where much of the work on display is easily a match for that of established artists on other floors.
Displayed without elaborate explanation or contextual blather, the work nevertheless packs a visual punch – and it’s incredibly varied. Read more
First Newcastle showing for artwork by Wilson twins
The next exhibition at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle is to be Lines of Action, curated by Professor Louise Wilson, known for her artistic collaborations with twin sister Jane, a fellow Newcastle Uni prof in the fine art department.
It will look at how artists have used the ‘line’ as part of their creative practice, not just in drawing but in other forms of artistic expression.
“Artists’ ‘lines’ shape and consolidate time, thought and space within artworks irrespective of media – whether this be photography, painting, collage, printmaking, film or sculpture,” we are told.
A highlight will be Undead Sun, a video installation by the Wilson sisters made in 2014, 100 years after the outbreak of the First World War when the front line came to represent a ferocious stalemate.
Auction mystery over Newcastle’s FA Cup giant
After three FA Cup final defeats, Newcastle United and their fans could at last walk tall when they finally won the trophy in 1910.
A 2-0 win over Barnsley saw United bring the cup back to Tyneside where it was paraded through vast crowds thronging the city streets.
A big celebration was called for – and one contribution didn’t come much bigger than a 6ft 4in model/sculpture of a Newcastle player with No 9 on his back and inscribed with the winning scoreline.
United’s centre forward Albert Shepherd, who had cost £850 from Bolton, was the hero of the day with both goals against Barnsley.
Now the previously unknown figure has surfaced for sale on June 4 by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland, with an estimate of £800-£1,200. Read more
Glitter, sunshine and huge crowds as Radio One's Big Weekend hits Sunderland
Twenty one years after BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend last rolled into Sunderland with the swaggering company of Foo Fighters, Gwen Stefani and The Black Eyed Peas, the festival returned to Wearside at the weekend. And it was nothing short of glorious across the board.
Across three unbelievably sunny days (don’t be surprised if you see some out-of-towners turning up for a mini break in Houghton-le-Spring next May bank holiday), around 100,000 people descended on Herrington Country Park armed with bucket hats, iced coffees, factor 50 and enough glitter to keep the North East sparkling well into autumn.
Glitter beards, incidentally, emerged as one of the weekend’s undoubted fashion triumphs. Fair play to every single wearer and a special shout out to North East comedian and TV comedy maker, Jason Cook who fully leaned in.
Sunderland securing European football over the same weekend only added to the many reasons to celebrate (among the red and white members of the crowd, anyway).
Banners exhibition to tell story of strike and struggle
The struggles of workers during the 1926 General Strike are providing the inspiration for a new exhibition which will be seen by thousands of Tyneside travellers.
A display of banners will be created by individuals who have their own experiences of facing difficulties.
A creative health charity which works with communities across North Tyneside, Northumberland, Newcastle and South Tyneside will be presenting the exhibition in the Bridge Gallery at Tynemouth Metro Station from June 27-July 12 to commemorate the centenary of the General Strike.
North Tyneside Art Studio (NTAS), an advocate of the arts in the region for mental health and wellbeing, is working with Wisecrack Productions, who are staging South Shields writer Ed Waugh’s play The Cramlington Train Wreckers at Newcastle Theatre Royal in July. Read more
A collection that’s bigger on the inside
Newcastle United season ticket holder Dale Brotherton’s twin passions were football – and Doctor Who.
Mr Brotherton died in 2024 aged 54 and now a Newcastle auction house to sell his Doctor Who collection of 80 lots on June 10.
It includes a replica of The Doctor’s car ‘Bessie’, estimated at £4,000 to £6,000. The Siva Edwardian Tourer kit car has been modelled after the vehicle associated with Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor and carries the registration plate ‘WHO 244’, which is registered with the DVLA.
North East performers invited to join Annie cast
The sun will come out in Newcastle in 2027 as Tyne Theatre Productions has announced Annie as its next major amateur dramatic production.
Bringing together members of Tyne Theatre Productions and Tyne Youth Company, the classic musical is set to take over the stage at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre and Opera House early next year.
Performers of all ages will get the chance to be part of one of musical theatre’s most enduring crowd-pleasers, following the story of an ever-optimistic orphan called Annie and featuring unforgettable songs including Tomorrow, Hard Knock Life and Easy Street.
Audition details are expected to be released in the coming weeks. Read more
