Our Friends in the North anniversary marked with special event at Tyneside Cinema
Writer Peter Flannery and actor Christopher Eccleston will be in attendance and take part in a Q&A to mark three decades since the first screening of the episode focused on the Miners' Strike
Thirty years to the day since its original broadcast, the Miners’ Strike episode of Our Friends in the North will be celebrated with a special Q&A screening in Newcastle.
Writer Peter Flannery will return to Tyneside Cinema alongside actor Christopher Eccleston for what organisers describe as an unmissable evening reflecting on the legacy of one of British television’s most acclaimed dramas.
Following last year’s event, which saw Flannery revisit the first and final episodes of the series, this anniversary screening focuses on the seventh instalment: 1984.
Set against the backdrop of the Miners’ Strike, the episode places political upheaval and personal conflict side by side as the lives of four lifelong friends are reshaped by events unfolding across the country.
***Spoilers incoming***
In 1984, Nicky (Eccleston), Geordie (Daniel Craig), Tosker (Mark Strong) and Mary (Gina McKee) are drawn into the turmoil of the strike. Mary and Tosker find themselves at odds with their policeman son on the picket lines, while Nicky returns to Newcastle, confronting both political realities and personal reckonings.
First broadcast in 1996, Our Friends in the North became a defining portrait of post-war Britain, charting social change through a North East lens.
It followed the story of four friends from Newcastle from the sixties to the nineties, with their fictional lives playing out against Britain’s evolving landscape.
Three decades on, this event promises audiences the chance to revisit a pivotal episode from the series - and hear directly from the writer and one of its central performers about its enduring impact.
Tickets for the screening and Q&A which takes place on February 26 at 7.30pm are now available via Tyneside Cinema’s website. We really wouldn’t tarry.