Sunday Column: Graeme Thompson
The former managing director of Tyne Tees and chair of the Royal Television Society Education Committee reflects on the region’s busiest period for television drama in decades
Get ready to see and hear a lot from the North East on your TV screens over the coming months. A £7m production fund and partnerships with two major broadcasters have resulted in a flurry of television drama commissions set in the region.
For the first time in more than three decades, the North East is seeing drama production across every month of the year stretching into 2027 and beyond. The BBC has committed a spend of £40m over a six-year period on programming from this corner of the UK. Channel 5 has ordered three drama series with more in the pipeline. ITV and Netflix are also eyeing projects from the area.
Currently filming, coming soon or just delivered are The Fortune (Lonesome Pine for 5), Forever Home (FilmNation for 5), the 10-part adaptation of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Big Talk for BBC), Smoggie Queens (Hat Trick for BBC) The Dumping Ground (CBBC) and the Northumbria Mysteries starring Robson Green (Lonesome Pine for BBC).
The last golden age of TV drama from the region was the 20-year period from 1973 when the BBC and Tyne Tees Television created and produced a host of career defining titles.
Early hits such as Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads (BBC 1973), When the Boat Comes In (BBC 1976) and The Paper Lads (Tyne Tees 1977) introduced audiences to the North East accent and the distinctive landscape stretching from the Scottish borders to the Tees Valley.
Auf Wiedersehen Pet (BBC 1983), the Catherine Cookson dramas (ITV 1989-2000) and Byker Grove (BBC 1989) made household names of local actors including Tim Healy, Jimmy Nail, Robson Green, Jill Halfpenny and Ant and Dec.
The same is now true of this latest crop of North East dramas showcasing talent both in front of camera and behind the scenes.
The Fortune, shot mainly on Teesside, had a mostly local crew led by director of photography James Cook from Newcastle. North Tyneside director Duncan Foster is working with James along the Northumberland coast on the Northumbria Mysteries. And Hartlepool actor Lewis Cope is one of the stars of Forever Home. There are many other examples.
North East Screen, which runs the North East Production Fund on behalf of partners including the region’s two combined authorities, says there’s much more to come.
“We’ve been steadily building our crew capacity through productions like Vera, The Dumping Ground and The Feud,” says chief executive Alison Gwynn. “It’s been our aim to build a sustainable sector where indigenous companies can flourish and opportunities are created for home grown talent. The strategy is also attracting talent back to their home region.
“We’ve been fortunate to have mayors who’ve prioritised the screen sector in the North East and Tees Valley. And it shows the impact of devolved funding. We’re also excited at the expansion of the Northern Studios in Hartlepool and the development of the Crown Works Studios in Sunderland.”
Commissioning Editor for 5 Drama Paul Testar agrees the production fund has been a game-changer for the North East. He says accessing the fund and having a flexible approach to rights and distribution has made it possible to make high quality drama on lower budgets.
“It takes really, skilful producers to work like this”, he admits. “It’s a new generation, a different era of producing. There’s huge opportunity in this space.”
Testar says of the 100 hours of drama produced by the channel, most are shot overseas to take advantage of cheaper costs and tax incentives. But shows like The Feud, filmed and edited in the North East, proves the channel’s budgets can work in the UK. “We don’t spend enough per hour to qualify for UK tax credits,” he adds. “Which is why the production fund makes such a difference.”
Lesley Douglas, whose Newcastle-based company Lonesome Pine, made The Feud, has just delivered psychological thriller The Fortune to 5. “The thing about doing drama here is that everyone wants it to succeed,” she says. “The crews are amazing and hugely talented, the locations are wonderful and the actors love working here. Scheduling is also easier because you can get from coast to countryside to city really quickly. That means you can do more in a day up here than you could in most other places.
“And there’s great camaraderie. We were doing The Fortune at the same time as ITV were filming I Fought for the Law. I feel so grateful to be part of this resurgence. We have a network of people here who work really hard to make things happen.”
Lonesome Pine is in talks with Testar to make a follow-up to The Feud which enjoyed a new lease of life when it was picked up by Netflix. “Seems Netflix viewers have similar tastes in drama to 5 viewers,” notes Testar. But right now, Douglas and her team are busy on 8x45 episodes of Northumbria Mysteries for the BBC starring Robson Green and set on the spectacular Northumberland coast.
It was green-lit by the BBC’s Commissioning Editor for Daytime and Early Peak Helen Munson, who is based in the region. “Four years ago when I moved back to the North East as a commissioner, it was always an ambition to develop drama. We’ve been very successful in that time in terms of factual shows and I’m confident Northumbria Mysteries will do well with our audiences.
“I loved the scripts. The writing is brilliant and the glorious Northumberland coast is a character in its own right. Robson Green as Joe Ruby is dream casting and each of the eight episodes has its own mystery to be solved.
“It’s distinctive, pre-watershed drama. And it’s one of a number of new shows we’re producing from the region over the coming months. There’s a long and honourable tradition of TV drama from this part of the world. My hope is that Northumbria Mysteries is a returning series for the region.”
Filming has just wrapped on another 5 drama Forever Home, an adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel switched from rural Ireland to Northumberland. “He’s fine about it being here,” says FilmNation executive producer Kirstie MacDonald. “He’s been over and loves what we’re doing.”
She echoes Testar’s admiration for the production fund. “It means we can deliver on the channel’s more modest budget but still attract outstanding talent on screen and off. And I can honestly say the crews here are incredible.” The smooth running of the show is also helped by the presence of many people from ITV’s Vera – including producers Will Nicholson and Fahima Chowdhury.
Residents around Hexham and surrounding villages have become used to seeing the parade of stars filming the show including Amy Nuttall, Denise Welch, Samantha Bond and Douglas Henshall.
MacDonald grins: “It’s a sign of the times that big names in television have recognised the landscape has changed and actually, they’d rather be in something good and not get the same (fee) their agent perhaps, had hoped for. But at least they’re going to have that visibility. After all, channel 5 has a big audience.”
Meanwhile, watch this space. More commissions are expected over the coming months. There’s even a tantalising rumour that at least one broadcaster is mulling over a new take on the Catherine Cookson historical sagas.