麻豆社

Our Friends in the North is a multiple award-winning nine-part 麻豆社 Two drama serial, telling the story of four friends from Newcastle from the 1960s to the 1990s. While its fictional events play out against the backdrop of an evolving Britain of the late 20th century, the story of its production is also one of great change – at the 麻豆社.

Long development

There are thousands of papers in files from the series held by the 麻豆社 Written Archives Centre at Caversham in Berkshire, including some of the earliest print-outs of email correspondence you鈥檒l find in the 麻豆社鈥檚 collections.

These files make it clear that Our Friends in the North鈥檚 path to transmission would make a drama in and of itself. It had taken more than a decade for it to be successfully adapted by Peter Flannery from his own Royal Shakespeare Company play of the early 1980s.

There had been legal concerns due to Flannery basing some of the supporting characters on real people. When these worries started to ease through the early 1990s as some of those people died, in April 1994 assistant producer Nicola Shindler jokingly referred to Flannery in one memo as 鈥渢he first serial killer whose motive was to get a drama made.鈥� Earlier in the programme鈥檚 development, in 1990, consultations with the 麻豆社鈥檚 legal department had dismissed the idea of setting Our Friends in the North in a fictional country as the events of the story 鈥渨ould make the country easily recognisable as Britain.鈥� However, the 麻豆社 lawyer consulted had suggested setting elements of it 鈥渋n Scotland鈥� or 鈥渢he distant past (1930s)鈥� to try and provide suitable distance from reality.

There are also the usual fascinating titbits you get from such paperwork; paths not taken, actors鈥� names suggested, agents approached. It is a fun mental game to imagine the alternative world in which Mary, Nicky, Tosker and Geordie were played not by Gina McKee, Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong and Daniel Craig, but instead by Helen Baxendale, Alan Cumming, Sean Pertwee and Paterson Joseph. Where the serial was directed not by Stuart Urban, Pedr James, and Simon Cellan-Jones, but by Danny Boyle.

A changing world

But actually, there鈥檚 another, bigger story told by these files. It鈥檚 the story of the 麻豆社 beginning to change from one approach to programme making to another. The start of a journey away from making and doing almost everything itself, to where it stands today as more of a 鈥榩ublisher broadcaster鈥�; commissioning most of its dramas from outside producers.

Until the 1990s, the 麻豆社 had acted as a television production factory. But by the time of Our Friends in the North, many resources such as design, costume, lighting and various others were increasingly being put out to tender. Indeed, since the passage of the 1990 Broadcasting Act the 麻豆社 had even had a legal requirement for 25% of its programmes to be made for it by independent production companies.

This was not unique to the 麻豆社. Such changes were happening at the big ITV companies as well and in many other industries. Hospitals, for instance, might once have employed their own catering or cleaning staff, but would now contract-out such services.

When Our Friends in the North was being made in 1994 and 95, the 麻豆社鈥檚 in-house departments still existed but were now having to compete on a commercial basis. For example, for forty years the 麻豆社 had run their own set of film studios at Ealing, where productions made on film like Our Friends in the North would usually have been shot. This was as opposed to the videotaped shows made at 麻豆社 Television Centre.

But the 麻豆社 was at this point already in the process of shutting down its operation at Ealing, and Our Friends in the North demonstrates one of the reasons why. The production team had chosen to shoot the interior scenes at Bray Studios, the former home of the Hammer horror movies 鈥� because it was cheaper, although the series did use 麻豆社 film crews.

One foot in the past

Extensive use was made of other 麻豆社 departments, though, and the paperwork is peppered with references to them. There was much correspondence with the 鈥楴egative Checking鈥� team, to take one example, with many faxes going back-and-forth to make sure the names of fictional Newcastle businesses and the like didn鈥檛 clash with any actual names from reality.

Where the Our Friends production team was based also shows a foot in an older world. Its offices were in the 麻豆社鈥檚 Threshold-Union House complex on Shepherd鈥檚 Bush Green in West London, where scores of drama programme teams had been based for more than thirty years. However, this was to the chagrin of producer Charles Pattinson, who had wanted to be based closer to the drama executives up the road at Television Centre.

That he couldn鈥檛 was down to space 鈥� one 1994 memo sets out that Our Friends in the North required 鈥�9 offices ideally in a very particular configuration, to house 3 teams and a Design team as well as producer, support staff, script editor, you-name-it.鈥�

Pattinson also had to internally defend his series against a view some of his own superiors held, that programmes made for the 麻豆社 by independent companies were more economical than those made by the Corporation itself.

鈥淭he budget now stands at 拢750,671 per hour,鈥� he explained in May 1994. 鈥�How High the Moon [transmitted as Seaforth] from Initial Pictures has often been quoted to me as an example of an independent achieving period drama for a fraction of in-house costs but their budget approximates to 拢780K per hour.鈥�

Viewer responses

Even though the files do contain the odd email, Our Friends in the North was made and shown in what was still mostly a pre-online world. 1996 was 11 years away from the arrival of the 麻豆社 iPlayer. Although home video recorders were prevalent, if you forgot to tape a programme or your recording went awry, you had no easy way of being able to see it.

The paperwork shows Pattinson pushing hard for what was called a 鈥榥arrative repeat鈥� 鈥� each episode being transmitted again later in the week of its first broadcast, giving a chance for viewers to catch up. But this was turned down for reasons of cost 鈥� a far cry from iPlayer 鈥榖ox sets鈥�.

Pattinson鈥檚 frustration at this perhaps explains why after the conclusion of Our Friends in the North, he responded positively to more than one viewer pleading for a copy of the final episode.

鈥淪ince it would be too far for you to come and view a cassette here and we currently have a couple of spare copies, I have decided to send you a cassette of Episode 9, as requested,鈥� the producer wrote in reply to one such letter. 鈥淐an I please urge, however, that you return the tape to us as soon as possible to the address on the box.鈥�

Several who wrote in said that they felt almost compelled to do so. How Our Friends in the North had, in some way, touched their lives and reflected their own experiences. 鈥淎fter spending so many evenings in the company of Tosker, Geordie, Nicky, Mary and the rest of the cast, I shall miss them all very much,鈥� is a typical example of the sentiments often expressed; this from someone clearly so transported by the serial that they accidentally dated their letter 鈥�1969鈥� rather than 鈥�1996鈥�.

However, the letters were not universally positive. 鈥淕ood serial, shame about the boring use of disabled character 鈥楶atrick鈥�,鈥� wrote someone signing themselves as 鈥楢鈥�. 鈥淗ow convenient he should die in the fourth episode. Doesn鈥檛 that just sum up society鈥檚 attitude towards us? You鈥檇 love us to just turn over and die. Tough 鈥� we ain鈥檛 going to.鈥�

The view from the top

麻豆社 Director-General John Birt sent a note to Managing Director of Network Television Will Wyatt suggesting, 鈥渨e might look at the quality of historical research on our drama. There are too many lapses for my taste in the otherwise compelling Our Friends in the North.鈥�

In reply, however, Wyatt pointed out that it was impossible to comment 鈥渨ithout knowing which points,鈥� Birt was referring to. 鈥淚t is a fiction, albeit heavily based on history.鈥� Birt seems to have accepted this, as the files also show that after Our Friends in the North had finished he invited cast and crew to a drinks reception at Broadcasting House to celebrate its success.

Our Friends in the North would stand the test of time as one of the most esteemed 麻豆社 dramas of the 1990s. 30 years on, it is perhaps best summed-up by the words of its own author, Peter Flannery, preserved in one of the oldest documents the 麻豆社 holds on the series; from the early stages of its development at 麻豆社 Birmingham in June 1988.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a partial (incomplete, biased) account of growing up/growing old in the 60s and 70s. It lives and dies finally not on the strength of its political analysis, and certainly not on any kind of nostalgia for the era, but on the strength of its characters and its narrative. It鈥檚 meant to teem with life like the best of Dickens, and to capture the imagination and move the heart and mind like he does too.鈥�

Paul Hayes is a writer and radio producer