It is rare to see lightning strike twice, let alone four times in the same production. But that is exactly what happened in 1996. When Our Friends in the North first aired on BBC2, nobody could have predicted that the four leads would go on to basically run Hollywood and the British film industry for the next thirty years. We’re talking about Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, and Mark Strong. At the time, they were just young actors trying to master a Geordie accent. Now? They are icons.
The show followed four friends from Newcastle—Dominic "Nicky" Hutchinson, Mary Soulsby, Terry "Tel" Wickes, and Felix "Geordie" Peacock—spanning from 1964 to 1995. It wasn't just a drama. It was a massive, sprawling, 31-year epic about how politics, corruption, and time itself break people down or build them up. If you look at the Our Friends in the North cast today, it feels like looking at a "Before They Were Famous" mood board that actually carries some weight.
The Daniel Craig Factor: Before he was Bond
Before he was 007, Daniel Craig played Geordie Peacock. Honestly, if you only know him as the polished, stoic James Bond, his performance here will give you whiplash. Geordie is the tragic heartbeat of the series. He starts as a hopeful, albeit slightly naive, young man fleeing a broken home and ends up a hollowed-out, alcoholic drifter in London.
Craig’s performance is raw. It's sweaty. It’s deeply uncomfortable to watch at times.
There is a specific vulnerability he brings to the 1970s and 80s chapters where his character is exploited by London’s criminal underworld. You can see the seeds of his later intensity, but it’s wrapped in a fragility he rarely showed later in his career. It’s widely known that this role was his "breakout," the moment casting directors realized he could carry more than just a scene—he could carry a decade of a character’s life.
Christopher Eccleston as Nicky: The Angry Intellectual
Then you have Christopher Eccleston. He played Nicky Hutchinson, the idealistic firebrand who spends thirty years trying to change the world and mostly just ends up frustrated. Eccleston was already somewhat known for Let Him Have It and Shallow Grave, but Nicky gave him the room to be truly expansive.
He had to age from a shaggy-haired student to a disillusioned middle-aged man.
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Nicky’s journey is the political spine of the show. Whether he was campaigning for the Labour party or getting caught up in the radicalism of the late 60s, Eccleston brought a fierce, vibrating energy to the role. It’s that same intensity he later brought to Doctor Who as the Ninth Doctor. He’s never been an actor who "phones it in," and in Our Friends in the North, he treats every political argument like a heavyweight boxing match.
The Power of Gina McKee
We often talk about the men because they went on to do massive blockbusters, but Gina McKee as Mary Soulsby is, quite frankly, the best thing in the show. She is the only one who truly feels like she’s evolving in real-time. Mary goes from a young girl in a relationship she isn't sure about to a powerhouse local politician.
McKee won a BAFTA for this, and she deserved every bit of it.
Her performance is subtle. While the men are shouting or falling apart, McKee’s Mary is navigating the quiet, systemic sexism of the 60s and 70s. She portrays the "burden of the sensible" better than almost anyone else on television. If you watch her in Notting Hill or Line of Duty years later, you still see that sharp, intelligent gaze that she perfected in this 1996 masterpiece.
Mark Strong and the Transformation of Terry
Mark Strong played Terry Wickes. Today, Strong is usually the villain. He’s the guy in the suit with the menacing stare. But in the Our Friends in the North cast, Terry was the muscle with a conscience. Terry is the one who gets caught up in the police corruption subplots—which, by the way, were based on real-life scandals involving T. Dan Smith and John Poulson.
Terry’s arc is perhaps the most heartbreaking because he’s the "everyman." He just wants a job and a family, but the world keeps kicking him.
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Strong’s performance is remarkably physical. You see him go from a fit young man to someone whose body is literally weighted down by the stress of his life. It is a masterclass in aging without using excessive prosthetics. He uses his posture, his gait, and the way he holds his jaw to show the passage of thirty years.
Why the Casting Worked So Well
Peter Flannery, the writer, and the directors (including Stuart Urban and Michael Whyte) didn't just pick "good actors." They picked actors who could handle the technical challenge of the "time jump."
Most shows fail when they try to age actors. The makeup looks like cardboard. The voices don't change. But this cast understood that aging is about the loss of idealism.
- Vocal Shifts: Listen to the way Daniel Craig’s voice lowers and becomes raspy as the years progress.
- Physicality: Gina McKee changes how she walks; she becomes more grounded, more "solid" as she gains political power.
- The Eyes: Eccleston’s eyes lose their spark, replaced by a weary, cynical squint by the 1995 finale.
The production also benefited from a stellar supporting cast. You had Peter Vaughan as Nicky’s father, Felix, delivering a devastating portrayal of Alzheimer’s disease long before it was a common trope in TV drama. You had Malcolm McDowell showing up as a terrifying London gang boss. The depth of talent was just ridiculous.
The Real-World Impact
It’s hard to overstate how much this show changed British TV. Before this, most "prestige" dramas were period pieces—Jane Austen adaptations or stories about the upper class. Our Friends in the North was about the working class, the North-South divide, and the reality of post-war Britain.
It took years to get made. Flannery wrote it as a play first in 1982. The BBC stalled it because of its controversial take on police corruption and the Labour party. By the time it actually filmed, the delay meant they had to find a cast that could handle the weight of the material.
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The fact that these four people—Craig, Eccleston, McKee, and Strong—all happened to be available and at the start of their prime is one of the greatest "casting flukes" in history.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often assume the show is just about politics. It isn't. It’s about how the choices you make at twenty-one haunt you when you’re fifty.
Take Geordie (Daniel Craig). His choice to leave Newcastle for London wasn't a "bad" choice on paper. He wanted a better life. But the show demonstrates how a lack of a safety net can turn one bad decision into a decades-long spiral. It’s a cautionary tale about the destruction of community.
Some viewers also think the Geordie accents are a bit "off." Honestly? They’re fine. They aren't perfect, especially in the early episodes, but the emotional truth the actors bring far outweighs a slightly wonky vowel sound. If you’re focusing on the accent, you’re missing the point of the scene where Terry is forced to become a debt collector to survive.
Actionable Insights for Fans and New Viewers
If you haven't seen it, or if you're revisiting it because you're a fan of the actors' later work, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Watch for the Background Details: The show is obsessive about historical accuracy. From the brands of cigarettes to the cars on the street, it tracks the decline of British manufacturing and the rise of consumerism perfectly.
- Don't Binge It Too Fast: Each episode represents a different era (1964, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1995). Give yourself time to let the characters age in your mind between episodes.
- Focus on the "Felix" Subplot: Peter Vaughan’s performance as Nicky’s father is the emotional anchor of the later episodes. It provides a parallel to the political decay happening elsewhere.
- Check Out the Soundtrack: It uses music not just for nostalgia, but as a marker of the changing social climate. The transition from the optimism of the 60s to the harshness of the 80s is told through the audio as much as the visuals.
The Our Friends in the North cast remains a benchmark for ensemble acting. It’s the gold standard. We probably won't see a group like this together again, mostly because no one could afford their salaries now. But we have the nine episodes, and they remain as powerful and depressing and beautiful as they were in the 90s.
To truly understand British cinema today, you have to go back to Newcastle in 1964. You have to see where it all began for these four actors. It wasn't just a job for them; it was the foundation of everything that came after.