"Our Friends in the North (1996) is the kind of epic drama that has ensured the BBC's worldwide reputation for seriousness and excellence. In nine parts, it tells the life stories of four friends - Mary (Gina McKee), Nicky (Christopher Eccleston), Geordie (Daniel Craig) and Tosker (Mark Strong) - from adolescence to middle age. Their personal triumphs and crises unfold against the backdrop of massive social and political change in Britain - in particular the rise of Thatcherism and the decline of Socialist ideals. Technically outstanding, Our Friends in the North is truly a 'state of the nation' drama, exploring its major themes alongside more specific ones (domestic violence, corruption in the police and local government, iniquities in the criminal justice system)while developing its central characters with exceptional subtlety and finesse." "Michael Eaton traces the history of Our Friend in the North: its origins in Peter Flannery's 1982 play for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the long road to TV adaptation. Eaton, himself a screenwriter, has conducted lengthy interviews with Flannery, Executive Producer Michael Wearing and other key personnel, and this book provides a unique insight into the often labyrinthine ways in which TV drama is commissioned and produced. He goes on to locate the series in the genealogy of quality television drama, and he reflects on whether Our Friends in the North could ever be made today. Did the series bring an end to a Golden Age of British TV drama - and, if so, what have we lost in the process?"--BOOK JACKET.