Preview: Our Friends in the North 1979–84 at Newcastle Theatre Royal

 

Our Friends in the North Returns Home: An Iconic Saga Takes to the Stage

Our Friends in the North

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Thursday 15 - Saturday 24 October 2026. 

Thirty years after it first gripped the nation on BBC Two, Peter Flannery's landmark drama Our Friends in the North is coming back to Newcastle — this time, live on stage. In a major co-production between Live Theatre, Eastlake Productions and Newcastle Theatre Royal, this boldly reimagined theatrical adaptation promises to be one of the most significant cultural events the North East has seen in years.

When Our Friends in the North first aired on 26 February 1996, it arrived like a bolt of electricity through British television. A sweeping, nine-part epic charting three decades of political upheaval, social change and deeply personal reckoning through the lives of four Geordie friends — Tosker, Geordie, Nicky and Mary — it launched the careers of Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee and Mark Strong, scooped BAFTA Awards for Best Drama Series and Best Actor, and cemented its place as one of the most important pieces of British storytelling ever committed to screen.

Now, thirty years on to the very day of that original broadcast, comes the announcement that feels both inevitable and thrilling: Our Friends in the North is coming home. Not to a screen, but to a stage — specifically, the grand Victorian stage of Newcastle Theatre Royal, where it will receive its world premiere this October.

The new production, titled Our Friends in the North 1979–84, has been adapted for the stage by Live Theatre's Artistic Director Jack McNamara in close collaboration with Peter Flannery himself — the original screenwriter. McNamara will also direct. Rather than attempt to compress all nine episodes of the television series into a single theatrical evening, this version takes a focused lens on the Thatcher years, exploring a period of seismic rupture in British political and social life, and asking how those national shifts played out in the everyday lives of ordinary people in the North East.

A Story Rooted in Place

What makes this production particularly meaningful is the ambition behind its making. This is not a London production parachuting into the regions — it is a story born of the North East, made by the North East, for the North East and beyond. The co-production brings together three of Newcastle's most vital cultural organisations, all of whom share a commitment to telling stories rooted in place and community.

Live Theatre, based on the Quayside and widely regarded as one of the country's most important new writing spaces outside London, provides the creative heartbeat of the project. Newcastle Theatre Royal — one of only nine Grade I listed theatres in the country — provides the iconic stage on which this epic story will unfold. And Eastlake Productions, the Newcastle-based production company led by Jamie Eastlake, brings the producing expertise to realise the production at the scale its subject matter demands.

The three organisations have form together. Their previous collaboration, Gerry & Sewell — a football drama adapted from Jonathan Tulloch's novel The Season Ticket — sold out at Live Theatre in 2023 before transferring to the Theatre Royal in 2024 and then travelling to London's Aldwych Theatre for a critically acclaimed West End run in January 2026. That trajectory demonstrated convincingly that stories from the North East, when told with ambition and craft, can speak to audiences far beyond the region. Our Friends in the North arrives with even greater expectations.

The Voices Behind the Production

Jack McNamara, who has shaped Live Theatre's artistic vision with considerable distinction, speaks with evident passion about the project. Describing Our Friends in the North as "one of the great national sagas of our time," he has spoken of the renewed force these stories carry in today's political climate, and of the particular significance of bringing the narrative back to the community that inspired it — working closely with Flannery to ensure the stage adaptation honours the original while finding fresh theatrical life.

Live Theatre's Executive Director Jacqui Kell has emphasised that this production represents exactly the kind of ambitious, collaborative work the organisation exists to champion — arguing that the combination of Live Theatre's new writing expertise and Eastlake Productions' producing experience has made it possible to realise the play at a scale truly worthy of its legacy.

Marianne Locatori, CEO of Newcastle Theatre Royal, has described the world premiere as "a special moment" for the theatre, its audiences and for the region as a whole — underlining the Theatre Royal's ongoing commitment to presenting and supporting work made in the North East on its grand stage. Jamie Eastlake, meanwhile, frames the production as a full circle moment: "Our Friends in the North is a story that could only have come from this place," he has said, capturing the unmistakable sense that this production is as much about civic pride as it is about theatre.

What to Expect

While the production is still in development — casting has yet to be announced, though auditions are being held locally as part of a commitment to showcasing North East talent — the shape of the piece is already compelling. By concentrating specifically on the years 1979 to 1984, the production places the four central characters in the eye of the Thatcherite storm: the decimation of traditional industries, the fracturing of communities, the collision of personal hope with political reality.

For those who grew up watching the original series, this will be a chance to encounter familiar characters and an era-defining narrative in a bold new theatrical form. For those coming to the story fresh, it promises an urgent and emotionally charged portrait of a Britain in transformation — one that, given the current political moment, may feel startlingly contemporary. This is, after all, not merely a piece of regional nostalgia. It is a story about power, community, betrayal and resilience that speaks directly to questions we are still living with today.

Tickets:

Our Friends in the North 1979–84 plays Newcastle Theatre Royal from Thursday 15 October to Saturday 24 October 2026. Tickets can be purchased online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or by calling the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.

Priority booking opens as follows:

Newcastle Theatre Royal Friends Plus: Monday 2 March, from 10am

Friends of Newcastle Theatre Royal & Friends of Live Theatre: Tuesday 3 March, from 10am

Flexi Priority Pass, Groups & Schools: Tuesday 3 March, from 3pm

General booking: Wednesday 4 March, from 10am