'Corruption has only gotten worse': Will the new version of Our Friends in the North still shock audiences 30 years later?

Peter Flannery's classic 90s TV drama is getting a theater revival in Newcastle. Director and cast talk about doing justice to themes of scandal and decay - and emulating its star-making cast In a small room above Newcastle-upon-Tyne's Live Theatre, four actors are bringing to life the central characters of one of Britain's most popular TV dramas. Sitting around a table full of coffee cups, water bottles, etc

In a small room above Newcastle-upon-Tyne's Live Theatre, four actors are bringing to life the main characters of one of Britain's most popular TV dramas. Sitting around a table full of coffee cups, water bottles and annotated texts, Tusker and Jordi are drinking in a nightclub and measuring their chances of pulling it off. Mary and Nicky argue about whether they have a future together.

The scenes are from a new stage version of Our Friends in the North, the landmark nine-part series that first aired on BBC Two in 1996. Set against a backdrop of Labor politics and police corruption, the film chronicled 30 years in the lives of four working-class Geordies and produced stars such as Mark Strong, Daniel Craig, Gina McKay and Christopher Ecclestone. The film was well received by critics and audiences, won awards, and regularly makes "Greatest of All Time" lists.

Now he has rewritten and expanded the story for the screen after Jack McNamara, artistic director of the live theatre, persuaded Peter Flannery, an initially reluctant writer, to return to the characters he first created for the Royal Shakespeare Company play in 1982.

"In a way, the production came out of a sense of frustration, of always having to think small and manageable in an area that's historically underfunded," says McNamara. "We needed a bigger gesture. A broader story for a bigger audience that had a familiar outline, but still something that no one had seen on stage before. Simply put, I wanted to direct 12 actors on the big stage in an entirely new production. The importance and agility of our friends provided a rare opportunity for this to happen.

Because of the scale of the show and its potential afterlife, it is a co-production between Live Theatre, Theater Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne and theater producers Eastlake Productions.

Flannery has recreated two parts of the television episodes, which take place in 1979 and 1984, into a two-act play. He has introduced a chorus and there are a few borrowings from other episodes for explanatory purposes. The set design allows it to be a fast paced show.

I know this is a dark view of society, but the characters are survivors

Peter Flannery On TV, McKay was the only one of the four starting players to be from the area. Four actors from North East have been selected for this show. Ryan Nolan is Nicky's (TV's Ecclestone) political idealist. Sam Neill, Mary (McKay) is quiet. Jack Robertson plays would-be entrepreneur Tusker. Scott Turnbull's Geordie (Craig) is unlucky.

In the table read, several days before rehearsing with the full cast, various scenes are put through a stress test under McNamara's direction. There is a long debate about the best way to make a particular joke, and the two actors concerned try it in different ways. In the script, a character is blamed for missing his son's soccer final. Sternbull's slightly clichéd "football final" "maybe should be 'Basson Reading'," he jokes. Everyone laughs.

The actors want to know if McNamara expects them to model their performances after their TV predecessors, but he's not into impersonations. He says the way to pay tribute to the originators of roles is to do their own thing. There's a sense of relief, but the four know full well that "Our Friends in the North" is a worthwhile TV show and that expectations are high.

"I try not to go into an anxiety spiral about it, but it's there and it's coming up," says Neil, who remembers watching the show with his mother.

"I feel there's a lot of pressure," Turnbull says. It should be well executed."

McNamara is well aware of the pressure actors feel, but likes to keep things loose. "There's always an element of experimentation," he says. "I don't write things down to a T. I like to be a little open-minded so I feel like anything is possible in practice."

Understandably, McNamara can't imagine where things are going in the future. There is hope the show will have a life beyond its short run in Newcastle, but McNamara says: “Before it goes anywhere else, it needs to land here and have a real resonance.

Later, in full cast rehearsals, energy levels read noticeably higher than the chart. After a few hours, McNamara asks the performers to improvise different scenes. Improvisation is not a memory test, he reminds them, but a way to intentionally explore the vivid glimpses of what has the potential to be a powerful theatrical experience.

"The show is about friendship and how it evolves and breaks down," says McNamara. And there's a lot about political optimism and political failure and how they sit side by side.

The late campaign journalist Paul Foote wrote: “The chance of real change through Labor is the main concern of our friends in the North. In 'Our Friends' - some of which is based on the scandal uncovered by Foote - decent Labor politicians are attacked by cynical spies and extremists. Honest police officers with bent coppers too, and perhaps outnumbered. Legislation and law enforcement are rotten to the core.

Flannery says that although it was well-researched and based on fact, some viewers of the TV series thought that the police corruption strand of the story was exaggerated. "I don't know that anyone is as shocked now as they were 30 years ago," he says. It [corruption] has gotten worse. Since then, serving officers have been prosecuted for rape and murder."

"I can't see what could have changed," Flannery says of the political shenanigans. "The publicity surrounding Neil Hamilton and Mohamed El Fayed and the 'cash for questions' thing must have forced them to change their tactics, but I think they're still on it. There are a lot of paid lobbyists hanging around the House now. If they're not going to undercut MPs and buy their votes and support, what's the point? That's what It has ruined American politics, and if we are not careful, it will ruin British politics too."

Approaching 75, Flannery says this will likely be the last thing he writes. "I'm quite aware that I'm presenting the audience with a rather dark view of society," he says. However, the characters are vibrant and all are survivors, even the seemingly indomitable Jordi. No matter what trash is thrown at him, he gets up and goes another way. I want the audience to hope for the characters."

Flannery insists he sees Andy Burnham's arrival as prime minister as a positive. "I think the whole system is against him and he's going to get blocked every step of the way. I've watched this cycle over and over again and usually there's no real change. But, I'm an optimist. It's a triumph of hope over experience, but until I'm proven wrong, I'll keep at it."

Our Friends in the North: The Thatcher Years runs from 15-24 October at the Theater Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne.