BBC Remembers... (2022)

Screenwriter and acclaimed novelist Jeanette Winterson looks back on the iconic drama series Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, which is being shown again as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. She recalls how the production came together, what it was like working with cast and crew, and explains why she believes it stands the test of time and remains relevant to this day.

Bernard Hill remembers Boys from the Blackstuff, Alan Bleasdale’s iconic drama, which was once described as ‘TV’s most complete dramatic response to the Thatcher era’. Hill’s performance as Yosser Hughes, with his ‘Gizza job’ catchphrase, captured the public’s imagination in a way that few roles have since. Here he looks back on how he got the part, why it struck such a chord, and what audiences should take from ‘Blackstuff’ today.

Colin Baker looks back on one of his earliest TV roles and discusses the significance of acclaimed 13-part drama series 'The Roads to Freedom', which is being shown on television for the first time since 1977 as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. Based on the novels by Jean-Paul Sartre and set in Nazi-occupied France, it has been described as an amazing, potent and subversive viewing experience, that saw taboos broken with every weekly broadcast. That assessment can now be tested by first-time viewers, as well those who saw it at the time and who have long campaigned for the BBC to screen it again.

Writer Hanif Kureishi looks back on how his semi-autobiographical novel The Buddha of Suburbia became one of the defining BBC dramas of the 1990s. He discusses the ways in which it set new standards in representing multicultural Britain, the importance that humour plays in pushing forward serious ideas, and what it was like working with his musical hero, after David Bowie unexpectedly suggested that he write the soundtrack.

Actor Vivien Heilbron and director Moira Armstrong look back on the 1971 BBC Scotland drama Sunset Song, based on Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic novel. Together, the friends discuss how their collaboration worked and the pressures of filming nude scenes, arguing over accents and working with animals. The pair also consider why Sunset Song was such a significant production and the legacy it has left behind.

To mark the rescreening of Our Friends in the North, as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations, Christopher Eccleston looks back on Peter Flannery’s acclaimed 1996 drama. Following the lives of four friends from Newcastle over a period of three decades, the series struck a chord with the nation’s viewers and turned its young cast into household names. In this introduction to the series, Eccleston shares behind-the-scenes stories of how the drama was made and assesses the impact it had on audiences, himself and his fellow cast members.

Kenneth Branagh looks back on his experiences working on the first major production of his career: Graham Reid’s Billy Plays trilogy. The three Play for Today dramas won great praise for the way they captured ordinary working class lives in Belfast, set against the backdrop of The Troubles. The acclaim Branagh received for his portrayal of big-hearted, hot-headed Billy got his career off to a perfect start. He gives his perspective on why the drama was so well-received, recalls working with his fellow cast, and casts an experienced, critical eye over his own youthful performance.

Actor David Harewood shares his impressions of John Elliot’s game-changing 1956 BBC drama, which explored the challenges and racism encountered by Windrush immigrants from the West Indies, who had come to Britain after being promised work and a secure future. David discusses the impact A Man From the Sun still holds today, the performances of cast members Errol John, Cy Grant and Earl Cameron, and the context and attitudes of a decade that saw the BBC bring viewers issue-led dramas like this while at the same time creating series such as The Black and White Minstrels.

Award-winning actress Siân Phillips takes a look back at the BBC’s landmark 1975 adaptation of Richard Llewellyn’s classic novel How Green Was My Valley. Siân’s role as Beth, the matriarch and heart of the Morgan family, was crucial to this portrayal of a traditional Welsh mining community during a time of huge upheaval. She recalls how the production came together and what it was like working with her fellow cast, including Welsh icon Stanley Baker in what would be one of his final roles. As well as some of her favourite personal memories, she also considers the drama’s legacy and explores how it has stood the test of time.

Author, politician and member of the House of Lords Michael Dobbs looks back on the TV drama that had 90s Britain hooked on political intrigue and infighting. Based on his best-selling novel, the BBC adaptation of House of Cards introduced television viewers to Francis Urquhart, the chief whip pulling the strings as a Conservative government experiences a leadership crisis that sees reputations and lives destroyed. Lord Dobbs considers the seductive appeal of Urquhart and how Ian Richardson’s portrayal of the character helped him instantly become one of the great TV villains. He also recalls how the very week that the BBC first broadcast House of Cards coincided with a real-life political meltdown as Margaret Thatcher was forced from office, and the fact that the latest screening comes after some of the biggest political upsets for decades. Coincidence? To quote Urquhart himself: ‘You might think that... I couldn’t possibly comment.’

Alison Steadman looks back at Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective, hailed as one of the most important and influential TV dramas ever made, and once described by Stephen King as ‘television’s Citizen Kane’. From memories of happy times working with leading man Michael Gambon, and the pride of being involved in a piece that got the whole nation talking, to the stresses of being caught up in the controversy surrounding her character’s notorious outdoor sex scene, Alison brings her unique perspective to a series she ranks amongst her favourites.

Considered one of the finest TV adaptations of a novel ever made for television, BBC Scotland’s The Crow Road was first broadcast in 1996, four years after the publication of Iain Banks’s acclaimed bestseller. Here, actor Joe McFadden, who played the central role of Prentice McHoan, looks back on the series that had 90s audiences hooked, and discusses his work alongside an impressive cast that included Bill Paterson, Dougray Scott and Peter Capaldi as Prentice’s mysterious missing Uncle Rory.

Wolf Hall, one of the most critically acclaimed television dramas of recent years, was based on the first two of the late Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels and brought together a stellar cast that included Mark Rylance as Cromwell, Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn and Damien Lewis as King Henry VIII. Director Peter Kosminsky looks back on the making of the drama, with anecdotes and insights into his working with the cast, the joy of collaborating with Mantel herself, and his determination to honour her legacy with the adaptation of the final chapter in Cromwell’s story, The Mirror and the Light.

It’s a trip down rock 'n' roll’s memory lane for Richard Wilson as he recalls his role as manager of The Majestics in John Byrne’s 1987 acclaimed TV drama series Tutti Frutti. When it first hit our television screens, the series was instantly hailed as a modern classic that thrust many of its cast into the mainstream and transformed the career of leading man – and Majestics frontman – the late, great Robbie Coltrane. Here, Richard looks back on his own experience on the series, recalls what it was like being part of the Tutti Frutti success story, and remembers of course what it was like working alongside Robbie on a programme they both loved.