TV series to recreate border town debate

Jun 2 2008 The Journal

A DEBATE about whether a border town should be in England or Scotland is to be recreated in a new TV series.

Earlier this year, a vote for an ITV documentary over the future of Berwick in Northumberland saw hundreds of people say they would like to be part of Scotland because of the health and education services available over the border.

Now the issue is to form the basis of a BBC drama television series, which will also be set in Berwick.

A Free Country is being written by Northumberland-born Tony Saint and is being developed by independent production company Great Meadow.

The series, which will be split into six 30-minute episodes, is based around civil servant Philip Selby, who loses his post at the Foreign Office and returns home to Berwick, where a referendum is taking place to decide whether the town should be part of England or Scotland.

But Selby proposes a third way – independence.

The series is billed as tapping into hotly topical issues of devolution and self-determination and is said to ask fundamental questions about identity, coming home and taking the chance to do things differently.

Mr Saint is the writer of the forthcoming drama about Margaret Thatcher’s early life, The Long Walk to Finchley, which is due to air later this month on BBC4.

He said: “The themes, characters and Northumbrian location are all close to my heart and I’m looking forward to developing a series which has the promise to be funny, entertaining and thought-provoking,”

Great Meadow’s credits include Channel 4’s Bradford Riots and BBC1’s Messiah.

Robert Cooper, co-founder of Great Meadow and former BBC Northern Ireland head of drama, said: “Tony Saint is the most exciting new writer in British television.

“Working with him on Margaret Thatcher – The Long Walk to Finchley, we found his unfailingly original voice chimed with our desire to produce thought- provoking, entertaining and surprising drama.

“A Free Country is the next step in our highly-productive creative partnership.”

Berwick Council leader Coun Isabel Hunter last night welcomed the exposure the series would give to the town.

She said: “I think it will raise the profile. If they are going to do a series, I think that is going to be good for Berwick.

“For years the Berwick people have not sold themselves, have been very insular, but it is time to say let us go and see what is out there and bring it back in.

“It is good for the county because it is a change for the North East to be on the map. It cannot do us any harm.”

But Coun Hunter had doubts over whether the principle of the series could work in reality. She said: “Personally, I can not see independence working because there is no way we could raise enough funding to be self- sufficient.”