Remembers…

Jeanette Winterson looks back on the iconic drama series Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1989).

Bernard Hill looks back on the iconic drama series Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).

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.