Daniel Craig's Early-Career Miniseries Is A Masterpiece Every British TV Fan Has To Watch

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When I saw a 24-year-old Daniel Craig play the sadistic South African Police Sergeant Jaapie Botha in John G. Avildsen's 1940s Apartheid drama "The Power of One," I can't say that I had him pegged for the next James Bond, but I did know that he was a remarkably hissable villain. The film quickly faded from memory, but every time Craig turned up in a movie during the 1990s, I'd remember how effective he was as Botha, and wonder why he wasn't getting meatier roles.

What I didn't know at the time was that he'd given a tour de force performance in the 1996 BBC drama serial "Our Friends in the North." The nine-part series spans 31 years in the lives of four friends from Newcastle upon Tyne, and boosted the careers of Craig, Mark Strong, Christopher Eccleston and Gina McKee. But no one demonstrated greater range than Craig, whose character, Geordie, flees an abusive, alcoholic father to pursue an unpromising life in low-level crime.

British television wasn't immediately accessible in the United States in 1996 (unless it was a pop cultural sensation like "The Office" or "Little Britain"), so I didn't find out about "Our Friends in the North" until a decade later, directly after Daniel Craig had rejuvenated the James Bond franchise in "Casino Royale." I can understand why it didn't leap over the pond. The historical references are specific and steeped in British politics, which, to American viewers, makes it somewhat daunting. But Peter Flannery's writing and the dynamite acting ensemble will hook you just as sharply as David Simon plunged you into the Baltimore social stratum with "The Wire."

Unfortunately, "Our Friends in the North" isn't readily available in the United States on streaming, but if you've got a region-free Blu-ray player you can purchase it for $33.00 on Amazon, and it's worth it. I grew up watching British crime movies like "The Long Good Friday," "Mona Lisa," and "The Krays," and Flannery's writing doesn't suffer fools. But his dialogue is so crisp and layered and immaculately performed that you feel compelled to understand it. You're thrust into a society that, from the corrupt parliament down to the alcoholic, homeless dregs, is foreign yet familiar.

Craig's Geordie faces the most dire swings of fortune. He's not a bad person, but, like so many people who choose a criminal lifestyle and succumb to substance abuse, he makes so many compromises that there's eventually no way out. It's a harrowing journey and I wish I could tell you it ends well for Geordie, but "Our Friends in the North" is not out to comfort.