15 Unlikely British TV Shows To Spawn Hollywood Stars

8. Our Friends In The North - Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston, Mark Strong

I watched every episode of Our Friends In The North when it was broadcast. Although it had a very strong cast and was very well acted, I didn't think at the time that I was watching James Bond, Doctor Who and Sinestro all appearing in one series together. The series itself was a BBC production which was very well received by the critics at the time. Craig, Eccleston and Strong were three out of the four main leads in addition to Gina McKee. Even McKee did well out of the series, going on to appear in the film Notting Hill and the series The Borgias. Back to Our Friends In The North, the series itself covered a thirty-one-year stretch of the characters lives from 1964 to 1995 with each of the nine episodes covering a single year during that period (with different spacing between the years of the episodes). The series went on to win BAFTA awards, both for the series but also for McKee for Best Actress. Eccleston was nominated for Best Actor as well as a bunch of technical awards for the show. So while it isn't surprising that the show spawned a star, you would have thought that it might have been the one who won the BAFTA, but like I said it was Craig, Eccleston and Strong who went on to do big things. This series was not the first for any of these actors, but following the critical reception it was the break out roles for them all. Two years later he appeared in Elizabeth, and had parts in movies until his big film break in Layer Cake in 2004. Eccleston also appeared in Elizabeth, but by then he had also appeared in Jude alongside Kate Winslet. Strong took a while longer to get the film roles, but appeared in Revolver in 2005 and has since become a staple character actor in movies. Of course, for the Casualty link, out of the three only Eccleston appeared in that show. Although Strong also made an appearance in The Bill which does rival Casualty for being a bit of a hub for players of a certain Kevin Bacon game. To be honest, given that it spawned three famous actors, Our Friends In The North should be higher up the list. And it would be, if it wasn't for the fact it was so good. Had it been awful then it would have been less likely to be an actors big break, and so would have been higher up.