The Forever Home Northumberland drama has a premiere date: Channel 5 will air the first episode on Monday, 14 September, giving northeast England a new reason to clear the diary this month.
Based on Graham Norton’s best-selling novel, Forever Home was announced earlier this year and billed as ‘a darkly emotional story about marriage, family and the unbreakable bond between a mother and her children.’ Channel 5 added its own teaser ahead of the launch: ‘Would you still want the house if you knew what it was hiding?’
What the Forever Home Northumberland drama is about
The series follows Carol Crottie, played by Amy Nuttall, whose husband Robert is showing signs of dementia. As his health declines and his determination to stay in the family home grows, Carol begins to suspect his reluctance to sell has something to do with his first wife. That wife had left Robert 20 years earlier, running off with his brother and leaving behind two young children.
Carol starts digging. She finds a dead body in the basement. From there, the question driving the whole series is whether she is living with a killer, and what Robert has been hiding about the house and his past. ‘The secrets Robert has kept will take a long time to untangle,’ the synopsis promises.
The cast is stacked. Douglas Henshall plays Robert, Samantha Bond, Kevin Whately, Jenny Walser, Shane Zaza, James Baxter and Lewis Cope all feature, and former Loose Women panellist Denise Welch plays Carol’s mother, Moira.
A Geordie homecoming for Denise Welch
Denise Welch, who grew up in North Tyneside, made no secret of how much the production meant to her. Speaking to The Royal Television Society, she said the role ‘ticked all her boxes’ and described filming as ‘being surrounded by Geordie voices and filming two minutes from my sister’s house.’
Getting there was not straightforward. Driving up to Northumberland for the shoot, she noticed a problem with her eye and stopped at Vision Express. What followed was rather more serious than she expected. ‘Two hours later found myself with a retinal surgeon, who said: “You’re not going anywhere. If I don’t operate on you by six o’clock, you’ll be blind!” Turns out I had a fully detached retina which had folded over,’ she said.
She feared losing the job. Instead, the production team rescheduled around her. ‘Two weeks later, I was well enough to return but basically couldn’t see anything out of my right eye for six weeks. I had to be guided everywhere on set.’ The series went ahead, and Welch is now keen for more northeast work, telling the producers she must be ‘the only north-east actress never to have appeared in Vera.’
The writer behind the script
The adaptation has been written by Clara Salaman. According to Cultured North East, Salaman is an author and screenwriter whose previous credits include the acclaimed ITV drama Too Close. That track record matters here: this is a story built on sustained psychological tension, and the script needs to carry that weight across a full series.
Norton’s novel is usually set in Ireland, so the decision to relocate the action to the Northumberland coast gives the region’s landscape a proper starring role.
North East Screen and the production fund
Forever Home is the 15th production supported by the North East Production Fund. Gayle Woodruffe, Operations Director at North East Screen, said the fund ‘has invested £2.37m in productions so far‘ and described Northumberland as having ‘the perfect locations to suit the story.’ She added that the region is ‘fast becoming a hub of TV production’ with local crew and companies brought in across the shoot.
Forever Home airs on Channel 5 from Monday, 14 September.