Look North's Jeff Brown on Four Decades of News and His New Play
Award-winning journalist Jeff Brown's play The Bench is heading on a tour of the North East and Cumbria this spring
When I look back, I think I was always telling stories (not tales!),’ laughs Jeff. Growing up pre-internet he always had his nose in a newspaper. ‘I was heavily into sport as well,’ he tells us. ‘I grew up right next door to Sunderland’s old football ground, Roker Park, and football was always a big part of my life. It was probably only when I went to grammar school and studied geography that I realised not everybody had a football ground at the end of their street! I’d be the first one at the door when the paper came through the letterbox and I’d always start on the back page. I remember my dad saying “start on the back page, but make sure you read the front page so you know what’s going on in the world”, which is just such a good education, and something I tell youngsters these days. Trying to get them in touch with world news so they know what’s going on is so important. There was always that passion.’
Jeff has fond memories of reporting as a teen. ‘The FA Cup was always played on a Saturday and the draw for the next round was always the following Monday and it was live on BBC Radio 2. When I was at school, the bell would go and I would sprint home where my mum would be waiting with a piece of paper, a pencil and the radio on and I would jot down the FA Cup draw, wolf down my dinner and run back to school to show everybody in the playground,’ he laughs. ‘That passing on information was always a part of me. I was lucky because I found my passion very early. If you can find that in your teens, it gives you so much peace of mind because you know where you’re going.’
Jeff always knew he wanted to be a sports reporter, and his dad encouraged him to send sports reports to the Sunderland Echo. ‘I thought that was great to see my name in print,’ he says. ‘It was all I ever wanted to do.’
The highlight of his career writing for newspapers was following Durham County Cricket Club around, following as it went from being a minor county to a first class county. ‘For the last five years as a newspaper journalist I covered cricket all summer, which was fantastic,’ he says, ‘and I saw Durham’s ground being built. That’s something I could never have dreamed of when I followed them as a teenager.’
Jeff got his break in TV in his 30s and says his years working at ITV Tyne Tees were ‘a wonderful education’. ‘They were probably the best days of my working life because it was so new and so interesting and I travelled around covering all sorts of events. I ended up sitting next to Mike Neville – my hero – who I’d watched as a TV presenter all the way through my teenage years. To be presenting with him was just unbelievable really. At that stage I had to ring Mum and Dad every night to tell them when I was going to be on TV.’
His journalistic journey led him to BBC Look North, where Jeff spent 21 ‘fabulous’ years. ‘I’d only ever thought about doing sport until Carol [Malia] went off on maternity leave in 2008 and I just thought, why not push yourself and get out of your comfort zone? I was doing Mike Neville’s old job, and he was really supportive and encouraging,’ Jeff recalls.
Over two decades, Jeff reported on a variety of stories across the region. ‘There were some sad reports like the closure of Redcar’s steelworks, the floods in Cumbria, and I had to report on the death of one of my great mates – John Hays from Hays Travel – which was very difficult,’ he says. ‘The most memorable and the hardest thing I did was Bobby Robson’s memorial service at Durham Cathedral because it was the day before my dad’s funeral. My boss had said I didn’t have to do it but I wanted to do it for Bobby and my dad would’ve said “life goes on”. It was live from the Palace Green and just before the end it started to rain ever so slightly, and not one but two rainbows appeared over the top of Durham Cathedral. I really struggled to hold it together to the end of the programme. When it finished, I collapsed into a bit of a mess on the shoulder of my cameraman, but I never forgot it – it was a lovely but also very difficult moment.’
Since leaving the Look North sofa, Jeff has been recording a new podcast, Sporting Greats, for BBC Sounds with sporting heroes including former footballer Alan Shearer and boxer Savannah Marshall. ‘I’m planning a second series of the podcast,’ Jeff says. ‘That will keep me going.’
Jeff has also spent the last few years working on another passion of his – theatre. ‘I’ve always been a big theatre-goer, even when I was younger,’ he reveals. ‘I used to go down to London quite often for football matches and after the game I’d go to the West End. In those days you could pay £1 (student rates) to stand at the back of the stalls. I saw Evita, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, all sorts of shows and musicals for £1! My daughter is an actress (stage name Alice Stokoe) and she’s played Sophie in Mamma Mia in the West End. She’s currently appearing in The Play That Goes Wrong, the longest running comedy in the West End. I don’t know if it was always in the blood, but it’s always interested and fascinated me. If I couldn’t have been a journalist, acting is what I secretly would’ve liked to have done. TV sort of gave me that outlet; a lot of it is performing when you’re on screen.’
Jeff took part in a playwriting course at Live Theatre, which he’d been visiting since the ‘80s and where his wife is now Chair, and his first play was produced at The Customs House in 2017. Cornered was based on the true story of Sunderland footballer David Corner whose life was changed after giving away a goal in a Cup Final. ‘I really enjoyed it but that was a one-man monologue and I wanted to expand and do something a bit bigger,’ Jeff says. ‘My wife Susan writes plays, and this started with an exercise we were doing as part of the playwriting course. You’d sit in a pub, café or on a train, you’d watch people, and make up a story about them. We were in the park one day and saw a couple of people sitting on a bench and Susan suggested writing about them.’ That’s how Jeff came up with the story for his play, The Bench.
The Bench tells the story of two young people struggling to survive against the odds. Vicky is a single mum, overwhelmed by everyday pressures, while Adi (the local team’s new signing) is struggling to find his place on and off the pitch. They meet by chance on a park bench and discover they have more in common than they might at first have imagined.
‘I had a lot of help from Ed Waugh, a great playwright who was very supportive, and from Ray Spencer at The Customs House,’ Jeff says. The play had a successful debut at The Customs House in 2023. ‘We managed to pull it all together with the help of a fantastic cast and production crew and it got a great response. Everyone was saying we must take this further,’ he adds. This new, updated production will begin a long-anticipated regional tour starting on 22nd May at Gala Durham. ‘It’s taken us 18 months but we’ve finally managed to put together a regional tour thanks to help from Carole Wears [at CaroleW Productions] who’s been absolutely brilliant, and Gala Durham, who are co-producing the play.
‘At the heart of it, it’s a boy-meets-girl, romantic story, but people tell me that there’s a lot more depth to it. It’s about poverty, racism and trying to find a place for yourself in life.
‘The title works on a few levels – the bench is where they meet but Adi spends a lot of time on the substitute bench and, in a way, they’re both on the bench waiting for their calling because they’re not quite sure where their lives are going. Show Racism The Red Card and North East Combined Authority are both on board with it which is great and we’re developing an education pack which will go out to schools too. The riots in Sunderland and elsewhere in the summer were heartbreaking and if something like this in some small way can spread a message of harmony then that’s fabulous. It was never the initial intention, but to think that it might have a deeper impact on the community would be wonderful.’
Jeff hopes his play will continue to inspire audiences following this regional tour, and hopes to carry on writing. ‘I’ve always enjoyed putting things down on paper,’ he says. ‘My wife will tell you I’m not a good one for just sitting around so there will always be something. You just never know what’s around the corner…’
