If Oz from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was invariably a boozy, laugh-a-minute, Jack the Lad, it was certainly a more thoughtful, reflective version of the television Geordie brickie we met 35 years ago.
Fresh from the runaway success of the ITV show's first two series - broadcast in 1983/84 and 1986 respectively - Jimmy Nail, the actor who played the character, had been recruited to appear in a spin-off episode called Educating Oz.
It was 1987, and the country was in the midst of a major public health challenge in the shape of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The 30-minute programme, made specially for Tyne Tees, would focus on the difficult subject and hopefully educate people on the matter.
