Jimmy McGovern
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Jimmy McGovern (born 1949) is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.
McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's social-realist soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.
In 1993, he created the drama serial Cracker about the work of a criminal psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane. Made by Granada Television and screened on ITV, the series was a critical and popular success. Cracker also aired in the United States, on the Arts and Entertainment cable network. McGovern's writing earned him two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2006 he created the BBC One drama The Street, its third and final season aired in 2009.
McGovern has described cinema scriptwriters as being treated like hacks and forced to crank out countless drafts by successive producers. Conversely, he believes that television directors are underrated. He says: “I have worked twice with David Blair [on The Lakes and The Street], and I can tell you that he is the best there is. He can make a good project great... Why David hasn’t won the acclaim he deserves is a mystery to me.”[1]
McGovern has also completed a musical stage show called King Cotton, exploring links between the transatlantic slave trade and industrialisation in North West England, as part of the Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008. King Cotton premiered at The Lowry in September 2007 before moving to the Liverpool Empire.
In 2009, McGovern was the executive producer on BBC One miniseries Moving On.
His new series, The Accused starts filming in 2010, it is a similar format to The Street but with a crime component. Scripts are written by McGovern, Danny Brocklehurst, Alice Nutter and two new writers. It is produced by Sita Williams.
[edit] Filmography
As writer
| Programme | Date | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookside | 1982 | Channel 4 | |
| Cracker | 1993-2006 | ITV1 | |
| Hearts and Minds | 1995 | Channel 4 | |
| The Lakes | 1997-1999 | BBC One | |
| Hillsborough | 1996 | ITV1 | Dramatised reconstruction of the events of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster |
| Sunday | 2002 | Channel 4 | Based on the events of Bloody Sunday |
| Gunpowder, Treason & Plot | 2004 | BBC One | Dramatisation of the lives of Mary, Queen of Scots and James I of England |
| The Street | 2006-2009 | BBC One |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Seeing the director’s point of view". Financial Times. 2006-08-27. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/50cfb916-35e9-11db-b249-0000779e2340.html.
