Jimmy McGovern

James Stanley "Jimmy" McGovern (born September 1949 in Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English screenwriter and producer. He created the television series Cracker (1993-1995), a popular and critical success in the UK, for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He has also received recognition for The Lakes, The Street and Accused, among others.

Early life

McGovern was one of nine children born to working-class Irish Catholic parents, William McGovern and Jane Warner. He had a stammer until the age of eight. He attended a Jesuit secondary school, St Francis Xavier's College in Liverpool. Feeling that the teachers did not recognise his talent, he left as soon as he could.

He taught for a time in a secondary comprehensive school, where he organised the end-of-school play.

Television writing career

In 1982, McGovern started his TV career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside. He tackled many social issues in the course of the series, especially unemployment – which was at a postwar high at the time.

In 1993, McGovern created the drama serial Cracker, about the work of a fictional criminal psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane. Made by Granada Television and screened on ITV, the series was a critical and popular success, lasting until 1995. 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 1997 he created The Lakes, a drama that shared Brookside's realist setting and reused themes from Cracker, such as gambling addiction. In 2006 he created the BBC One drama, The Street; its third and final season aired in 2009.

McGovern also wrote the script for the 1996 television docudrama Hillsborough, based on the events of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans at an FA Cup semi-final. Among the cast of this critically acclaimed drama was Christopher Eccleston, who also starred in Cracker, along with former Brookside actor Ricky Tomlinson.

His series Accused aired from 2010 to 2012 on BBC One. It followed a similar format to The Street but with a crime component. The series' writers included McGovern, Danny Brocklehurst, Alice Nutter and Shaun Duggan. It was produced by Sita Williams.

In 2012, McGovern together with local Indigenous Australian writers from Sydney, developed the Australian television drama series Redfern Now, set among the Indigenous Australians of the Sydney suburb of Redfern. The six-part series follows a similar format to Accused, telling the stories of six inner-city households in one street whose lives are changed by a seemingly insignificant incident. The series debuted on 1 November 2012, was produced by Blackfella Films, and has already been commissioned for a second series.

Film writing

McGovern wrote the screenplay for the 1994 drama film Priest.

Theatre

McGovern wrote the book for the musical stage show King Cotton, which explores 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.

Producer

In 2009, McGovern was the executive producer on the BBC One miniseries Moving On.

Views

McGovern has described cinema scriptwriters as being treated like hacks and forced to crank out countless drafts by successive producers. McGovern has openly criticised dramas such as Footballer's Wives, lamenting the lack of quality, believable storytelling in the early 2000s.

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."

Awards and honors

• McGovern received two Edgar Awards for Cracker.
• McGovern won an International Emmy for best drama series for The Street in 2010 and The Accused in 2011.
• McGovern won the BAFTA for Best Drama Writer in 2013 for the second series of The Accused.

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
Dockers	1999	Channel 4	Dramatisation of the 1995–98 Liverpool Dockers' Strike
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
Accused	2010–2012	BBC One
Common	2014	BBC One	90-minute film for BBC One, set in the North West of England and based on the UK’s controversial Joint Enterprise Law.
Banished	2015	BBC Two

External links

• Jimmy McGovern at the Internet Movie Database
• In Conversation with Jimmy McGovern, BAFTA webcast
• Jimmy McGovern biography at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/nov/07/jimmy-mcgovern-tv-drama-irony