LIVERPOOL-BORN TV dramatist Jimmy McGovern revealed he was taken to task by BBC chiefs over concerns that his writing would offend Manchester United fans. The screenwriter and producer, whose credits include Hillsborough, Cracker, and Moving On, said he was approached by the Corporation’s compliance unit over hit drama The Street. He said: “I ask, ‘What is the point of this unit?’ And the response is, ‘It’s in case you cause offence.’ “They’ve asked questions, particularly about the anti-Manchester United bias in The Street – there was this big spiel about a character wanting to shoot Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. “I told them every chance I get I write with anti-Manchester United bias. “I’m a dramatist. Imagine on my tombstone if it read, ‘Jimmy McGovern, writer – never offended anybody’. How would I feel? That’s my job.†McGovern was speaking ahead of his latest drama series, Accused, which is about to be broadcast on BBC1. The BBC Trust, the corporation’s governing body, demanded tougher compliance procedures after the Queen was misrepresented in a 2007 promotional trailer. Further measures were introduced after Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left obscene messages on the answering machine of actor Andrew Sachs during a Radio 2 show in 2008. McGovern said: “I don’t think anyone (at the BBC) has ever come back to us about a story. We ask questions ourselves – and the question we ask is, ‘Is this real?’ There are no black people in my dramas, or very, very few, but that’s because I understand the white working class and I write about that. “I don’t think that’s ever been put to us by the BBC. We did three series of The Street and the three of them were good. So I think the BBC respect us.†McGovern, who began his career writing Brookside, said he was not a fan of US dramas. He told the magazine: “I think they’re all over-rated. “I couldn’t get into The Wire and everybody told me it was great. I was watching it and I thought, Bugsy Malone – these guys are talking about things, but they never convinced me they had experienced the emotions they were describing. “It was never authentic for me at all. “But I tend to be bitter and twisted – it’s jealousy as well because everyone raves about American dramas. And me and Paul Abbott and Guy Andrews and people like that are working their b******s off: we are paupers compared with these guys.†SOURCE
i love him but he is so wrong about us dramas.Although brit dramas dont get enough credit.Spooks has always been excellent.