Unheralded Greatness: Episode One - Jimmy McGovern

Jimmy McGovern is responsible for hours of the best shows you've never seen (unless you have, which makes me a real nob). If not for McGovern, you wouldn't be watching your endearingly acerbic House or any of the shows of that ilk. Jimmy McGovern, who is probably very famous and well-respected in the United Kingdom, is virtually unknown here. I aim to remedy that.

In 1993, McGovern wrote a television program about a smart ass psychiatrist who helps the Manchester police department solve crimes. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald (masterfully portrayed by Robbie Coltrane) is a brilliant shrink who seems to have the uncanny ability to solve crime like some modern day C. Auguste Dupin. The bumbling Mancunian police department need his help and take it, despite Fitz's every attempt at pointing out just how bumbling they really are. But Fitz, who is an addict in every definition of the word, doesn't merely get his kicks by winding them up. On one hand he's trying to help them become smarter and more savvy; on the other, the guy just can't help it, something smart asses everywhere can understand. The crimes that Fitz helps solve (while his marriage is falling apart and he alienates everybody he knows) are sometimes topical (from a man who murders because he wants revenge for the Hillsborough Disaster), sometimes classic (a woman is murdered and a man with amnesia is the prime suspect) and sometimes controversial (a religious sect that murders a girl to shut her up and save their morally bankrupt leader). It's not about the crime, though, which is why Cracker shows the viewer up front who committed the crime and how it was committed. It's about how Fitz and his crew of Manchester coppers solve the crime.

McGovern's latest show is called The Street and is about a street in Manchester and the people who inhabit it. This is a six part series of hour-long episodes about different families on a suburban street. The first episode starts with a hit-and-run complicated by the fact that the victim of the hit-and-run is the daughter of the woman (played by Jane Horracks) who is having an affair with the hitter. The second episode is about a recently-retired man (an incredible turn by Jim Broadbent) who considers suicide because he doesn't think he has anything to live for. The third revolves around a scandal in which a teacher is accused of exposing himself to a little girl in a public park: the catch is that he was only peeing. The fourth is about a young soccer star who screws up his life by getting involved with the criminal element. The fifth is about a taxi driver (played by the underrated Timothy Spall) who picks up a non-English speaking immigrant and feels compelled to help the man when nobody else will. The last episode is about a heavy-drinking, wife-beating criminal and the ultimate vengeance doled out by his wife and her family. This show is at times tragic and at others hilarious, but it's always fascinating. It is not an overstatement when I say that this show is one of the best shows ever made: certainly the best show that you've never heard of. My only regret is that I can't see the second season until it comes out on dvd in the States.

It's not surprising to me that Jimmy McGovern's shows have won 2 BAFTAs, and have been nominated many more times. It's not a stretch to compare his work to that of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski: The Streets, although not about the Ten Commandments, is similar to the slice-of-life look at society that The Decalogue presented us with. McGovern has created characters that are morally good and evil, but he never imposes any judgment upon them. He is the master of the antihero and is directly responsible for the popularity of them in today's television programs, from House to Horatio Caine, from Dexter to Tony Soprano. Jimmy McGovern, by making the antihero a viable option for a television program, has made an indelible mark on modern television and deserves all of the accolades that have been given to him, but he'd probably be just as happy if we Americans would watch his shows.