Jimmy McGovern is a Liverpudlian television/film writer with a strong political conscience. His most famous work is the three series of Cracker starring Robbie Coltrane as the criminal psychologist Fitz. The series was ground-breaking, intelligent television: British television would not be the same without it.
McGovern's other masterpiece is The Lakes, a gritty drama set in the Lake District of England. As with Robbie Coltrane, John Simm is now recognised as an actor with real talent after starring in a McGovern-penned series.
Never known for shying away from a difficult topic, Hillsborough was his docu-drama telling the story of British football's greatest single tragedy. After initially seeing the media blame the fans for the 96 deaths on that day, 'Hillsborough' was a chance to see what really happened. The disaster itself obviously had a strong bearing on McGovern as three episodes of Cracker centred around a (fictional) serial killer with a plot to avenge all 96 deaths. Some of his victims were characters who had worked for The Sun at the time of Hillsborough.
McGovern has also written two feature films: Go Now (1996) and Liam (2001).
The writer's other credits include Touching Evil, Dockers, Heart and Hearts and Minds as well as work on Scouser ex-soap Brookside.
sources
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-123712
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800313392&cf=gen&intl=us