Hard times

Courtroom dramas filled the schedules this week, with Jimmy McGovern writing a series for the BBC called Accused (BBC1, Monday). Mr McGovern, who invented Cracker, does grim. In a McGovern drama, things start badly in the first five minutes. Then they get worse. Occasionally, events might take a turn for the better. Ha! Don’t be fooled. They are about to get unimaginably grimmer.

It would be fun if the BBC persuaded him to adapt some P.G. Wodehouse. ‘Biffo Prendergast is hopelessly in love with the Hon. Letitia Honeysett. But the bluebird of happiness is about to be sucked into the aircraft engine of his life. She accuses him of rape and, thanks to evidence planted by a rival, he goes down for 12 years.’ Or, ‘Furious at being ordered about by Lord Emsworth, Wellbeloved feeds the peer to his own pigs. A life of squalor, misery and degradation follows.’

This week’s episode told the story of Willy, a builder who was deeply in debt. He was also on the brink of leaving his wife for another woman who was, in turn, married to a violent and abusive man. In McGovern land, most men are violent and abusive. Willy, played with grim bewilderment by Christopher Eccleston, takes a sledgehammer to the property of the bloke who owes him money, and a fist to his lover’s husband. So far, so grim. But we can imagine the scene over lunch at a half-decent London restaurant. BBC1 head of drama: ‘Love it so far, Jimmy. The stroppy teenagers are a nice touch. But I’m thinking, can we get a little more grim? Give him a drink problem, maybe? Let him start a quarrel with a priest? Credit card refused in front of his daughter’s in-laws? Here at the Beeb we can always use more misery.’