0% Villa-BBC drama on Munich air crash.

[cdbearsfan]

Link

"Jimmy McGovern: BBC worried about 'anti-Manchester United bias'

The BBC objected to a drama by Jimmy McGovern because a character displayed "anti-Manchester United bias", the award-winning writer has claimed.
 
The Street featured an impressive cast, including Bob Hoskins and Timothy Spall Photo: BBC
 
By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor 7:00AM GMT 09 Nov 2010
McGovern said that scenes in his acclaimed BBC One drama, The Street, fell foul of the corporation's over-zealous 'compliance unit' because they could cause potential offence to Manchester United fans.

"I ask, 'What is the point of this unit?' And the response is, 'It's in case you cause offence'," McGovern told the Radio Times.

"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, creator of Cracker, is a Liverpool fan whose previous work includes an ITV docu-drama about the Hillsborough disaster.

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He is not the first television dramatist to complain about the compliance unit, which polices BBC content. Guidelines were tightened in the wake of the 'Sachsgate' affair involving Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.

Tony Marchant, creator of BBC One drama Garrow's Law, was required to undertake a "Safeguarding Trust factual drama interactive module" last year. It included tips on depicting 'goodies' and 'baddies'. Marchant described it as "a complete nonsense".

However, McGovern said the BBC had been good to him in other respects. "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."

His latest project is Accused, a series of six hour-long dramas about ordinary people who find themselves in the dock.

A BBC spokesman disputed McGovern's recollection. "The BBC compliance team has never told Jimmy he can't write with an anti-Manchester United bias. In fact, no-one at the BBC has ever told Jimmy what he can and cannot write at all. Occasionally people will ask questions about why he has chosen a particular theme or subject, but that's all.""

[TheSandman]

I feel really bad not wanting to watch this just because it's about 'that' club.

How sad am I? Am I alone?

No. Me too. I feel for those who lost their lives and their families but I'm not going to watch it all the same.

[Oscar Arce]

I feel really bad not wanting to watch this just because it's about 'that' club.

How sad am I? Am I alone?

No. Me too. I feel for those who lost their lives and their families but I'm not going to watch it all the same.

Exactly how I feel, Manchester United became all I despise about football after that sad day, and on that basis I will not be watching !

[Chipsticks]

I feel really bad not wanting to watch this just because it's about 'that' club.

How sad am I? Am I alone?

No. Me too. I feel for those who lost their lives and their families but I'm not going to watch it all the same.

Exactly how I feel, Manchester United became all I despise about football after that sad day, and on that basis I will not be watching !

What? You hate Man United because of the Munich Air disaster?

I am tres confused.

[jembob]

It was indeed a tragic day for the people involved and apparently a tragic day for football if you listen to any Manure fan who can remember back to the distant days before the Premiership. The media continue to push this story as if it is important to ALL football fans but I just don't want to hear about it. It's the same myth that suggests that Bobby Charlton was the best footballer of all time, followed closely by George Best.

[Chipsticks]

I shall be watching, Weller's written a new song for it (Devotion).

Definitely not watching it now.

[The Moose]

I won't watch it simply because, as a "football" drama, all of us "fans" of any allegiance are all "expected" to feel for the players, management, etc who died, as though nobody ever has before.
That's my opinion.

[Billy Walker]

I feel really bad not wanting to watch this just because it's about 'that' club.

How sad am I? Am I alone?

You're not alone.  There's plenty of stories about other clubs that could be retold by the BBC.  How many times do we have to hear about Munich?  I'd love to see a film made about the Villa team that refused to do the Nazi salute.  What about a film about FC Torino and their air disaster?

There's a real fine line between keeping a story in the public eye because it is of genuine public concern/interest, and, in the case of Man Utd, using it as a tool to strengthen the brand.  What about a film about Bradford, Ibrox or Bolton?  It's high time other clubs' histories were given similar exposure and - dare I say it - a similar portion of TV licence money! (Rant over.)

Jimmy McGovern's Hillsborough was a brilliant example of a football film that told a story that needed to be told. They showed it once, and I don't think I'm wrong in saying it wasn't repeated, and that's because it wasn't a drama for the family to enjoy over and over again. We know what happened at Munich to that group of young lads. All this does is create sentimentality out of an horrific incident.

The thing is that that "sentimentality", for the marketing men, equates to "mystique".  It adds to the brand, gains the club fans across the world and adds millions to the club's value.  A good comparison of how two clubs have handled similar, tragic, events would be to observe how Torino in Italy handled their club's air disaster (I think it happened in 1949).  It's like chalk and cheese when compared to Man Utd.

[Percy McCarthy]

I shall be watching, Weller's written a new song for it (Devotion).

Definitely not watching it now.

God you're unpredictable.

[Trinitymiddle]

Tv in general and the BBC in particular are so far up the arse of anything to do with Manchester it is ridiculous. Almost every programme in the past few years seems to be based in Manchester, like there are no other cities in Britain worth using, the BBC are moving a lot of their output up there, whilst they close down a lot of their opertions in Birmingham. they get the Commonwealth games, while we get laughed at when we bid for major sporting events.

Rant over.

[Villa'Zawg]

I wasn't around at the time but have always understood that the Munich air crash was an event of national importance in the UK i.e. exactly the kind of event that the BBC would create a drama programme about. It's nothing to do with a Man Utd bias is it?

[dave.woodhall]

Take away the hysteria whenever Manchester United get mentioned.

If this is any good it will be a fascinating programme. Munich is one of those things that everyone knows about but few people know much about. There could be some really interesting human interest stuff - the Arsenal player who could have injured Duncan Edwards the Saturday before and regretted that he didn't for the rest of his life, Edwards' fight for life, Harry Gregg going back into the plane to rescue injured survivors (including the pregnant Mrs 'not mother of John' Lukic) and the diablical way United treated widows and survivors, including evicting them from club houses, making them pay to see mementoes they donated to the cub museum and Cantona getting more money than they did from the tribute match.   

[Greg N'Ash]

heh. if the trailer is anything to go by its going to be the usual bestest bestest players in the world, in the bestest team in the world who were gonna win everything evoh if only they lived sentinmetal slush-fest. The way they got a team together afterwards is a decent story i think, but the rest......

[Steve R]

Take away the hysteria whenever Manchester United get mentioned.

If this is any good it will be a fascinating programme. Munich is one of those things that everyone knows about but few people know much about. There could be some really interesting human interest stuff - the Arsenal player who could have injured Duncan Edwards the Saturday before and regretted that he didn't for the rest of his life, Edwards' fight for life, Harry Gregg going back into the plane to rescue injured survivors (including the pregnant Mrs 'not mother of John' Lukic) and the diablical way United treated widows and survivors, including evicting them from club houses, making them pay to see mementoes they donated to the cub museum and Cantona getting more money than they did from the tribute match.   

This

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Frankly, I'm surprised at the high level of negativity in this thread.
I am anti Man U on a football supporting level and have been for 25-30 years, but I dont get this 'BBC are all Man U fans' line.

Its a drama based on real life events of which most people are aware even if they have no interest in football at all.
I have no idea if it will be well done or not but intend to watch and will then decide.
The BBC are capable of producing high quality human interest drama as well as sentimental rubbish, it could be either.
If it turns out to be a programme all about Duncan Edwards etc being the best players and best people ever, never having anything less than a 9/10 match performance, then its a wasted opportunity.
I will watch hoping it is drama done at its best, in this case something transcending football. Namely, how people behave when faced with extreme tragic events around them which can either bring out the very best of human nature or see people falling apart. Often this is done best focussing on the minutae, small things of great importance to individuals and family rather than speculating about how they may have gone on and won everything for club and country if they had lived.