Main content

Jimmy McGovern

Sue Lawley's castaway is playwright and screenwriter Jimmy McGovern.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the playwright Jimmy McGovern. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the TV series Cracker - one of the top television series of the 1990s - about how much of the central character, Fitz, is modelled on himself, how he feels about the violent world it portrays and about why we are fascinated by criminal psychology. For seven years a writer on Brookside, he'll be describing how the phenomenal success of Cracker led to the reviving of his previously-rejected scripts for films like Priest and Hearts and Minds. He'll also be relating how the man who has since made a living out of words had such a bad stammer as a child that he was largely unintelligible.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: When I Fall In Love by Nat King Cole
Book: Ulysses by James Joyce
Luxury: Haemorrhoid ointment

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 19 Jan 1996 09:05
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Christopher Hampton

Next

Chili Bouchier

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Nat King Cole

      When I Fall In Love

      • Hits Of 1957.
      • Music For Pleasure.

  • Guy Mitchell

    Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

    • 16 Most Requested Songs.
    • Columbia.

  • Gerry and the Pacemakers

    You'll Never Walk Alone

    • 24 No Ones Of The 60s.
    • Music For Pleasure France.

  • The Merseys

    Sorrow

    • The 60s Album.
    • Fontana.

  • Pink Floyd

    Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2

    • The Wall.
    • EMI.

  • Dave Roylance / Steve Wright

    Theme From Brookside

    • Brookside.
    • MM Records.

  • Glenn Miller Orchestra, Paula Kelly, Tex Beneke & The Modernaires

    Chattanooga Choo Choo

    • The Genius Of Glen Miller.
    • RCA.

  • Dexys Midnight Runners

    Come On Eileen

    • The Very Best Of Dexys Midnight Runners.
    • Mercury.

  • Book Choice

    • Ulysses - James Joyce

  • Luxury Choice

    • Haemorrhoid ointment

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Jimmy McGovern

Broadcasts

  • Sun 14 Jan 1996 12:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 19 Jan 1996 09:05
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast