The Stage

McGovern to pen daytime drama series for BBC

Published Friday 4 July 2008 at 12:05 by Matthew Hemley

Jimmy McGovern, the award-winning writer of The Street, has been commissioned to create a brand new daytime drama series for the BBC.

The series, which has the working title Moving On, will consist of five 45-minute episodes that will be stripped across a week on BBC1 next year.

Each episode will take place in a house where a family or individual is moving in or out, and aims to explore “contemporary issues facing Britain”, the BBC said.

BBC daytime controller Liam Keelan said that he wanted the Corporation’s daytime output to be “topical and to grab people’s attention”.

“A drama from someone of Jimmy’s calibre and credibility fits the bill perfectly,” he added.

McGovern, who also created Cracker, said his aim was to produce “riveting drama to an extremely high standard”.

He said the programmes would be made in Liverpool, his home town, which he described as a “city full of talent”.

Moving On is being made by independent production company LA Productions.