Accused (New Drama frm Jimmy McGovern)

[alan45]

I watched this pile of crap tonight. I thought the whole thing was disgusting. It must have made harrowing viewing for anyone who has a father/son/brother serving in Afghanistan. Not only was it badly written and riddled with inaccuracies but some of the acting was abysmal. Shame on the BBC for showing this. Some of the scenes would have been laughable if the subject wasnt so serious. The coffin scene was a total joke. Not a mark of an entry wound, and the exit wound from a high velocity bullet would have removed half his head. The body which would have been embalmed following the post mortem was limp and showed no signs of a PM having been carried out.

The berets were worn in Frank Spencer style which no self respecting squaddie would ever be seen doing. I could go on but whats the point. It really angers me that this could be called drama but then again when the BBC and Jimmy McGovern are involved I suppose I shouldnt be surprised.

Gritty drama my ar$e. More like SH!TTY drama.

You dont have to agree with the war in Afghanistan to be appalled by this.

[Chloe O'brien]

Althought I agree with your inaccuracies. I found the drama compelling and harrowing. All through it I kept thinking does this really go on. Is there a young lad in Afghanistan going through this hell right now. It was controversial and made you think and that was the point of the drama.

[alan45]

. All through it I kept thinking does this really go on. Is there a young lad in Afghanistan going through this hell right now.

That is my point precisely. How many parents and loved ones are sitting at home thinking that. Its just another worry that they shouldnt have. Personally I dont believe it goes on like that. Yes I have no doubt there are cases of bullying but not to that extent and certainly not in a combat zone. I stick by my view that it was a disgusting play and offensive to many. The scene with the RMP was a complete travesty as well. Complete and utter BULL$HIT

[Siobhan]

Alan.. they did say it is not based on what goes on in Afganistan


"We have asked the BBC to make it clear that this is a fictitious programme, is not accurate and that the Army has nothing to do with making it." .. was that not said at the start of the program?

[alan45]

Alan.. they did say it is not based on what goes on in Afganistan


"We have asked the BBC to make it clear that this is a fictitious programme, is not accurate and that the Army has nothing to do with making it." .. was that not said at the start of the program?

If it was then I never heard it.

Had they wanted to make a 'drama' about bullying in the Army then they could have chosen a less sensitive location than Afghanistan. Deepcot for instance.

[Perdita]

Have you been watching Accused lately? The BBC drama - from The Street scribe Jimmy McGovern - focuses on a different crime and punishment story each week. Oh, and there's an amazing cast. We've already had stars like Christopher Eccleston and Mackenzie Crook, and in tonight's episode Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi and Alfie Allen get involved in a tale of tragedy. The cast also includes Tina O'Brien, so we caught up with her to find out more about the show.

Can you tell us a bit about Accused?
"It's Jimmy McGovern and it works in the same way as The Street, in that it focuses on different characters every week. I'm involved in an episode called 'Helen's Story'."

What's your episode about?
"It's about a woman, Helen [Juliet Stevenson], who has a son and something happened, and she basically wants to get justice - she wants to find out the truth. Within that, I'm playing the part of a young married woman. I'm married to this guy, who's played by Alfie Allen, and he's basically seen something happen, but he's in a very difficult situation and he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know whether to tell the truth or not because of their financial situation. So they're kind of stuck in a moral dilemma of whether or not they come forward."

What's your character Leanne like?
"She's a sweet girl. She's got it tough really, because they live in quite a rough area and he's out working. She's at home looking after a baby. They just kind of want better because where they're living a lot of the kids are quite rough and quite wild, and they just want a better life for their child."

What's her relationship with Alfie Allen's character Michael like?
"I think they're quite young and in love. We've got a scene where we're in the court at one point and it shows us hugging and kissing and stuff, so yeah, I think they love each other."

You mentioned they're in a bit of a moral dilemma - does their relationship change over the course of the show?
"Well, you don't get to see them really that much together at a couple, which is unfortunate. But the times that you do get to see them together, you can see that they are happy. Just very sort of torn."

Is it quite an emotional drama?
"Yeah, it definitely will be. Just at the read-through, I got a bit upset! I think it definitely will get people. We've got a scene where Helen comes round to the house and she's trying to get Michael to speak to her, and Michael shuts the door in her face. You can't see us, you can see Helen's face, and it's us having an argument behind a closed door. But it was really good. We were both getting really upset. In a way, because there were no cameras on us, it actually felt more real. We were behind the door, screaming and shouting at each other."

Do emotional scenes affect you at all?
"I think at the time you've got to kind of be there. You do think it's real at the time, or you wouldn't be able to do it so convincingly. But as soon as the end of the scene is closed I put that behind me, like, 'Right, that's done, that's off, that's not real'. I think you become very good at making it real at the time but not after!"

What makes Accused different to other crime or legal shows?
"I think it comes at it from a different angle. It's not about whether something's right or wrong, but more whether you empathise with the characters. It's very cleverly done, because I think in TV programmes before, the baddie's always the baddie and the goodie's always the goodie. In this it's so hard to distinguish between who is the baddie and the goodie, because the baddies do it for good reasons and the goodies do it for bad reasons, if that makes sense."

What was it like working on a Jimmy McGovern drama?
"Unbelievable. Even at the read-through, we were all sat around the table and Jimmy McGovern was there, and I was like, 'Wow'. It was like listening to a really, really, really good radio play that had already gone out, just by listening to the read-through, so you could tell it was going to work really well as a drama. Unfortunately, I only had a few days working on it but it was really good fun. Alfie's absolutely lovely, we had a really good time together. I really enjoyed his company."

You were in The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister which was really well-received, and now you're in Accused. How do you pick your roles?
"I'm just really, really lucky that I'm being put up for really good stuff at the moment. You audition for it and just hope to God that they think you're good enough. A lot of people go forward. Unless you're a really high-end actor, you just have to audition for everything. Unfortunately I'm not at the point where I can go, 'Ooh, I'd like to do this please'! I've just got to audition for everything, and I've been really lucky so far. I've been getting some really good stuff."

Obviously you were in Coronation Street for ages and now you're doing one-off dramas - which do you prefer?
"Gosh! I think I like them both in different ways because all of it I'm just getting to act. For me, I think working on Coronation Street was great because it meant I got a lot of meaty stuff a lot. So for an actor that's brilliant because it means you're working and you're getting to do a lot of high-intensity stuff. Whereas with drama, you get the real luxury of working very slowly with it and you get a lot of time to change the angles and stuff like that. Different things for different times really!"

Accused airs on Mondays at 9pm on BBC One.

[Siobhan]

Finally got around to watch all of this series and yet again was blown away by it.. Jim mcGovern knows how to deliver a good drama. The one in the army, read recently that mcGovern wanted it to be about bullying from higher ranks in any situation been supported by the ground level personel, which is what happened in this... Higher authority picked on one person and his team goes along with him for fear that they will become the victim. I thought it was really well done. I didn't look at it from the point that this is happening in Afganistan but as a piece of drama over all.. Well impressed

The one with the daughter been attacked and the father going after the guy was also fantastic. Last night I watched the final one where the woman has an affair and what her husband did to her was painful to watch.. Accused is definitely something I would buy on DVD to watch over and over again.. Well done Jim!!

[Chloe O'brien]

I hope Jimmy makes more episodes this year and not just a one of.

[tammyy2j]

Love/Hate star Robert Sheehan will play the lead role in an episode of the new series of BBC One's crime and punishment drama Accused.

Written by Jimmy McGovern (Cracker, Sunday), Accused focuses on a different story each week, and Sheehan will appear in the second episode, co-written by McGovern and Danny Brocklehurst (Exile, The Street).

He will play a teenager called Stephen who has very serious reservations about Charlotte (Sheridan Smith), the palliative care nurse assigned to look after his mother.

He becomes increasingly paranoid about the welfare of his younger brother Dom (Josh Bolt) and is at loggerheads with his father Peter (John Bishop).

But has Stephen something to hide?

Also appearing in episodes of the second series are Anne-Marie Duff, Olivia Colman and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Filming begins this month in Manchester and surrounding areas.

[Perdita]

Sean Bean, Anna Maxwell Martin and Stephen Graham will star in the second series of Jimmy McGovern's Accused.

Bean (Game of Thrones, Sharpe), Maxwell Martin (South Riding) and Graham (Boardwalk Empire) will star in two episodes of the award-winning BBC One drama, which will be filmed later this year.

"I've wanted to work on a Jimmy McGovern drama for a while and I think this cracking script really delivers a powerful, emotional drama for the audience," said Bean.

Bean will play an English teacher, who has a cross-dressing alter ego Tracie, which leads him into a "terrible crime of passion". Graham is cast as Tony, a satellite and aerial engineer with Rachel Leskovac (Coronation Street) as his beautician wife Karen.

The episode is written by Shaun Duggan (EastEnders) and McGovern, and is helmed by Ashley Pearce (Downton Abbey).

Anna Maxwell Martin's episode will feature her as Tina Dakin, a married mother of three, who is overstretched as a mum and at work as a prison officer. Robert Sheehan and John Bishop also star.

Two episodes of Accused began shooting in 2011 and feature Anne Marie Duff, Olivia Colman and Sheridan Smith.

Accused's first series won two international Emmy Awards for 'Best Series' and 'Best Performance By An Actor' for Christopher Eccleston.