TV DRAMATIST Jimmy McGovern said he was taken to task by BBC chiefs over concerns that his writing would offend Manchester United fans.
The Liverpool-born screenwriter, whose credits include Cracker, Hillsborough and Sunday, said he was approached by the Corporation’s compliance unit over hit drama The Street.
He said: “I ask, ’What is the point of this unit?’ And the response is, ‘It’s in case you cause offence.’
“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.”
He said: “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.”
