Jimmy McGovern: ‘What’s the greatest threat in Britain – North Korea or poverty?’ Jimmy McGovern is angry. He’s angry that in Britain in 2017, vulnerable people can be “sanctioned” by the welfare state for […]

Jimmy McGovern is angry.

He’s angry that in Britain in 2017, vulnerable people can be “sanctioned” by the welfare state for 13 weeks.

He’s angry that the poorest are suffering. And he’s angry that some people still can’t afford to feed their families.

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These issues are at the heart of Broken, the new drama McGovern, responsible for landmark shows like Cracker and The Lakes, has written for BBC One.

The six-part series stars Sean Bean as Catholic priest Father Michael Kerrigan, and Anna Friel as Christina Fitzsimmons – a single mother of three.

The characters live in a small, unspecified Northern parish which is ravaged by poverty.

On the ‘ludicrous’ welfare system

In Friel’s character, McGovern explores how the welfare state can fail a person so spectacularly. When she loses her job, she’s unable to claim benefits or receive an emergency loan.

It forces her to make a drastic choice to feed her family – which Father Michael observes with discomfort.

“The fact that you can be sanctioned for 13 weeks and get not a single penny is ludicrous in this country,” McGovern says.

“Honestly – there’s the notion of us having Trident, and yet we’ve got people unable to feed their own family.

“I mean, what’s the greatest threat in Britain – North Korea or poverty and hunger? With hunger you’re on the street.”

‘A priest wouldn’t last long in Liverpool if all they did was preach’

There’s a scene in Broken when Christina talks to an adviser at the welfare centre. She’s told to borrow money from a friend or relative, but for her that’s not a viable option.

“In that moment, she says ‘I don’t know anybody who isn’t skint’ – and it’s so true.

“There are whole working class communities in which every single person has no savings or whatever. They can’t loan you money because they have none.“

Sean Bean’s character, Father Michael, knows Christina’s family through the local church.

While the family take solace in the routines of the parish, he becomes less of a preacher and more of a social worker.

“You can imagine that a priest wouldn’t last long in a city like Liverpool if all they did was preach.”

McGovern says this with experience, having gone to a Catholic school in the city himself.

McGovern’s CV Brookside (1982-1988)

Cracker (1994-1996)

Hillsborough (1996)

Fitz (1997)

The Lakes (1997-1999)

The Street (2006-2009)

Accused (2010-2012)

Moving On (2010-2016)

‘Sin isn’t evil – poverty is’

“You’ve got to get stuck into things and get down and dirty with the people. That’s what they do here, and I wanted to show that,” he says.

“When you knock on somebody’s door, it’s no good going with a prayer book now. You go with food vouchers. It’s physical, it’s muscular. It’s working with people, and working against evils.”

But the evils of the 21st century are not necessarily the Biblical evils of old, McGovern believes.

“Sin is not particularly evil,” he says, “but poverty and despair – they’re evil. They’re what you campaign against as a priest.”

Even still, there’s an element of pageantry and wealth in the church that doesn’t sit right with him. You can see it in Broken, when the parents try to “outdo” one another with the most spectacular First Holy Communion dresses.

“It’s always been there with First Holy Communion,” he says. “They all want the kids to look good. I think it’s said at some point that the poorer the family, the more they want their daughter to be a princess for the day.”

But McGovern believes the “real pageantry” comes with the establishment.

“You see the Popes and the cardinals, or the bishops in their fancy frocks, walking through the House of Lords. What has any of that got to do with the notion of a poverty-stricken man dying on the cross dressed in rags?

“What has that got to do with this pageantry of wealth and ostentatious behaviour? It’s crazy. It’s a million miles away from what it should be.”

“There’s a question that informs this entire narrative – is faith relevant today?”

But overall, McGovern has faith in priests, and says he has met many positive figures through the church in his life. That’s why he wanted to tell this story.

“Maybe it’s just me, but I find it fascinating. Of course, some people would say that faith to them is an irrelevance. As this story progresses, our priest wonders whether his life has been irrelevant, and whether he has achieved anything as a priest.

“He has a massive crisis of faith and despair.”

‘A lot of what I’d written went in the bin’

As for the casting, Anna Friel was a pretty sure thing to play Christina in Broken. But getting Sean Bean to play the priest was a long shot.

“We wanted both of them. I knew we might get Anna because she’s very good at keeping her ear close to the ground. I think getting Anna was probably easier.

“Getting Sean I thought would be impossible.”

“I remember at the BBC – the person we were working to said, ‘everybody promises me Sean Bean and nobody ever delivers’. But then we did get Sean, and it was great.”

The script was fleshed out upon casting, explains McGovern, because “we then had to develop the priest a lot more”.

“A lot of what I had written went in the bin and we started again,” he adds.

What’s left is an ambitious story of poverty, trust, and the place of faith in an everyday, working class community.

As complex as the story is, McGovern sums it up neatly.

“There’s a question that informs this entire narrative – is faith relevant today?”

Broken attempts to provide an answer. But as with so many of the issues the show brings up, there’s nothing simple about it.

Broken starts on BBC One on Tuesday 23 May, 9pm