James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series Cracker (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He also received recognition for creating drama series such as Hillsborough, The Lakes, The Street, and Accused, among others. On 8 December 2021 Jimmy was conferred the Freedom of Liverpool, in recognition of his life's work. Early life McGovern was born in Liverpool in September 1949, the son of working-class parents Jane (née Warner) and William McGovern. He was the fifth of nine children. He suffered from a stammer, for which he received no therapy and which affects him still. Brought up a Catholic, he attended St Francis Xavier's College which moved to the Woolton suburb of Liverpool in 1961. Career Television In 1982, McGovern started his TV career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside. He tackled many social issues in the course of the series, especially unemployment – which was at a post-war high at the time. In 1993, he created the drama serial Cracker, about the work of a fictional criminal psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane. Made by Granada Television and screened on ITV, the series was a critical and popular success, lasting until 1995. Cracker also aired in the United States, on the Arts and Entertainment cable network. McGovern's writing earned him two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. In 1997 he created The Lakes, a drama that shared Brookside's realist setting and reused themes from Cracker, such as gambling addiction. In 2006, he created the BBC One drama, The Street; its third and final series aired in 2009. McGovern also wrote the script for the television docudrama Hillsborough (1996), based on the events of the stadium disaster in 1989, which claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool fans at an FA Cup semi-final. Among the cast of this drama was Christopher Eccleston, who also featured in Cracker, along with former Brookside actor Ricky Tomlinson. Eccleston later said it was the most important work he'd ever done. Newspapers cited Hillsborough as a factor in a new inquiry set up in 1997. In 2009, McGovern was the executive producer on the BBC One miniseries Moving On. His series Accused aired from 2010 to 2012 on BBC One. It followed a similar format to The Street but with a crime component.