Jimmy McGovern writes dramas not unlike those that Ken Loach directs: heartfelt stories of the hardness of life as a member of Britain's working class. What first got my attention in this series was a small but compelling detail: a woman commits a crime because she has no money, is essentially let off by a sympathetic magistrate, she just has to pay a small court fee, but how is she to do that when, literally, she has no money? This is a strong drama, even if its message is obvious; and important, because in spite of its obviousness, it's a message too often ignored in the corridors of power. And although it's framed around a priest's crisis of calling, which may seem an almost anachronistic concern in 21st century Britain, it transcends religion to tell a profoundly human story that is far more than just a wallow in contemporary misery.
Review of Broken
