Jimmy McGovern returns on top form for his new one off BBC drama Common. Never afraid to hit on current issues, he looks at the issue of joint enterprise in the British justice system – and hits many provoking points along the way.
Common follows the story of 17-year-old Johnjo O’Shea (The Village‘s Nico Mirallegro) who thinks he is going out for a pizza with his cousin Tony (Philip Hill Pearson) and his friends Kieran (THIS IS ENGLAND’s Andrew Ellis) and Colin (Jack McCullen), but he actually taking them to sort out the local loud mouth. While the altercation goes down, Kieran thinks an innocent bystander called Thomas Ward (Harry McMullen) is staring at him, and then fatally stabs him. As the drama plays out, we see the four lads, only one who actually killed Thomas, up for murder.
Michael Gambon, Daniel Mays and Andrew Tiernan are just some of the big names attached to this drama, but it’s the performances of our three leads that makes this one off drama special to watch. While Mirallegro gives a great performance as the poor naive Johnjo, Jodhi May and Susan Lynch really steal the show in their performances. May as Coleen O’Shea especially, who is caught between trying to protect her son’s innocence and making sure he is not serving life in prison.
If you are a fan of McGovern this will be exactly what you would want from him. We have seen BBC take on issues of knife crime before (such as My Murder) but it hasn’t tackled issues facing youth in the system like this. Whatever you’re opinion is at the end, you will agree that this hour and thirty minute drama is incredibly well done.
Common airs tonight, 9pm, BBC One.
