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*Gifted*
Gifted
Genre	Drama
Written by	Kay Mellor
Directed by	Douglas Mackinnon
Starring	Kenny Doughty; Claire Goose; Christine Tremarco; Paul Popplewell; David Hayman; Steve Evets;
Composer	Julian Nott
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Pippa Cross
Producer	Ruth Gogarty
Cinematography	Lawrence Jones
Editor	Anthony Ham
Running time	95 minutes
Production company	Rollem Productions
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	29 October 2003

Gifted is a one-off British drama thriller television film, written and devised by Kay Mellor, that first broadcast on ITV on 29 October 2003. Starring Kenny Doughty, Claire Goose and Christine Tremarco, the film follows top-flight footballer Jamie Gilliam (Doughty), who is accused of rape by Sharon Harrison (Tremarco), a part-time lap dancer. When Gilliam strongly denies the accusations made against him, Harrison drops the case following intense scrutiny from the press, leading her best friend, Maxine Norris (Goose), to look deeper into the case.^[1]

The film was produced by Rollem Productions,^[2] and directed by Douglas Mackinnon.^[3] 6.19 million viewers tuned in for the initial broadcast.^[4] Gifted was released on DVD via IMC Vision on 7 February 2005.^[1]

Broadcast

Reports in The Independent in October 2003 suggested that Gifted was under review to be shelved, due to striking similarities with ongoing news stories involving a group of then unidentified Premiership footballers involved in the rape of a seventeen-year-old girl. However, despite these reports, the transmission date was brought forward three weeks, from 19 November to 29 October.^[5]

Reception

Carol Midgeley for The Times reviewed Gifted, writing; "What a piece of luck for ITV that Kay Mellor’s drama about a footballer accused of date rape came to fruition just as the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl by a group of Premiership footballers was being splashed across the Sunday papers. Call me a cynic, but I'm guessing the press office was cock-a-hoop. The fact is that no amount of champagne press launches and glossy publicity packs could compete with the real life, gory details of a girl being “roasted” as a way to work up the viewing public's appetite."^[6]

Kathryn Flett for The Observer added; "Kay Mellor is a fundamentally fluffy writer. The plot regularly fell apart at its seams, the direction was so emotionally distanced from its subject that it could have been the work of Amanda Burton, many of the key parts were perversely miscast, the char actors were clichés and the dialogue often pathetically girly. n fact, there was so much else that was wrong with Gifted that it is hard to know where to end the criticism, but I'll have a go because I think I've been hard enough."^[7]

Cast

Kenny Doughty as Jamie Gilliam
Claire Goose as Maxine Norris
Christine Tremarco as Sharon Harrison
Paul Popplewell as Sean Dwyer
David Hayman as Michael Sanderson
Steve Evets as Mr. Gilliam
John Benfield as Harry Boothroyd
Caroline Carver as Faye Steadman
Andrew Dunn as DC Fairchild
Bill Fellows as Ian Norris
John McArdle as Steve Moran
Kay Mellor as Linda Norris
Mary Jo Randle as Mrs. Gilliam
Nick Reding as Adam Gosling
Joanna Rowden as DS Dickson
Abdul Salis as Rowan Angelis
Pip Torrens as Richard Neilson
Richard J Scott as Football Team Captain

References

^ ^a ^b "Gifted [2003] [DVD]". Amazon. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "Gifted - Rollem Productions". Rollem Productions. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "Gifted (2003) - BFI". BFI. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". BARB. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "Sex assault TV drama may have to be shelved". The Independent. 5 October 2003. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "Gifted - TV Review". The Times. 30 October 2003. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
^ "A game of too many halves". The Observer. 2 November 2003. Retrieved 11 December 2018.