IT started with a kiss.... and a lesbian one at that.
Up until now, Shaun Duggan's most famous TV moment was the scene in Brookie where Anna Friel threw the lips on a lady person.
Not a bad notch on the IMDB profile. Yet while it made broadcasting history for its “ground breaking subject matter”, no awards were forthcoming for the lad from Norris Green who wrote it.
Back in the 1990s, this sort of stuff was considered froth by the establishment, but you can bet they all watched it - at least twice.
Brookie days...Now, however, things in Shaun Duggan's Aigburth living room may have to be rearranged.
The Everyman Youth Theatre alumnus-turned-playwright has been nominated for a BAFTA for bringing to life cross-dressing teacher Tracie Tremarco in The Accused.
He heard the news on Monday, when the shortlist for the BAFTA TV Craft Awards went public, and was finding the whole thing “completely surreal”.
“I've only just found out myself so it hasn't really sunk in,” he told Liverpool Confidential.
Shaun Duggan And MorrisseyDuggan's writing career began at the age of 16 when his play, William, inspired by The Smiths song of the same name, was produced at London's Royal Court Theatre as part of its Young Writers' Festival. It caught the attention of his hero, Morrissey, who interviewed him about the play on Channel 4's The Tube and the pair became friends.
Eight years working on Brookside and a four year stint on EastEnders followed. You might get less for armed robbery, but it all turned out to be worth it.
Mastermind of The Accused is, of course, Jimmy McGovern who also cut his teeth on the Close.
However it was Duggan, one of several scriptwriters who works on the BBC1 drama, who developed the story of Simon, a bored teacher by day who chalks up a completely different lifestyle by night as Tracie.
Naturally, it all goes horribly wrong – this is, after all, the show were everybody ends up before the beak.
“I'm just made up that Jimmy believed in the story and gave me the opportunity to write it,” said the 42-year-old.
Sean Bean: RTS award
for role as Tracie“I'd been trying to get a drama series off the ground about the transgendered community for ages, but with little success. The reaction to The Accused episode was beyond my wildest dreams.”
Indeed. Last week ex-Sharpe actor Sean Bean won best actor, his first ever gong, at the Royal Television Society Awards for his performance as Simon/Tracie.
Duggan, who is up against veteran writer Tom Stoppard in the Drama Writing category, added: “This is just the icing on the cake.”
The awards will be presented on April 28.
