Sex assault TV drama may have to be shelved

Art is set to imitate life in a new television drama about a talented footballer on the cusp of Premiership stardom who is accused of raping a vulnerable female fan.

Gifted, a one-off drama by award-winning scriptwriter Kay Mellor, the creator of Fat Friends and Playing the Field, is due to be premiered at the Leeds Film Festival next Saturday, before being shown on ITV1 next month.

It tells the story of Jamie Gilliam, a player with the fictitious Premier League team Castlefield City, who finds his career in jeopardy after being accused of drugging and raping a student single mother he meets in a nightclub.

The drama, which is based on a real-life incident, though not one involving footballers, contains some striking parallels to the current Premiership rape controversy. However, there are also significant differences.

In the TV film, the alleged rape victim, Sharon, who is played by Christine Tremarco, the star of Anita and Me, encounters her attacker while out celebrating her university exam results with a friend at a nightclub.

The pair bluff their way into the VIP suite, where they meet a group of Castlefield players, and the subsequent attack takes place at Gilliam's home, rather than in a hotel room.

Nevertheless, news of the film's imminent screening is bound to prove controversial in the light of current events, and provoke calls from some quarters for it to be shelved or pulled from the schedules altogether on the grounds of taste.

Ms Mellor, who is appalled by the real-life Premiership scandal, says that Gifted is meant to address serious issues about the way young people are sometimes catapulted to fame before they are mature enough to handle it.

"The frightening thing is that this kind of thing is happening and it will happen more and more as we tell people how wonderful they are and that they can take anything they want, when they want it," she said.

"We are so desperate for celebrity at the moment. You go on a reality show and suddenly you are a celebrity - it's freaky.

"What on earth are we doing to young, impressionable people who maybe haven't always got the education or the life skills to deal with what's happening to them?"

'Gifted' is due to be broadcast by ITV1 at 9pm on 19 November