Dear England writer suggests worst thing for Three Lions was 1966 World Cup win

Dear England writer James Graham has suggested the “worst thing” for the Three Lions was winning the 1966 Fifa World Cup because it puts added pressure on the national football team.

He also called for action on diversity as he gave the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, saying not enough working-class people are “bringing their experiences, outlook, stories, culture” to TV.

He added that there are “no heroes or idols anymore” for young people from working-class backgrounds.

The writer, who also created TV drama series Sherwood, was interviewed by former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark following his address at the media event.

The 42-year-old, whose play about former England manager Gareth Southgate won an Olivier Award and is set to be made into a BBC drama, said: “I don’t think I really mean this, but possibly the worst thing that ever happened to the England football team was winning the World Cup.

“It’s made us so miserable… unless we do it twice, and ideally where we’re not in Wembley, then we don’t really believe we’re a great footballing nation.”

He added that even “Southgate’s record” of reaching the finals of a major championship for the first time in decades has not been seen as a cause for celebration.

“We just started going to the last stage of our stage of the finals. And that became accepted,” Graham said.

“And I’d always imagined if someone had tapped a fan, going ‘Tell you what – here’s an offer… If in two years’ time, we will have the greatest streak of success we’ve had since 1966, we’ll get to a semi-final, quarter-final, would you take that?’, the fan would be like ‘Well, it’s not gonna happen… Yeah, of course, I’ll take it’, and then, when it does happen, everyone just goes ‘Yeah, but we still haven’t won it’.”

“We are on our way to possibly winning it, but it takes time, and if you can’t enjoy the journey, then what’s the f****** (point)?”

Graham, who grew up in Nottingham and identifies as working class, also reflected on his rallying call for action on class.

He said: “In other areas of under-representation, we’re allowed to celebrate the talent and the skills of people who come from an ethnic minority background, or women, (or) whether someone with a disability is allowed to be the full expression of themselves.

“But (there’s) something about when, if a working-class person starts to be successful, they suddenly have to abandon that part of their identity, because they’re successful and you can no longer be the working class, which means, unfortunately, that there are no idols, there are no heroes to look up to for working-class kids, because we don’t know those people who are doing well.”

He added that there is a “bit of shaming going on” for people who are outspoken about being working class.

Graham also said a big problem is London, where so much of the entertainment industry is based.

“I do think it’s not an accident in a lot of those golden-age dramas that I grew up watching and loved, from Cracker to Our Friends In The North… At that time there was obviously a really strong regional studio culture from Manchester and in Nottingham, and across the country, and obviously there’s been great leaps and bounds in Manchester and Salford and production bases in Birmingham. That’s all great.

“But, yes, (it) depresses me. If I still lived in my home city. I would still say… think I would have to move to London to be a playwright and a screenwriter or, at the very least, Manchester, and to be in an urban environment, rather than anywhere else. So, of course, that’s a factor.”