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.

[1] 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.

[5] 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.

"[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.