Dear England: James Graham’s rousing, upbeat football drama will have you crying and screaming at the TV | Television

TWhen you watch Dear England (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One) – the BBC’s superb adaptation of James Graham’s award-winning play Olivier – you must first understand the incomparable damage to the national psyche that occurred when Gareth Southgate missed a penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final. For those born outside England or too young to remember, imagine the apocalypse mixed with the death of your childhood pet and you’re about halfway through. I was eleven at the time and almost thirty years later I remember going to bed crying as my father explained over my tear-strewn pillow: ‘This is what it is to be an England fan.’

You’d better put your therapist on speed dial: the four-part fictional account of Southgate’s revolutionary reign as England manager begins with a real-life clip of his penalty miss. Fast forward to 2016 and England are in crisis, with the men’s team crashing out of the European Championship to Iceland, while Brexit looms large. Meanwhile, Southgate (Joseph Fiennes, reprising his acclaimed West End role) – now middle-aged and manager of the men’s under-21 team – is watching football on the TV and looking pensive.

The first ten minutes are essentially an exposition for anyone unfamiliar with the minutiae of mid-2010s English football. There’s a scene where manager Sam Allardyce is asked to resign by the FA, helpfully explaining to the viewer that he only lasted one game and has just been caught giving illegal player transfer advice “over a pint of wine”. A furious Allardyce insists this is what people want from an England manager: a pint of wine (but presumably while winning games). Cue Southgate – the gentleman who buys croissants for the staff and remembers the cleaner’s name – waiting in the hallway to be asked to become a concierge coach.

Wait, there’s more exposition! It’s the World Cup in two years’ time, the FA bosses tell Southgate/viewers, and the press and fans are frothing at the mouth. No agent has ever become the long-term manager, Southgate explains to two men who probably know.

Once the script is over here, it’s a joyful, exhilarating ride. We start with Southgate finding his new young players, their names appearing on screen as if they were in Ocean’s Eleven – which is handy because some of the actors look nothing like their real-life counterparts (Wayne Rooney will be very pleased, is all I can say). Then Southgate recruits psychologist Dr. Pippa Grange (Jodie Whittaker) to tackle the men’s mental blocks. Or as he puts it: ‘Come with me and help fix England.’

If you don’t understand the link between football and the wider country, these winks to the camera might seem a bit much. At one point, Southgate wonders aloud if there exists an alternate universe in which he didn’t miss that punishment and we would all live in a happier, more confident England as a result.

But that apparent weakness may be the drama’s strength. Of course, this isn’t just a show about kicking a ball into a net. Named after the open letter Southgate wrote to fans in 2021 following criticism of the team ‘taking the knee’, the script is significant precisely because it weaves together several broader themes: from the concept of English values ​​and changing ideas about masculinity to racism among football fans. The scene where Black England players undergo monkey chants from the stands is very moving.

Fiennes has a wonderful vulnerability as Southgate, picking up key mannerisms without ever veering into caricature. As team psychologist, Whittaker has some poignant conversations with the players that moved me almost as much as seeing the inflatable unicorns again. I’m not saying I got emotionally involved, but after 45 minutes I shouted, “Come on, boy!” to an actor playing Jordan Pickford about a game whose outcome I saw ten years ago.

By the time a cardigan-clad Southgate stands on the pitch to cheer on England’s first-ever penalty success at a World Cup, I had to remind myself that in the end they never won anything. Unless this is an alternate universe? It is difficult to keep an overview through the tears.