It was 50 years ago that England won the Football World Cup and Sir David Jason presents an enjoyable documentary about how the terse manager, Alf Ramsey manage to cajole his team to become the eventual winners.
The opening match featuring England was tense and ended in a nervous draw but the competition came alive when Bobby Charlton scored a spectacular goal against Mexico and England's tournament came alive. We see highlights and controversies of the matches as England progressed and of course the final with that phantom touchline goal.
Contributors include Franz Beckenbauer, Martin Peters, Jimmy Greaves, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Bobby Charlton, Jack Charlton, Gordon Banks, George Cohen, Terry Venables and Tina Moore.
It was the high point for the England football team, interesting to note that Ramsey did not have game plan from the off but it evolved to the wingless wonders as the tournament went on. We also get to hear from the player's wives very much shunted out of the limelight even after England won the tournament. When the players had a victory dinner, the wives were shunted to an anteroom.
There was a more in depth BBC documentary about the 1966 England World Cup team made in 1986 which featured interviews with many of the players and archive footage from that programme is used here. Sadly several players have now died such as Bobby Moore and Alan Ball and a few are in ill health such as Nobby Stiles who has memory problems. One notable contributor here is Jimmy Greaves who did not take part in the 1986 series who still has not quite come to terms as being the nearly man in the World Cup winning side.
The opening match featuring England was tense and ended in a nervous draw but the competition came alive when Bobby Charlton scored a spectacular goal against Mexico and England's tournament came alive. We see highlights and controversies of the matches as England progressed and of course the final with that phantom touchline goal.
Contributors include Franz Beckenbauer, Martin Peters, Jimmy Greaves, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Bobby Charlton, Jack Charlton, Gordon Banks, George Cohen, Terry Venables and Tina Moore.
It was the high point for the England football team, interesting to note that Ramsey did not have game plan from the off but it evolved to the wingless wonders as the tournament went on. We also get to hear from the player's wives very much shunted out of the limelight even after England won the tournament. When the players had a victory dinner, the wives were shunted to an anteroom.
There was a more in depth BBC documentary about the 1966 England World Cup team made in 1986 which featured interviews with many of the players and archive footage from that programme is used here. Sadly several players have now died such as Bobby Moore and Alan Ball and a few are in ill health such as Nobby Stiles who has memory problems. One notable contributor here is Jimmy Greaves who did not take part in the 1986 series who still has not quite come to terms as being the nearly man in the World Cup winning side.