By Harry Mottram: It’s all about winning as they say in football but England’s men haven’t won a football international cup final since 1966. That fact – and I can remember watching the game on our black and white TV – haunts Gareth Southgate and the rest of the nation who expect the ultimate prize. I had hoped to see the original stage play of Dear England but the BBC TV version has now been screened – although an adapted version broadcasted in two episodes on BBC TV. Having more time it features more archive footage mixing the real TV action with drama which works brilliantly. Dear England dramatises Gareth’s attempts to turn around the fortunes of the men’s international football team by team bonding and getting in touch with their true feelings. He even calls in psychologist Pippa Grange played by Jodie Whittaker to try to pick away some of the teams mental blockages like their fear of failure.
The drama is also about Gareth trying to come to terms with missing a penalty back in 1996 that saw England exit from the competition. Penalties have been the team’s Achilles heel for several competitions with the Three Lions losing out in the spot kick competition after the final whistle when players need to hold their nerve. We learn that English players use just three seconds to take a penalty kick while their German rivals take more than double that time. Footballers like Harry Kane (Will Antenbring) will take their time with a penalty, eyeball the keeper, choose which side of the goal they will aim for and then give the shot full power. Even if the keeper guesses which way the ball will go if it is hit hard enough the power will be too much in the majority of penalties. Instead of the navel gazing about penalties that Dear England indulges in – which pushes the drama into unwanted extra time – all the team needed to do was what other teams do – practice for that eventually.
Gareth in the original play by James Graham takes a holistic approach when interviewed for the job of England manager of the national team. He said things need to change and the players need to connect as a team and not as individuals in contrast to the traditional hard man of football management as personified by Sam Allardyce who doesn’t get the job. It was a style that proves a success as England reached the 2018 FIFA World Cup semi-finals, the UEFA Euro 2020 final, the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals, and the UEFA Euro 2024 final. It was one of the most successful periods for the national football team making Gareth something of a national hero although with defeats to Croatia and France meant England are yet to achieve those of Alf Ramsey’s 1966 team.
For any who have followed England over the last few decades, Dear England is familiar. Taking the knee controversy, the monkey chants aimed at black players and what it is to be English – so often defined by being white when history shows there were black Londoners 2000 years ago. Gareth does his best to include all of England – to unite as a team while many who support England have a narrow view. Be proud of Yorkshire, Croydon and Essex he says – we are all English – God for Gareth and England and St George.
Part of the show’s enjoyment was identifying the characters in the team we think we know. There were some uncanny lookalikes. Gareth Southgate played by Joseph Fiennes had all of Gareth’s self doubts, nervous ticks and his desire to exorcise the ghost of his own penalty miss. Harry Kane had a lookalike in Will Antenbring who gave the striker gravitas – and who came across as one of Gareth’s reliable supporters. Wayne Rooney played by Bobby Schofield was thoughtful and helpful to Gareth, explaining why the players had lost the desire to play for England when he first takes the job as they get so much grief from fans and the media when they lose.
Harry McGuire (Adam Hugill) came across well as a character while there was an emotional Raheem Sterling (Francis Lovehall ), honest Marcus Rashford (Edem-Ita Duke), and a reliable keeper Josh Pickford, (Josh Barrow). They all given their own stories – with the journey of Pippa Grange played by Jodie Whittaker particularly strong since she had a difficult job trying to get the guys to let go of their demons.
An examination of what it is to be English, a psycho drama about Gareth Southgate’s penalty miss trauma, and a story of redemption which pushed the production into extra time.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002qkv1/dear-england-series-1-episode-1