It’s World Cup season, so if you’re looking to fill in the gap between matches, why not stick on some classic footie films?
The streamers have cottoned on that this a good idea, and are uploading/promoting a whole load of programmes and films based on the beautiful game.
One that has recently been added to Prime Video subscriptions is Mike Bassett: England Manager.
Entertainment Film Distributors
Entertainment Film Distributors
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The 2001 mockumentary stars Brookside and The Royle Family’s Ricky Tomlinson, and The Chase host and former Doctor Who actor Bradley Walsh.
The plot focuses on a lower league manager who is forced into taking charge of the national team after his predecessor suffers a heart attack, and with his minimal experience, has to somehow guide his players into qualifying for the World Cup,
All the while, he has camera crews following him around, ready to document his every failure.
Elsewhere in the cast, there’s New Tricks’ Amanda Redman, Porridge’s Philip Jackson, Benidorm’s Geoffrey Hutchings, Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ Phill Jupitus, Shameless’ Dean Lennox Kelly and Dream Team’s Terry Kiely, with infamous journalist Martin Bashir providing the narration.
Entertainment Film Distributors
Entertainment Film Distributors
Related: 9 best football movies to watch on BBC, Channel 4, Netflix and more to get in the World Cup spirit
There’s a bunch of cameos too, from Pelé and Ronaldo to Atomic Kitten, Natasha Kaplinsky, Sue Barker, Gabby Logan, Keith Allen and Dickie Bird.
It opened in third place in the UK in its week of release, didn’t make a lot at the box office, and only has a 40% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Unsurprisingly given its subject matter and cast, it’s done better with fans, with a 76% positive audience score, and has gone on to become a cult classic.
One IMDb user review summed up its appeal quite well, stating: “This is an absolute classic film, especially for any English football fans [with] the references to just how bad it was to be an England fan for such a long time.”
The show spun off into a six episode TV series called Mike Bassett: Manager in 2005, but there wasn’t enough interest to get a follow-up Kickstarter project off the ground in 2014.
Mike Bassett: England Manager is available to stream now on Prime Video.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.