''Premier Passions'' was a six-part

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

TV series, broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

between 24 February and 31 March 1998. It was narrated by actress and Sunderland fan

Gina McKee Georgina McKee (born 14 April 1964) is an English actress. She won the 1997 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for '' Our Friends in the North'' (1996), and earned subsequent nominations for '' The Lost Prince'' (2003) and '' The Street'' (2007) ...

, directed by John Alexander and produced by Stephen Lambert. It chronicled

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

during the 1996–97 season, in which the club was

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, the year after winning

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

from the

Football League Division One The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

. The programme gave unprecedented insight into the goings-on in and around a Premier League football team, with the 45-minute episodes following a chronological order, beginning in December 1996 with the club sitting comfortably mid-table and mapping the next five months until relegation on the final day of the season. A constant theme was the club's thwarted search to sign a new striker who might have scored the goals to save the team from relegation. The boardroom was also not out of bounds, as the documentary records the club's decision to float on the stock market, as well as meetings and debates regarding the club's move from its

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; it h ...

stadium to a new home, the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. The ...

. The most memorable feature of the series was the language used by manager

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

and his assistant

Bobby Saxton Robert Saxton (born 6 September 1943) is an English former professional footballer, manager and coach. Career Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Saxton managed Blackburn Rovers for five seasons after a playing career as a utility defender wi ...

during team-talks, usually at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

, which were often full of

swearing Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such as anger, ex ...

. The show often brought minor local fame to members of staff at the club, including the groundsman, Tommy Porter. Four lifelong fans comprising a cross section of the local population, from schoolgirl to painter to lab technician to retailer, also gave insight and reaction to results and club decisions. The series was updated with a one-off sequel, ''Premier Pressure'', which aired on BBC One on 5 August 1999, just two days before the club's first Premier League fixture since being relegated in 1997. This documentary, made with a different production team, and featuring the narration of BBC Sport pundit

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After ...

, detailed the club's close-season preparations for the start of the new football season, after storming Division One with a record points total in the previous campaign, and the difficult adjustments needed to ensure that the club would avoid a repeat relegation of two years earlier. Again, the opinions of a cross-section of local fans were canvassed, and post-promotion transfer activity (something which hindered Sunderland's 1996–97 season) was probed at great length as the signings of

Steve Bould Stephen Andrew Bould (born 16 November 1962) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender from 1980 until 2000. Bould began his football career with his hometown club Stoke City where he g ...

Thomas Helmer Thomas Helmer (born 21 April 1965) is a German former footballer. His preferred playing position was sweeper, but he was primarily deployed as a centre-back.Radnedge, Keir ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of European Football'' (1997, Carlton Books) ...

and

Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (; ; born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina and Va ...

were discussed. The testimonial of midfielder and club stalwart

Kevin Ball Kevin Ball (born 12 November 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played for Portsmouth, Sunderland, Fulham and Burnley. Since his retirement, he has held a number of positions at Sunderland, including twice being caretaker man ...

was also covered. The documentary showed the apparent discomfort of supporters at the lack of transfer ambition and the unrest caused by the closing down of the popular local

Vaux Brewery Vaux Brewery was a major brewer and hotel owner based in Sunderland, England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was taken over by Whitbread in 2000. History The company was founded in 1806 by Cuthbert Vaux (1779–1850), p ...

, which had sponsored the club since 1985, and the search for a subsequent sponsorship deal.

External links

* {{Sunderland A.F.C. BBC television documentaries Premier League on television Sunderland A.F.C. Association football documentary television series

See also

External links