[MagicNMedicine]

Just found this online:



Some dude has uploaded all 7 episodes of the series. It stars a young Hugo Weaving as England captain Douglas Jardine the anti-hero (or hero depending on how you view it ).

This is a bit dated now but I have to say as a kid I thought this was EPIC. It was actually what got me into cricket, one summer holidays I'd just finished school and this series was on TV, I got hooked on it and it made me want to learn about the whole Bodyline story and Douglas Jardine and Don Bradman and after that I became mad about cricket.

I think its one of the best (true) sporting stories ever told. England went down under to play the Ashes facing the greatest batsman in history Don Bradman and the ruthless captain Douglas Jardine developed a strategy of brutal physical intimidation to rough Bradman and his Aussie teammates up with a barrage of balls aimed at the body, led by his spearhead fast bowler Harold Larwood who was the most menacing fast bowler in the world, to bully the Aussies into submission. This caused massive turmoil and controversy in the sport and diplomatic world that the English were bringing the game of cricket into disrepute with their tactics and in the end they got the laws changed to outlaw the strategy. Having said that it was brought back in a fashion by the great West Indian sides of the 1980s and 1990s.

A lot of sports films are a bit naff and to do a 7 episode mini series based around a cricket tour takes some pulling off but the series works helped largely by a great performance from Hugo Weaving as Jardine who gets villainised for his tactics but was ultimately just an incredibly forthright Englishman who would not surrender to anybody and would do whatever it took for England to prevail. I remember being in tears at the closing credits of the final episode when they said afterwards he never played for England again and then went off to fight with distinction behind enemy lines in the war, and died of cancer afterwards. To me he's always been a great symbol of a proud Englishman even if not the typical goody two shoes type.

Just hearing the theme tune takes me back to my first happy memories of playing cricket in the back yard all summer as an 11 year old.

Also people that get stiffys about the British Empire should watch the first three minutes even if they don't like cricket.

[py0alb]

My only complaint is that they seem to do that magic trick that invicticus managed with rugby many years later, in that they take one of the most intense, ferocious, high class occasions in the history of sport and manage to make it look like a few old men having a knockabout on a village green. I've never seen a 90mph bouncer nearly killing a man look so harmless and gentrified before.