Joseph Fiennes And Jodie Whittaker Star In Sports Drama Dear England
Taking the leap from stage to screen, the hugely successful play Dear England is set to release as a new BBC drama miniseries early next year. Led by The Handmaid’s Tale actor Joseph Fiennes and Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker, it’ll follow the story of how the English national football team picked itself up from the bad reputation it had after years of losses and shaped into a positive force again by manager Gareth Southgate. Even for those who aren’t football fans, Dear England has won the hearts of theatre audiences- can it do the same on TV?
What is Dear England about?
At its core, Dear England follows the England football team under the stewardship of Sir Gareth Southgate, and how he installed a positive attitude in the team, with themes like resilience and mental health playing a role. Joseph Fiennes plays the manager, who he originally played on stage and was nominated for an Olivier for. He’s bearded and often seen sporting a waistcoat, hiding his own football-related demons: namely, missing a crucial penalty in a 90s Euros tournament that sent England out. Despite having footballing megastars like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, the “golden” teams of the 2000s never won anything and were accused by fans and press of having a bad attitude- a situation that Gareth is tasked with cleaning up. Dear England depicts in a funny and often heartwarming way how a younger team with little expectations managed to achieve huge strides across four tournaments, even if the “years of hurt” of not winning a trophy haven’t yet ended.
Whittaker plays an important role as Pippa Grange, a psychologist assigned to the men’s team. Her character represents one of Dear England’s key ideas: that football doesn’t have to be all about macho bravado, and perhaps young players need help with their mental well-being. Some of these footballers who are depicted include Harry Kane (Will Antenbring), Marcus Rashford (Edem-Ita Duke), Raheem Sterling (Francis Lovehall) and Bukayo Saka (Abdul Sessay). Each player experiences highs and lows, and the show will touch on some of the racial abuse Black players like Rashford and Saka experienced after the team lost the Euros in 2021.
Football doesn’t have to be all macho bravado, and perhaps young players need help mentally.
According to writer James Graham, the series tells “inspiring story of Gareth’s quiet revolution, and its themes of redemption, resilience, kindness and compassion in sport.” It’s these elements, as well as the light-hearted depictions of figures like Rooney, Gary Lineker and even Boris Johnson that made Dear England a sell-out success at the National Theatre, and hopefully translate into an equally enjoyable TV adaptation. The miniseries is set to be told across four hour-long episodes, and arrive on BBC One and iPlayer in 2026.
