This BBC documentary is an empathic look at the footballer’s career on the pitch – and the tragedy of the tabloids’ attempts to destroy him
The title of Gazza (BBC Two) makes it clear where the focus of this two-part documentary will land. This isn’t about Paul Gascoigne the player, once “Britain’s brightest footballing hope”, though it touches on his moments of greatness and loosely tracks his sporting career. In the early minutes, it flickers between footage of Gascoigne scoring goals and the rapid churn of a tabloid printing press. This is a story about Gazza, the public figure, the clown, the character, the villain and more than that, the tabloids, the late 80s/early 90s rivalry between the Mirror and the Sun, and how Gascoigne’s life collapsed underneath it all. Often, he comes across as collateral damage.
The choice to use interviewees in voiceover is classy and unobtrusive, though there is some irony in the fact that a film that purports to tell Gascoigne’s life story still falls under the shadow of the tabloids, and the dark arts that went on in order to keep him on the front pages. The second episode, which is already on iPlayer but airs next week, is much more about the media, and the familiar names – Piers Morgan, Rebekah Brooks (then Wade) – who kept the grim machine turning.
