TOFF TACKLING PICK OF THE DAY

Julian Fellowes-penned drama tells the story of a working class team bidding for FA Cup glory against dominant Etonians in the early days of the beautiful game

CLASS war and the real origins of the beautiful game are charted in this absorbing period drama from the creator of Downton Abbey. Julian Fellowes has penned the six-parter about the invention of football and how it reached across the class divide to become the world’s most popular sport.

It’s 1879 and football is in its infancy, dominated by the upper classes who invented the rules.

Edward Holcroft plays Arthur Kinnaird, captain of the Old Etonians team that has won the FA Cup three times.

THE ENGLISH GAME Netflix

No working class team has ever made the quarter finals of the competition until now – a group of factory workers from Darwen, Lancashire, has beaten the odds.

“They’re not going to know what’s hit ‘em,” says factory owner James Marsh, played by Craig Parkinson. Desperate to beat the Old Etonians, Marsh brings down two brilliant Scottish footballers to boost the team, stonemasons Fergus Suter (Kevin Guthrie) and Jimmy Love (James Harkness).

There’s a slow start to the drama, but once the match gets going, it becomes hugely gripping as we all root for the Darwen team.

With the Old Etonians not always the gentlemen they profess to be, it’s a definite class war.

Meanwhile, the wives and lovers make for interesting side plots, with the corseted dramatics reminding us that this is from the same stable as Downton Abbey.

Of course this is the first generation of women to be irritated by men obsessed with football, but can they kick their men into shape?

Edward Holcroft, pictured left, plays Old Etonian captain Arthur Kinnaird Culture clash: Kevin Guthrie, Edward Holcroft, Craig Parkinson and Ben Batt clash both on and off the pitch

It’s not all sport, there’s a healthy dollop of romantic sub-plots as well