Welcome to Wrexham review: a surprisingly touching documentary series
This ‘little gem’ isn’t just about football – it’s about hope and heartbreak
In early 2021, two “Hollywood stars with seemingly little knowledge of football” bought Wrexham AFC, the oldest club in Wales, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. This series from Disney+ looks at what happened next. It’s pitched at a US audience, which can create irritations – anyone with a “whiff of an accent that isn’t Home Counties gets subtitles”, and there is a lot of exposition – but once the “Football for Dummies shtick” is over, it “improves enormously”.
The stars in question, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, are sincere and funny. They’re outshone, though, by the players and fans: after its bumpy start, the series evolves into a touching portrait of “an ordinary town that is down on its luck and could do with a lift”.
Part of the series’s appeal is that the Wrexham players are clearly not in it for “the riches or the glamour”, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. We meet one who is 35, and still living in a small house with his large family. The series “takes us back to a nostalgic, almost mythical time before football became Big Football, and it’s great”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“If someone had told me that I would become mildly hooked on a docuseries about Wrexham football club,” said Carol Midgley in The Times, “I would have told them that they were deranged.” But Welcome to Wrexham isn’t just about football: it’s about hope and heartbreak; it’s about living in a working-class community, and sharing in the “pride/sorrow (mostly sorrow) of your local club”. The show is a “little gem”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Magazine solutions - November 29, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 29, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - November 29, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - November 29, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
What are Trump's plans for public health?
Today's Big Question From abortion access to vaccine mandates
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Her Lotus Year: Paul French's new biography sets lurid rumours straight
The Week Recommends Wallis Simpson's year in China is less scandalous, but 'more interesting' than previously thought
By The Week UK Published
-
Say Nothing: 'sensational' dramatisation of Patrick Radden Keefe's bestselling book
The Week Recommends The series is a 'powerful reminder' of the Troubles
By The Week UK Published
-
Joy: fertility film starring Bill Nighy offers 'dose of seasonal cheer'
The Week Recommends The film about the invention of the fertility treatment is 'unassuming' but may 'sneak up on you'
By The Week UK Published
-
Ed Park's 6 favorite works about self reflection and human connection
Feature The Pulitzer Prize finalist recommends works by Jason Rekulak, Gillian Linden, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 fantastic homes in Columbus, Ohio
Feature Featuring a 1915 redbrick Victorian in German Village and a modern farmhouse in Woodland Park
By The Week Staff Published
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibition
The Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
By The Week UK Published
-
Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry
By The Week UK Published
-
Patriot: Alexei Navalny's memoir is as 'compelling as it is painful'
The Week Recommends The anti-corruption campaigner's harrowing book was published posthumously after his death in a remote Arctic prison
By The Week UK Published