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
-
Today's political cartoons - November 11, 2024
Cartoons Monday's cartoons - border walls, the Christmas creep, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Is Cop29 a 'waste of time'?
Today's Big Question World leaders stay away as spectre of Donald Trump haunts flagship UN climate summit
By The Week UK Published
-
The rise of the celebrity chef tour
The Week Recommends Chefs and food writers are hosting sell-out live events around the world
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Juror #2: Clint Eastwood's 'cleverly constructed' courtroom drama is 'rock solid'
The Week Recommends Nicholas Hoult stars in 'morally complex' film about a juror on a high-profile murder case
By The Week UK Published
-
Explore a timeless corner of Spain by bike
The Week Recommends Take a 'dawdling route through the back-country' far from the tourism hotspots
By The Week UK Published
-
Saoirse Ronan: how the actress went viral
In the Spotlight The actress dropped a 'chat-icide bomb' on Graham Norton's BBC show
By The Week UK Published
-
Griddled salmon and vegetables with miso and melted butter recipe
The Week Recommends Hokkaido comfort food classic with a delicious twist
By The Week UK Published
-
Edmund de Waal on this year's Booker Prize shortlist
The Week Recommends The chair of judges details works by Rachel Kushner, Percival Everett and others
By The Week UK Published
-
Shattered: Hanif Kureishi's 'inspirational' memoir of accident that left him paralysed
The Week Recommends 'Exhilarating' book is composed of diary entries dictated to his son Carlo
By The Week UK Published
-
Dr. Strangelove: is stage adaptation of iconic film a 'foolish' move?
Talking Point Steve Coogan puts on a dazzling performance in show that falls short of 'the real thing'
By The Week UK Published
-
Small Things Like These: 'stylish' Irish drama 'casts a powerful spell'
The Week Recommends 'Stylish' drama starring Cillian Murphy as a devoted father
By The Week UK Published