Harry's Heroes: Euro Having a Laugh - What the Must Watch reviewers think

Tuesday 19 May 2020, 9:29

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan share their thoughts on Harry's Heroes: Euro Having a Laugh.

Harry Redknapp returns in a follow up to the Harry’s Heroes series, in which he brings together ex-England footballers to see if they’ve still got what it takes to win matches.

The three-part series started on ITV on Monday 18 May, it continued on Tuesday with the last episode on Wednesday at 21:00 BST - it is also available on ITV Hub.

Have you watched it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...

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(Photo: ITV)

Hayley says: "Harry Redknapp strikes the right balance"

"I’m not a football fan, so a lot of this is reminiscing about a sport I don’t follow and games I haven't seen, and it has a lot of lads winding each other up on a bus in a schoolyard prank sort of way, which isn’t my thing either. But... what I did like about it, and this was in the previous season too, is that it’s full of men caring about each other’s health, both mental and physical.

"I think stereotypically that is the remit of a joy-kill wife; the one who has to nag about the beer and kebab intake, the one who has to bring up heart problems and high blood pressure. In this show that is Harry Redknapp. He is blunt about it but he isn’t mocking or careless: he strikes the right balance.

"Early on in the show, the guys sneak out of where they are supposed to be eating their healthy dinners and instead go to the curry house down the road. By the end of the episode they're looking around at each other and realising that if they don’t do something about their various situations, they will lose each other, and these guys have been friends for decades.

"There is sadness to this, particularly with ‘Razor’ (Neil Ruddock) who is having heart trouble and keeps it quiet. His wife is in tears at one point. It is different when it is your friends telling you to get a hold of something rather than a doctor telling you.

"I like that it exists, although at times it does feel like we're watching a repeat of last year's show. It's not for me, but it's definitely for someone."

(Photo: ITV)

Scott says: "There are some moments which stopped me in my tracks"

“It is a Must Watch if you’re a fan of the first documentary, but I’m not so sure whether it deserves a follow up. The documentary last year received critical acclaim because it featured middle-aged men openly talking about their mental health and their varying health struggles. Many of them were very fit athletes in the 90s, but were then kind of involved in excesses or carried on eating and drinking, and are now out of shape. There are many fears that they won’t see their children grow up, or aren’t going to be able to be well enough in their sixties and seventies.

"The rest of the show feels very much like the first series, it doesn't go too much in a new direction, but there are some moments in this second series which stopped me in my tracks.

"There’s a really raw bit of TV towards the end of the first episode focusing on Neil Ruddock, who is very open about his health problems but continues to drink heavily throughout the episode. Paul Merson is clearly very concerned for him, so he decides to stage an intervention, but it initially badly backfires. It then leads to a real tender moment where they reconcile."