Cult film's musical transformation for 30th year

A cult football-themed film from the 1990s is to be given a musical makeover for the 21st Century as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.

When Saturday Comes was first released on 1 March 1996 and starred Sean Bean as Jimmy Muir, a brewery worker who dreamed of playing for his boyhood club Sheffield United.

Self-confessed superfan Deano Jones, 39, who produces Butlins stage shows, has now been given the blessing by the film's original writer and producer Jimmy Daly to turn it into a stage musical.

Jones said: "We want to pay homage to the film, first and foremost, and I know that it's a gritty northern drama, but this will also be uplifting and inspiring. We want people to root for Jimmy Muir."

Under its original working title, A Pint of Bitter, the film was conceived by Sheffield-born Daly, who had once worked in a factory and played for Hallam FC before ruining his trial with Sheffield United after a heavy night's drinking.

That provided the inspiration for Sean Bean's character in the film.

Daly had his big break when working on the Hollywood film Highlander 2 and befriending actor Christopher Lambert.

Lambert read the "gritty" script and vowed to help his friend "make his film".

Another break for Daly came when he bumped into Sean Bean's cousin in a pub in Handsworth, Sheffield, who passed the screenplay on to the local actor via his mother.

One person who was immediately enthralled by the film was Gloucester-born Jones, who reflected fondly on the first time he rented the film from his local video shop.

"I picked it up in Blockbusters and was like, When Saturday Comes? What's this about?" he recalled.

"The films I loved as a kid were kind of your underdog stories like The Karate Kid and Rocky, so I thought this is definitely up my street.

"My mum was happy, too, because she recognised Sean Bean from [historical TV drama] Sharpe."

Jones said he pestered his mum to keep renting the film until he eventually bought his own copy, and later the DVD.

He said the film's soundtrack, which offered a distinctly Sheffield vibe with tracks from Paul Carrack, Martin Fry and Joe Elliot, also dominated his CD player.

In 2017, after a serious car accident, the Butlins entertainer found himself facing a long period of recovery and rehab.

But, unable to venture much further than the sofa, he rewatched his battered copy of When Saturday Comes and picked up his laptop.

"I was thinking about the end where Jimmy runs to the fans and I thought, there should have been a sequel to this."

Jones said he imagined a new story set years later when a retired Jimmy Muir was forced to negotiate the ambitions of his own wayward and football-mad son.

"To be honest, it was like an exercise to keep my brain busy," he explained.

"But after I wrote it, I remember showing it to my younger brother who loved it. So, I tweeted out about it and it all blew up."

Around this time, Jimmy Daly happened to be attending a charity football match at his former club Hallam FC.

"All my mates kept on pestering me about this sequel saying, 'when's it happening then?', and that some lad called Deano Jones had written it."

Jones recalled a nervous moment when the writer then contacted him.

"I'll never forget when he phoned me," he said.

"I was like, oh, this is the moment I get sued, but he was just so nice about it."

Although the timing was ultimately not quite right for a sequel, with key personnel tied to other long-term projects and the Covid pandemic disrupting TV and film projects, it did cement a friendship between the pair.

Finally, in 2025, when cast and crew reunited for a screening of the original film followed by a Q&A session, Daly invited his new friend to attend.

Jones, who had been based at Butlins Skegness for five years, had been working on stage shows and quiz formats while writing film scripts and musicals in his spare time.

But when he pitched his musical idea to Daly, he did not immediately get the desired response.

"I was a bit sceptical, obviously, about it all," said Daly.

"But I was given a big break and a leap of faith when Christopher Lambert helped me out, so why not give someone else a chance?"

Jones said he was now working with a choreographer on the production, with dates booked in theatres throughout Yorkshire in Summer 2026.

He remained tight-lipped on the musical's full storyline, but admitted it would follow the original film, with numbers including I've Got a Trial and a title song When Saturday Comes.

"In our ideal world, we'd like to keep it quite authentic, and when we're looking for casting, obviously we are looking for someone who has got that Yorkshire feel to them so we can find a young Sean Bean type," Jones explained.

"The main thing is just doing it justice and putting on a musical that will inspire people and make them feel good."

Daly, who agreed to take stock of the production after the initial short summer run, said he was happy to see how it "plays out".

"If it works, it works. I mean, it's keeping it going, I guess, and, you know, he's got faith in it and he thinks it will give it a new audience."

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