Bond, bagpipes & controversial Canadians - why curling is must-watch

As Saturday night prime-time drama goes, curling might seem a strange choice.

Eight men sliding 16 stones down an ice sheet to the soundtrack of clunking granite, furious sweeping and hollered commands of "hard" and "curl".

And yet at 18:05 GMT - live on the BBC - millions will find themselves staring at televisions, tablets, laptops and phones to see if Team GB can add a fourth gold medal of these Winter Olympics.

Bruce Mouat's rink will face Canada - their oldest rivals - in the men's event in Cortina, high in the Dolomites in the north of Italy.

It will be the culmination of 11 days of competition which have included controversy, drama and intrigue... as well as the odd bout of boredom.

But why should you dedicate a couple of hours of your Saturday evening to it? Here's what you need to know...

The first time curling appeared in the Winter Games was in 1924. That was the last time Britain's men won gold in the event as only three teams competed.

They have only been among the medals twice since.

Mouat's rink had to settle for silver four years ago in Beijing after being edged out by Sweden.

And at Sochi 2014, a GB rink lost in the final to a Canadian team skipped by Brad Jacobs, who will lead them again on Saturday.

Among the British men he beat that day, were current GB coaches Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond, as well as David Murdoch, who is now the Canada high performance director.

Canada also beat the British quartet in the round robin this month.

Bad omens or just fuel for revenge?

Let's say Canada have had an eventful time of it in Italy.

Accusations of cheating. Swear words being hurled across the ice. Counter-claims of a sting operation with illicit filming... it all got a little bit tasty.

Then we had several days of wondering if Marc Kennedy was prone to leaving a lingering finger or guilty of administering an intentional prod?

The heat has been drawn from the situation since, but the Canadians seem a good fit for the role of pantomime villains.

It's fair to say they carry themselves in a certain manner...

Dismissed by some as just "ice bowls", curling follows a similar cycle.

Broadly ignored for three years and 50 weeks, it registers in the wider public attention when the Olympics comes round, but as little more than wallpaper filling the gaps between the more exciting winter sports.

Then, a few days in, we become hooked. People in offices and pubs find themselves discussing Rebecca Morrison's outrageous draw, or the ferocity with which Hammy McMillan brushes the ice. Or maybe just revelling in the Canadian capers.

Come the end of the round-robin and the medal matches, we've properly bought in - the BBC audience for the semi-final win over Switzerland peaked at 3.4million.

Maybe something worth keeping handy for when people tell you nobody is interested in curling...

Then we'll get to Saturday's gold-medal match. Clammy palms, spiked heart-rates, agonising groans and joyful roars - and that's just Steve Cram in the commentary box.

The Cortina Curling Stadium is a quirky wee place.

First built as an open-air venue to host the 1956 Games, it also played host to scenes from the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only, where James Bond became involved in a contretemps with some ice hockey players. Obviously.

The wooden bleachers and facings from those days still remain within the shell of a modern building. And when the noise rolls down from those stands... wow, it's loud.

The absence of the Italian hosts might quieten things down a little, but day-upon-day the British contingent seems to have swelled in this high-end resort town.

For the semi-final, one fan managed to smuggle a set of bagpipes into the arena. The story goes that they were hidden within a baby's pram to avoid the attention of security.

Will they make it in again on Saturday? We'll see. But regardless, the roar of the kilt-clad masses will be there to support Mouat and his team.