'Dear England' Scores a Cast as Filming Finally Kicks Off

It's unclear how aware Anglophiles are of the current TV funding crisis affecting the U.K. over the past couple of years. Decades of Tory rule and austerity have made the BBC (and all its public broadcast channel competitors) overly reliant on U.S. producers and hungry streamers to bridge funding gaps for its ambitious projects. However, the pandemic, the streaming "correction" in the market, and the dual strikes had already taken their toll on American budgets, and that was before the current administration upended everything. 

With the BBC's charter renewal just around the corner, the broadcaster has been lobbying Parliament to secure additional funding sources from the government. In that fight, multiple producers have held up the Dear England project as the poster child for series that have been trapped in development hell due to the funding shortages.

Commissioned as part of the BBC's super ambitious 2024 slate, Dear England is adapted from the hit National Theatre play of the same name, written by James Graham (Sherwood) about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. The series arrived all but ready to go. The stage show was closing, and stars Joseph Fiennes (Young Sherlock) and John Hodgkinson (Small Axe) had signed on to reprise their respective roles as Gareth Southgate and former FA chairman Greg Clarke. Graham would adapt his work with the show's stage director Rupert Goold (The Hollow Crown) helming the premiere. All it needed was funding.

Thankfully, someone finally stepped up and helped close the gap, and the cast has now been set as filming commences. Fiennes and Hodgkinson will be joined by Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), who co-stars as Pippa Grange, the England men’s team psychologist; Jason Watkins (The Crown) plays former FA chairman Greg Dyke; Daniel Ryan (The Bay) is Steve Holland, former assistant manager for the England men’s team; and Sam Spruell (The Gold) is fictional coach, Mike Webster.

The West End drama will be reimagined as four one-hour installments. However, the synopsis remains essentially unchanged, just more truncated.

With the worst team track record for penalties in the world when he takes over as manager, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take England back to the promised land. The country that gave the world football has delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t the England team win at their own game?

Here, for the sake of comparison, is the synopsis from the stage show:

It’s time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. The England men’s team has the worst track record for penalties in the world, and manager Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take the team and country back to the promised land. This joyous, five-star ‘new stage epic’ tells the uplifting, at times heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring story of Gareth Southgate’s revolutionary tenure as England manager, in a ‘gripping and moving’ examination of nation and game.

The cast for the four-part series, like the stage show, is an extensive proposition; i.e., there's an entire football team ensemble roster to fill out. That ensemble includes stage show vets Adam Hugill (Towards Zero), Josh Barrow (Hostage), and screen newcomer Lewis Shepherd reprising their respective stage roles as Harry Maguire, Jordan Pickford, and Dele Alli. The three are joined by a who's who of up-and-coming British male talent, including Bobby Schofield (Unforgivable) as the internationally renowned footballer Wayne Rooney, Will Antenbring (Mr Loverman) as Harry Kane, and Edem-Ita Duke (Vera) as Marcus Rashford. 

Francis Lovehall (A Thousand Blows) plays Raheem Sterling, Abdul Sessay (My Oxford Year) is Bukayo Saka, Jacob Greenway (The Dream Lands) plays Jude Bellingham, David Shields (Masters of the Air) is Jordan Henderson, Hamish Frew (Joan) is Eric Dier, and Alfie Middlemiss (The Madame Blanc Mysteries) is Philip Foden. Finally, Riess Fennell (The Football Fantastics) plays Jadon Sancho, Daniel Quincy Annoh (The Recruit) is Ollie Watkins, and newcomers Dom Rayner and Alexander Parsons play Cole Palmer and Jesse Lingard, respectively.

Graham penned all four episodes of the series, with Goold joined by director Paul Whittington (White House Farm) and producer Tina Pawlik. Graham and Goold executive produce alongside Andy Harries & Rebecca Hodgson for Left Bank Pictures, and Jo McClellan & Sami El-Hadi for the BBC. 

Dear England is slated for a 2026 debut on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. It does not yet have an American distributor.