Beckham

Netflix, from October 4

***

Is this four-hour mini-series helmed by an Oscar-winning director ultimately a huge advert for all things Beckham? Is Scotland fitba crazy?

Beckham’s production company, Studio 99, are co-producers. That brings advantages and disadvantages for a film-maker. On the upside it means unparalleled access to the Beckhams, their families, and friends. Everyone else on the interview list will likely say yes, knowing the film is being made with the couple's co-operation.

On the downside, how much can viewers rely on this being the truth, the whole truth, warts and all? They can’t, but that’s the same for every profile of this kind. We are reliant on the author of the piece, in this case the director Fisher Stevens, to play referee.

Stevens’ credentials are impressive. Not only does he co-share an Oscar (for the documentary The Cove), he played Hugo the slimy press agent in Succession. Cool, tick, and experienced, tick. The two combined mean he is confident enough to insert himself into the film now and then to steer interviews where they need to go (not always though, as we see later on).

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Here it is, the soup to nuts of Beckham’s life so far, from apprentice with Manchester United to England, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and beyond. The goals, the genius, the Spice Girl. the haircuts, cars, photoshoots, the money and plenty of it (his contract with LA Galaxy was worth $250 million).

There is enough football archive on Beckham to fill 400 hours, but Stevens chooses wisely, picking out key moments and using them to shape the story. The first episode, The Kick, starts with *that* goal against Wimbledon from the halfway line and ends with the petulant swipe at Argentina’s Diego Simeone in the World Cup.

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Beckham comes across as a decent bloke who just happens to be humungously rich. He is also revealed to be a neat freak, given to clearing up every night before bed, including trimming the candle wicks to take off the unsightly burnt bits (don't you?).

Victoria is another revelation. Smart, funny, can take a joke, the pair have great comic timing together. A regular Terry and June, if Terry and June had ever worn head-to-toe Gucci.

Other “stars” of the show are Sir Alex Ferguson, careful with his praise and surprisingly generous with his laughter; Beckham’s mum, Sandra, who got her revenge on a Sun reporter by charging an expensive dinner to his room; and Gary Neville, Beckham’s best mate, who functions as a Mancunian Alan Bennett, always on hand with a pithy line, and sometimes a moving observation too.

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The section on Spain and reports of David Beckham’s affair is a disappointment. There’s lots of dancing around the subject, talk of “horrible stories” etc. You long for Stevens to cut through the noise and simply ask, “Was it true?” There is nothing, either, on Beckham’s controversial support for the World Cup in Qatar.

Those flaws aside, a fascinating series that goes much wider than football and one man. Whether it brings that elusive knighthood any closer we shall see.