BEST OF BRITISH

UK | Channel 4 – Two Four | 4x 65 minute episodes | AIRDATES: From Wednesday 14 September 2011 @ 10.00pm

Producer: David Russell | Director: Chris Williams

Documentary series Best of British is part of the lead in for Channel 4′s preparations for the London 2012 Paralympic Games (of which it is the official UK broadcaster). It follows the journeys of Paralympians, or those hoping to be, in their sporting and private lives as they aim for selection for the 2012 London games.

With each episode focusing on different sport – including wheelchair racing, sitting volleyball, swimming, shot putting, wheelchair rugby, Cerebral Palsy football, para equestrian, tennis and blind football – the series reveals the brutal training regimes and the fierce rivalries as these athletes compete for a place in Paralympics GB. Many Paralympics athletes owe a great deal to the Spinal Unit at Stoke Mandeville.

Channel 4 has been granted special access to the unit and spends time with medical staff and patients. The first film in the series follows Dave Clarke, Robin Wiliams and Owen Bainbridge from the British Blind Football squad. As well as following the highs and lows of team selection and the squad’s performance, the film also meets the players’ families. What’s it like for the players to have sighted family members and children, and what is it like for those families to have blind sons, brothers and fathers?