''The First Team'' (stylised as ''The F1rst Team'') is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

comedy television series A list of comedy television series by country of origin. Australia Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina * '' Viza za budućnost'' Brazil Canada China *'' Number One Surprise'' Croatia *'' Odmori se, zaslužio si'' *'' Zauvijek susjedi'' Egy ...

, created by

Damon Beesley Damon Beesley (born 1971) is an English writer and television producer, best known for his work on British comedy ''The Inbetweeners'' and New Zealand comedy ''Flight of the Conchords''. He often works alongside his writing partner Iain Morris. I ...

and

Iain Morris Iain Kevan Morris (born 6 August 1973) is an English writer. He is best known for creating ''The Inbetweeners'' with his writing partner Damon Beesley and co-hosting a show on London radio station XFM with stand-up comedian Jimmy Carr. He fe ...

, both well known for their work on ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 until 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager ...

''. The series follows the lives of Mattie Sullivan (

Jake Short Jacob Patrick Short (born May 30, 1997 in Indianapolis, Indiana), known professionally as Jake Short, is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Fletcher Quimby in the Disney Channel comedy series ''A.N.T. Farm'' (2011–2014), Oli ...

), Benji Achebe (

Shaquille Ali-Yebuah Shaquille Ali-Yebuah (born 26 May 1995) is a British actor. Early life Ali-Yebuah is from London. He trained with Identity School of Acting. Career In 2013, Ali-Yebuah was cast to play a young Steven K Amos in BBC Radio 4's ''What Does the K S ...

) and Jack Turner (

Jack McMullen Jack Michael McMullen (born 22 February 1991) is an English actor and writer, best known for his roles in '' Waterloo Road'', ''Little Boy Blue'', '' Brookside'' and ''Grange Hill''. Early life Jack Michael McMullen was born in Liverpool on 22 ...

), who are young players of a fictional

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

football team. Produced by

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

and the creators' production company Fudge Park Productions, the sole series began broadcasting on BBC Two on 28 May 2020, consisting of six episodes, concluding on 2 July the same year. The series received underwhelming reviews by critics.

Plot

Focusing on the lives of young players Mattie, Jack and Benji, the show follows the trio as they contend with the manifold issues on and off the field that are associated with modern-day football. One of the overriding themes of the show, according to Beesley, is the "fault lines, where masculinity and insecurity collide".

Cast and characters

Main

as Mattie Sullivan *

as Benji Achebe *

as Jack Turner *

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix series '' Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and as the titular char ...

as Mark Crane * Chris Geere as Chris Booth *

Theo Barklem-Biggs Theo Barklem-Biggs (born 21 March 1990) is a British television and film actor from London. He has performed both comedic and dramatic roles. Career He made his debut television appearance in ''The Bill '' in 2008. He appeared in '' EastEnders, ...

as Petey Brooks * Tamla Kari as Olivia Talbot

Recurring

Paolo Sassanelli Paolo Sassanelli (born 29 October 1958) is an Italian stage, film and television actor as well as director. Life and career Born in Bari, Sassanelli made his stage debut in his hometown in the second half of the 1980s. He then moved to Rome an ...

as Cesare *

Jason Williamson Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

as Kitman Martin *

Vadhir Derbez Vadhir Derbez Alejandro González Torres Prince (born 18 February 1991), better known as Vadhir Derbez, is a Mexican actor and singer who has worked for Televisa, Univision, Warner Brothers, Netflix, TV Azteca and Telemundo. Personal life D ...

as Carlos Velez *Ossian Perret as Pascal *

Phil Wang Philip Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi (born 22 January 1990) is a British-Malaysian stand-up comedian and comedy writer who is a member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, and co-creator of their BBC Radio 4 series, '' Daphne Sounds Expensive''. He cu ...

as Brian *

Marek Larwood Marek Ryan Larwood (born 2 June 1976) is an English comedian and actor. He is best known for the BBC Three sketch show '' Rush Hour'' and for being one third of the comedy trio '' We Are Klang''. Early life Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Larwood live ...

as Holehead * Joe Sims as Paul Williamson *

Neil Fitzmaurice Neil Simon Fitzmaurice (born 20 August 1969) is an English actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his role as Jeff, the love rival of protagonist Mark Corrigan, in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show''. He has written for a number of ot ...

as Darren Turner * Marvin Brown as Bootz

Guest

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has ...

as himself * Alan Shearer as himself *

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

as himself *

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing ...

as himself *

Sally Nugent Sally Nugent (born 5 August 1971) is an English journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since October 2021, she has presented '' BBC Breakfast'' along with Dan Walker, Naga Munchetty, Charlie Stayt and Jon Kay Early life and educat ...

as herself * Jonathan Pearce as himself *

Paul Hawksbee Paul Hawksbee is a British sports radio presenter and comedy writer. He has presented the ''Hawksbee and Jacobs show'' alongside Andy Jacobs on talkSPORT since the station's inception in 2000, he plays the role of straight man in the partnership ...

as himself *

Andy Jacobs Andrew Ian Jacobs (born 26 November 1952) is a British sports radio personality who presents the ''Hawksbee and Jacobs'' show alongside Paul Hawksbee and on talkSPORT in the UK, every weekday live from 13:00-16:00. They have been presenters on ...

as himself

Production

Development

The series was created by

and

, who were notable for producing the famous E4

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series ''

''. The series, entitled ''The First Team'', was reported to be focused on the lives of players in a fictional

football team, similar to the format of former

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

drama television programme ''

Footballers' Wives ''Footballers' Wives'' is a British television drama about fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives, broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2006. The show initially focuses on three very different couples, but ...

''. The programme's crew was mainly made up of former members of ''The Inbetweeners'' crew, with Beesley and Morris' self-constructed production company Fudge Park Productions collaborating with

to produce the series.

Casting

In September 2019, the cast was confirmed, with

and

set to star. This was the first British production in which Short had appeared - he was previously known for his work for Disney Channel in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(although Short's previous Disney Channel appearances had been broadcast to viewers in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

Disney Channel UK and Ireland Disney Channel was a British and Irish television kids channel owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company (UK) Ltd. It was aired from 1 October 1995, to 30 September 2020. A one-hour timeshift service called Disney Channel +1 was available ...

and Disney XD UK and Ireland respectively). It was Ali-Yebuah's first lead role in both television and film. Theo Barklem-Biggs and Tamla Kari were cast in supporting roles, both having appeared in previous Beesley and Morris projects: Barklem-Biggs in ''

The Inbetweeners Movie ''The Inbetweeners Movie'', known simply as ''The Inbetweeners'' in North America, is a 2011 British coming-of-age teen adventure comedy film based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners'', written by series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris ...

'' and Kari in both this and

The Inbetweeners 2 ''The Inbetweeners 2'', is a 2014 teen coming of age adventure sex comedy film and sequel to '' The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011), which is based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. It was written and directed by series creators Damon Beesl ...

. Other notable cast members included

and

Filming

The series was filmed across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The football stadium and training complex was filmed at Charlton Athletic Football Club's facilities: The Valley and their Sparrows Lane training complex. Furthermore, a fan of the programme stated that they had witnessed the programme also being filmed in a local Charlton pub named The Rose of Denmark. When filming in Chester,

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

footballer

Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for club Chelsea. Born in Jamaica, he represents the England national team. Born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, S ...

was seen at the same

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (Trade name, doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only Big-box store, big-box retail stores (warehouse c ...

store where the crew were filming. It appeared that Sterling was a friend of

, who portrays the role of Benji Achebe. The scenes where the three main characters visit Petey Brooks's (Theo Barklem-Biggs) home was filmed at a private residence in

Sevenoaks, Kent Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the traditio ...

Episodes

Reception

The show received mixed reviews after its release, being dubbed "a football sitcom fit for relegation", with 2/5 star reviews in both ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

''. The review from ''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...

'', however, was more positive, asserting that despite a slow start, by episode two, the series "feels a lot more confident and funny".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:First Team (TV series), The 2020 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2020s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms Fictional association football television series English-language television shows Television series by BBC Studios

Plot

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

Production

Development

Casting

Filming

Episodes

Reception

See also

References

External links