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“What we’re about to witness is called a football match. Not the beginning of World War Three. Not the destruction of the human race. A football match!”
Every weekend, long-suffering referee Mr. Armistead wades into the melee to try to teach two sets of testosterone-fuelled maniacs the value of restraint, justice and fair play. Why does he persist in this near-futile endeavour? Is it because he has a dangerously masochistic streak? Or is it because Mr Armistead genuinely believes that he can use his peaceful philosophy of life to tame the wilder excesses of the players of Co-op Albion and, on this occasion, the Parker Street Depot?
Another Sunday and Sweet FA, originally transmitted in 1972 as part of Granada’s celebrated Sunday Night Theatre anthology, was written by multiple BAFTA winner Jack Rosenthal – one of Britain’s most consistently successful television dramatists – and directed by the internationally renowned Michael Apted (7Up, The World Is Not Enough). Taking a ref’s-eye view of the life-or-death drama of match day, Another Sunday and Sweet FA is laden with Rosenthal’s characteristically insightful humour and features excellent performances from a cast that includes David Swift (Drop the Dead Donkey), David Bradley (Harry Potter) and Coronation Street stars Fred Feast and Anne Kirkbride.
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