Americans love a hero. Whether we’re talking caped crusaders at the box office or hawkish foreign policy initiatives, when the world needs saving, the US is there to play the saviour. Enter, then, actors Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds – the latter of whom is Canadian-born, but now as American as apple pie and air conditioning – dispatched from the comfort of their Hollywood homes to save Wrexham AFC, a historic British football club on the brink of extinction. Back now for its second season, which charts the club’s successful bid for promotion, the Disney+ documentary Welcome to Wrexham is possibly the most lavish PR stunt in the history of celebrity culture.
“Everyone is better off for it,” some poor Welsh stooge announces early on. “It’s one of the best things to happen in a long time.” The show has become self-aware, just as enterprises like Clarkson’s Farm have in the past. Civilians from the first series are now local celebrities, and the circus around McElhenney and Reynolds is now a recognised global phenomenon. Portuguese, Brazilian, Thai, Australian, and, yes, American fans are seen descending on north Wales. Dulcet Californian twangs are interspersed with Welsh lilts and Scouse accents thicker than liver bird foie gras. But these international visitors are as determined to catch glimpses of newly celebrated lower-league journeymen, like Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer, as they are the men from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Proposal. Times have changed in Wrexham; so too must the show.
