The new BBC two-part documentary, Gazza, opens with the solitary figure of former international football star and fallen hero, Paul Gascoigne, fishing alone in a deserted lake. Taking as its title Gascoigne’s nickname, Gazza presents the footballer as a man more sinned against by the press than guilty of his own actions.
Using archival footage and voice-over interviews with friends, family, colleagues and teammates, as well as the journalists who pursued him, the documentary tells the familiar – and persuasive – story of a sportsman of humble origins who is destroyed by global fame and media intrusion.
Gascoigne was the fun-loving, fragile football star, who famously sobbed when given a yellow card at the 1990 World Cup semi-final. In an era notorious for circulation wars and cheque-book journalism, he is portrayed as a young scamp beleaguered by the British tabloids of the day, with the Daily Mirror under the editorship of Piers Morgan and the News of The World under Rebekah Brooks (née Wade).
