Celebrating British sporting glories and Father's Day

Jack Whitehall is to make two new entertainment shows for BBC One.

They are the one-off Jack Whitehall’s Father’s Day, and Jack Whitehall’s Sporting Nation, a six-part series exploring some of the country’s best sports stories.

The comic said: ‘I’m really looking forward to making these shows about two of the things I treasure most in life, my father and sport. I’m missing them both greatly under lockdown.’

In the half-hour programme celebrating Father’s Day on June 21, Jack will visit dad Michael - while remaining two metres away on the pavement outside his front door. 

There they will reminisce over old family photos and awkward home video footage, as well as talking to celebrities and taking part in a Father's Day edition of MasterChef.

Kate Phillips, controller of BBC entertainment, said: ‘Many of us won’t be able to observe Father’s Day in the usual way this year, so we’re delighted that Jack and Michael will be letting us into their very entertaining celebrations.’

Meanwhile, Jack Whitehall’s Sporting Nation aims to fill some of the gap caused by the obliteration of this year’s sporting calendar by turning to the archives.

Describing Whitehall as ‘the ultimate armchair fan’, the BBC says the ‘nostalgia-filled and light-hearted’ show will look back at the UK’s greatest sporting achievements, ‘while exploring what that says about us as a nation’.

Vastly underestimating the amount of sporting coverage there would have been over the coming months, the comic said: ‘The British public has lost over 100 hours of sport this summer with the Olympics, Euro 2020 and Wimbledon being wiped off the schedule. 

‘So we thought, "what do people need in this barren summer ?" and we came up with this. 

‘I’ve worked with some of the country’s most talented sports journalists to create six compendiums of British sport. From Super Saturday to super overs this will be pure unadulterated nostalgia,’

The series is being made by Whitehall’s production company, Jackpot with James Corden’s company Fulwell73.

In a statement, executive producers Ben and Gabe Turner said: ‘Sport like life is as much about the story as the result. We feel it is a lens through which we can explore all kinds of themes and what better time to consider what our sporting obsessions say about us as a nation that right now? And who better to do it with than Jack Whitehall?’

Jack Whitehall’s Father’s Day 

Made by: Jackpot Productions and So Television
Executive producers: Richard Ackerman and Graham Stuart
Producer:  James Fidler
Commissioned by: Kate Phillips, controller for BBC Entertainment
BBC commissioning editor: Syeda Irtizaali

Jack Whitehall’s Sporting Nation

Made by: Jackpot Productions and Fulwell73
Executive producers: Ben and Gabe Turner
Series producer:  Murray James
Commissioned by: Kate Phillips, controller for BBC Entertainment
BBC commissioning editor: Syeda Irtizaali

Published: 23 May 2020