The Rack Pack
{{Infobox television
| image = The Rack Pack poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| director = Brian Welsh
| producer = Barney Reisz
| writer = {{Plainlist|
- Mark Chappell
- Alan Connor
- Shaun Pye
}}
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on =
| starring =
| narrator =
| music =
| cinematography = Zac Nicholson
| editor = Ben Yeates
| company = Zeppotron
| network = BBC iPlayer
| released = {{Start date|df=y|2016|01|17}}
| runtime =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
The Rack Pack is a 2016 British comedy-drama television film about professional snooker during the 1970s through the 1980s, focusing on the intense rivalry between Alex Higgins and Steve Davis. The film is directed by Brian Welsh and was released on BBC iPlayer on 17 January 2016.
Cast
{{Div col}}
- Luke Treadaway as Alex Higgins
- Will Merrick as Steve Davis
- Kevin Bishop as Barry Hearn
- Nichola Burley as Lynn Higgins
- James Bailey as Jimmy White
- Daniel Fearn as Robbo
- John Sessions as Ted Lowe
- Tom Fisher as Pete
- Rob Crouch as Oliver Reed
- Russ Bain as Cliff Thorburn
- Marc McCardie as Tony Knowles
- Caolan Byrne as Dennis Taylor
- Gary Davis as Bill Werbeniuk
- Jimmy Watkins as Terry Griffiths
- Konstantine Osipenkov as Willie Thorne
{{Div col end}}
Release
BBC released The Rack Pack in January 2016 as an exclusive on its media service iPlayer to be available for 12 months. The Guardian{{'}}s Mark Lawson said while this was not the first exclusive on BBC's service, "It clearly feels the most ambitious, and the one that might otherwise have been expected to be conventionally screened."{{cite news | last=Lawson | first=Mark | url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2016/jan/18/the-rack-pack-bbc-snooker-netflix-iplayer-streaming | title=The Rack Pack: is the BBC trying to snooker Netflix? | work=The Guardian | date=18 January 2016 | accessdate=24 April 2017 }} The film ranked in the top twenty requested programmes on iplayer for January and racked up over a million requests in its first three months of release. It had its television premiere on BBC Two later in the year.{{cite press release |title=BBC iPlayer Original ‘The Rack Pack’ is to be broadcast on BBC Two following iPlayer success |date=20 April 2016 |publisher=BBC Media Centre |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/the-rack-pack-bbc-two |accessdate=24 April 2017}}
Reception
Rachel Ward of The Daily Telegraph said of the film's comedy, "The humour was gentle, coming from a wry recognition of the era's excesses." She said, "The film expertly gave depth to the character of Davis, with Merrick managing to convey a controlled stillness, as the future six-time world champion grew from nerdy teenager to confident ace."{{cite news | last=Ward | first=Rachel | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/01/the-rack-pack-bbc-review-an-affectionate-obituary/ | title=The Rack Pack: 'an affectionate obituary for Alex Higgins' | work=The Daily Telegraph | date=1 May 2016 | accessdate=24 April 2017 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|2464690}}
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bv0t5 The Rack Pack] at BBC
{{Brian Welsh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rack Pack, The}}
Category:2016 television films
Category:2010s sports comedy-drama films
Category:British sports comedy-drama films
Category:Films set in the 1980s
Category:2010s English-language films