Like many people with kids, the weekend starts on Friday evening with the battle over the remote control of which film to watch. This invariable leads me to be blamed for choosing something automatic “rubbish” because I am over three years old. So instead and inevitably, we get to watch either a Marvel CGI shoot ‘em up, a Jennifer Anniston rom-com or Adam Sandler’s latest offering.

Last Friday we reached an all-time low; Kong vs Godzilla…for which I got talked into paying £14 for the new release (we haven’t been to the cinema in ages, etc.)…what utter and complete dross…aaaaaahhhhhhhh.

So to kill two birds with one stone, I’ve taken to locking myself in the garage on my turbo trainer watching the stuff I like.

Having cycled my way through Narco’s series 1,2 &3, then into Narco’s Mexico (all amazing). I’ve turned to documentaries. In my opinion, there’s non-better than the BBC’s (iPlayer) series: Storyville.

They are incredibly filmed, insightful, often thrilling, always jaw-dropping….proper grown-up TV. If you were to offer them up to Hollywood, most of these stories would be turned down as being too far-fetched. As they say, the fact is stranger than fiction. Then these three are unmissable.

The first one is the gonzo story about how the Pittsburg Penguins thought running a hockey franchise in Moscow would be a good idea. It may have been, except that Russia was about to enter a time of lawlessness, chaos, corruption & mafia control. It’s properly nuts.

The second will leave you shaking your head, saying, “whatever next”. It reveals how a simple cartoon meme was hijacked and contorted into a far-right symbol of hate by social media and used as a dog whistle by Trump and his supporters. It’s a story of our time…and a scary one at that.

The third shadows the trials and tribulations of a Russian Olympic gymnast. I’ve coached many GB teams against Russia. And undoubtedly, they are amazing athletes. When they’re winning, there’s no one happier with more smiles, but I’ve often thought they don’t just look unhappy when they don’t win. They look scared. Watching this, I now know why.

1. Red Penguins: Money, Murder and Ice Hockey.

The Beeb says about it:

A tale of capitalism and opportunism run amok – complete with gangsters, strippers and live bears serving beer on a hockey rink in Moscow. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the famed Red Army hockey team formed a joint venture that showed that anything was possible in the new Russia.

Eccentric marketing whiz Steve Warshaw is sent to Russia and tasked with transforming the team into the greatest show in Moscow. He takes the viewer on a bizarre journey, highlighting a pivotal moment in US-Russia relations in a lawless era when oligarchs made their fortunes, and multiple murders went unsolved.

2. Pepe the Frog: Feels Good Man.

The Beeb says:

Pepe the Frog started life in 2005 as a cute cartoon character in Boy’s Club, an American indie comic on Myspace. Today, he is known as an international hate symbol after being hijacked by the alt-right. Pepe the Frog: Feels Good Man follows Pepe’s creator, artist Matt Furie, as he fights to bring back his lovable comic-book character from the dark forces who stole him.

As the internet exploded, memes of the benign and chill frog dude started sweeping the internet with lightning speed. Once his image found its way into the controversial online community 4chan – the anonymous, anything-goes forum rife with misogyny and racism – there was no turning back. Pepe re-emerged from the darkest corner of the internet, decorated with swastikas and spewing racist slurs. He was even caught up in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Exactly how that happened is a wild journey into the heart of online life today, and an exploration of how a character meant to bring joy and fun slowly morphed into something else. Maybe, just maybe, he can change again.

3. Russian Dreams of Olympic Gold: Over the limit

The Beeb says:

“You’re not a human being. You’re an athlete.” 20-year-old Rita is told by one of her two merciless coaches as she prepares to represent Russia in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics. It’s the most crucial year of her career and her last chance to achieve her ultimate dream, a gold medal.

However gracefully Rita catches rings of rolls a ball across her shoulders, her coaches demand more from her, time and again. Described as the ‘black swan’ of sports documentaries, Over the Limit offers unprecedented access to the hidden world of elite gymnastics and the unrelentingly brutal training demands by the Russian system.

Photo by Ricardo Ortiz from Pexels