Frank Skinner on Muhammad Ali
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
“He was special in the ring and when he opened his mouth he wasn’t afraid to let people know that he was black and he was proud. Ali had charisma and nobody could take it away,” says sparring partner and friend Larry Holmes in this enlightening film on the sporting and civil rights hero whose guile and cunning, rather than his lightning speed, became his best weapons.
But this documentary doesn’t just serve as a profile piece on the ultimate showman. Frank Skinner shares his admiration for the boxer, having himself been inspired by Ali’s amusing storytelling and artistry. Skinner begins by travelling to Ali’s hometown of Louisville in Kentucky, where he meets the boxer’s younger brother Rahman, who refuses to confirm the urban myth of whether an enraged Ali threw his 1960 Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River following a racist encounter. But, it’s some of the lesser-known aspects of Ali’s life – from his meeting of a bareknuckle boxer from an Oxfordshire council estate who went on to become one of Ali’s dearest friends to the actor who played alongside Ali in a musical on Broadway – that give this affectionate portrait extra weight. Rachel Ward