Club’s fall and rise captured in intimate, f ly-on-the-wall series

There’s a telling moment in a new four-part documentary series when live sport is described as “the last real reality show”.

That probably goes some way to explaining the recent rise of programmes like Sunderland

’Til I Die, Welcome to Wrexham, Under Pressure and now Mission to Burnley.

Debuting on TVNZ+ on Friday, it chronicles a tumultuous time in the history of the 141-year-old English football club Burnley FC.

Shot in an “all-access”, fly-on-thewall style that really makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping on private conversations, Mission opens in April 2022 with the team and its relatively new American owner ALK Partners caught in the middle of an impending crisis.

With just eight games left in the season, chairman Alan Pace and his millionaire Mormon mates (yes, the “Partners” all have the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints in common) have taken the controversial step of dispensing with the services of the Premier League’s longest-serving manager, Sean Dyche.

A cult figure thanks to keeping the town of 90,000’s club in the top tier for almost his entire near decade-long tenure (even delivering European football at one stage), his supporters believe giving him the sack, with no ready replacement, is a “horrendous” decision.

Three wins on the bounce under interim manager Mike Jackson (usually in charge of the under-23 team) initially makes the move seem inspired, but then results go against them and their survival ends up depending on getting a better result than rivals Leeds in their final match at home to the Saudi Arabia-backed Newcastle United.

Thanks to Tom Magnus and James Scholey’s immersive storytelling – and the grace of Pace and company to allow the cameras seemingly to go wherever they please – you get a palpable sense of the tension and despair in the stands and hospitality suites, as the players are unable to prevent the club from losing its Premier League status.

Suddenly, the owners find themselves with a minimum £56 million hole in their potential earnings for the next year, on top of already heavy debt, a downgraded academy and rapidly needing to find the right manager to gain them promotion out of “the most difficult league in the world”.

While the focus is very much on those involved in the club itself, rather than the impact of its fortunes on its community à la the Sunderland and Wrexham series, there’s enough intrigue and twists and turns to keep you invested, even if you know the outcome of the 2022-23 season (and how Burnley are doing this season).

Mission to Burnley debuts on TVNZ+ on March 22.