Television series
All or Nothing: Manchester City
Manchester City's record-breaking 2017-18 Premier League season unfolds in five episodes of high-definition obsession. You're in the dressing room with Pep Guardiola, the tactical genius at full intensity, watching elite athletes navigate pressure, ego, and the machinery of modern football. It's for anyone who loves seeing how excellence is built, whether you care about soccer or not.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy watching a tightly run operation up close, where the pleasure is in tactical talk, dressing-room banter and the quiet mechanics of a club chasing a record.
Skip it if you want the sport itself on screen, since this is a behind-the-scenes portrait with little match action and a strong focus on access rather than on play.
What it asks of you: Eight episodes of about fifty minutes each, paced in a relaxed, observational way, asking for patience and an interest in people talking shop more than in suspense.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Senna2010
Asif Kapadia's documentary about the F1 champion has the same intimate access and emotional stakes—a portrait of genius under pressure, chasing perfection in a sport where milliseconds matter.
But It's hagiography dressed as investigation. The film reveres Senna without much space for moral complexity or alternative viewpoints.
The Last Dance2020
Ten episodes following Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' final championship run, with behind-the-scenes footage that captures the same blend of tactics, psychology, and extreme personalities operating at the peak.
But At ten hours it's a bigger commitment, and the narrative hinges on Jordan's mythmaking—you're hearing his version of events more than an impartial one.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive2019
Formula 1 behind the scenes across a full season. Faster-paced than Manchester City, high melodrama, and the same documentary access to dressing rooms and strategy sessions you crave.
But It's heavily edited for drama. Purist F1 fans argue it prioritizes narrative over accuracy and glosses over serious issues with the sport.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from All or Nothing: Manchester City
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi2011
Both are portraits of obsessive mastery—one pursuing excellence through tactics and athletes, one through craft and repetition. Same engine, utterly different aesthetic.
A documentary about an 85-year-old Tokyo sushi chef pursuing perfection in his craft with the same relentless intensity Pep Guardiola brings to football. Meditative, precise, utterly absorbing.
But It moves glacially and dwells on minute detail. If you need momentum and narrative arc, this will feel like watching paint dry, beautifully.
More like this (5)
All or Nothing: Arsenal2022
The same formula—Amazon's full-access documentary of a Premier League season—but with a club in transition and a manager (Mikel Arteta) trying to rebuild. Different energy, same voyeuristic appeal.
But Arsenal had a mediocre season. There's less triumph to sustain the narrative, and some stretches feel repetitive without the drama of a title race.
The Two Escobars2010
A 90-minute documentary about football and narco-trafficking in Colombia. It has the sports obsession and the high stakes, but much darker and more consequential themes underneath.
But It's heavy. This is not entertainment in the way Manchester City is—it's about real violence and tragedy, and the tone is accordingly grim.
Hoop Dreams1994
A three-hour documentary following two basketball players from their teens through college recruitment, capturing pressure, ambition, and systemic inequality at every turn. The access is extraordinary.
But It was made in 1994 on archival video, so the image quality is rough, and the pacing is deliberate in a way modern sports docs aren't.
The Toys That Made Us2017
Each episode follows the design and business side of creating iconic toys. Same approach as Manchester City—access to the obsessives behind something beloved, breaking down how excellence happens.
But It's much lighter and less dramatic. There's no antagonism or high stakes, just people being quietly passionate about plastic and nostalgia.
The Battered Bastards of Baseball2014
Both chronicle a season driving toward a meaningful result, but where Manchester City is about institutional power perfecting itself, this is about outsiders proving they belong.
A documentary about a semi-pro baseball team made up of aging players and the son of a blacklisted player. It has the same access, the same emotional stakes, but for underdogs with something to prove.
But It's much smaller in scale and lower in production quality. The outcome matters less in broader culture, which some viewers will find less compelling.
People
Cast
Ben KingsleyNarrator
Recommended by
All or Nothing: Arsenal, Belichick & Saban: The Art of Coaching, Being: Liverpool, The Test: A New Era for Australia's Team, Coach Snoop