Luke Littler's 'nonchalance' speaks volumes in revealing darts documentary series

“Every journalist and every documentary maker wants to be there first,” says Melanie Archer, the show’s executive producer and VP of documentaries and non-scripted series at Dorothy St Pictures.“Where the documentary gives you something extra, the story behind the story, the people behind the sport, and the people behind those people.” “Michael Smith’s story about him being branded a ‘bottle job’, a ‘serial loser’ and the hurt he had to overcome before becoming world champion [in 2023],” she says. “It was really a triumph over his own brain. He clearly had the talent but when it came to that final hurdle, he couldn’t jump it, but then did it.” “In his particular case, his diagnosis [for bipolar and ADHD] and openness about darts being both his friend and his enemy in equal measure. The mental price he pays to perform in public while battling what goes on in his head whilst also knowing it’s something that provides himself and his family with a good life, his children with a secure future. I found that incredibly compelling.

Darts fans have been able to feast on a brand new documentary series that shines a fresh light on the sport. Game of Throws: Inside Darts is out now, with the PDC World Championship available to watch on Sky Sports and Now. “They are true to their roots. Many of them still live where they grew up, they’re hugely popular figures – and rightly so – in their own communities. “Truthfully, they’re all fascinating. There’s Luke Humphries’ story about his weight loss and deciding what was holding him back from being a champion. He has my favourite line in the documentary. His line is, ‘Luke Littler had the story, but I had my own story too’, and he did. He tells is very compellingly.” Ten-time major winner Wade is typically candid about his mental health struggles. Archer adds: “James Wade’s story is so compelling. Excellence often comes with challenges.

In terms of timing, it could not have panned out any better for the show’s makers, Dorothy St Pictures, who have produced various non-sporting documentaries for Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus. The first episode starts with Littler, then 16, and his dad digging out junior medals from under his bed a few weeks before the Worlds. The rest, as they say, is history. “I hope it brings new viewers to the world of darts. The best sports docs do that. The vehicles for the story telling is the sport. That gives you the framework and the drama and the true sense of the skill. Few topics were off-limits as the makers delved into the players’ lives away from the oche. “Nathan Aspinall puts it best. ‘In golf, you’ve got a caddy. In football, you’ve got a team. But in darts, you’re on the bloody own!’

“And they’re just incredibly hard working. Having worked with lots of sportspeople over the years, to be the best at anything, you’ve got to be incredibly dedicated. But these guys work all the time, they barely have a day off. The makers then followed Littler to the World Championship, where he swatted aside opponent after opponent, including one of his idols, Raymond van Barneveld. “The pride of his dad juxtaposed with Luke’s nonchalance – ‘Yeah, I’ll do my best and see what happens’ – is just perfect. You see the fearlessness of a teenager who thinks it would be awesome if he won just one game.” “And we were thanks to the team at Dorothy St and also the PDC. We filmed with Luke Littler three weeks before the World Championship when no one outside the world of darts knew who he was. “I think most of the players we interviewed haven’t been interviewed in any great length about anything other than darts,” says Archer. “They’re eloquent, self-effacing and often a little arrogant in terms of believing they’re world-class, because they have to have that mindset.

Filming for ‘Game of Throws’, a three-part series now available to watch on Sky, took place in the build-up to the 2023/24 World Championship. Numerous top players, plus their families, feature, including Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, James Wade and a certain Luke Littler. Meanwhile, Sky Sports darts presenter Emma Paton is on hand to guide casual fans through the sport’s quirks. “It opens in his bedroom, a typical teenager’s bedroom, with his father pulling medals out from under the bed in a way every parent would do for their children. GET INVOLVED! Who will win the World Darts Championship? Tell us in the comments section. “Here was his childhood hero who he’d spent years impersonating. So even the draw was our friend,” adds Archer, who says the documentary has rekindled her love of the sport, having watched the Lakeside World Championship as a child. It far from just being the Luke Littler Show, as Archer, who worked on football documentaries earlier in her career, including one on Sir Alex Ferguson for ITV, explains.