Peter Crouch praises Champions: Full Gallop documentary series for offering 'a peak behind the curtain' of British jumps racing - as Darren Gough and Ed Chamberlin attend premiere

The great and good of British jumps racing – along with several other famous faces – gathered at BAFTA for the premiere of the sport’s eagerly-anticipated docuseries.

Champions: Full Gallop will debut on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday and the potential for it to draw in a new audience to racing from a prime time slot is huge; episodes two and three of the six part series will be available to download on ITVX immediately after the first broadcast.

If the reaction is as well received as it was from an audience that included Radio Two presenter Vernon Kay, former England star Peter Crouch, the Ashes-winning bowler Darren Gough, Anne Hegerty from The Chase and a number of social media influencers, Champions will be a hit.

The premise of the programme is to tell the story of the 2023/24 British National Hunt season from a completely different perspective, one that provides candid insights and remarkable stories. The campaign, which saw Willie Mullins become the first Champion Trainer based in Ireland for 70 years, was breathless and has the rich potential to have widespread appeal.

‘There were lots of “oohs” and lots of “aahs” and isn’t that exactly what you want from your TV on a Friday night?’ Kay asked an audience of more than 200, which included ITV presenter and Mail Sport columnist Ed Chamberlin. ‘I loved it!’

Crouch, once of Liverpool, Tottenham and Stoke among others, is now a keen racegoer who will attend all the major festivals if his schedule allows. He has vowed to immerse himself in this production, though, after leaving the auditorium in raptures.

‘I don’t know the full ins and outs of racing,’ he said. ‘But, honestly, I’m all in after that. It’s brilliant. I’ve watched a lot of the sports documentaries and the one thing I want to know are the things you’d never dream of seeing. That was a proper peak behind the curtain.’

Chamberlin added: ‘My goodness I enjoyed that. They really can tell a story, can’t they? 9pm on a Friday night is Tess Daly and Ant and Dec time! To have racing in that situation is really exciting and I hope people will enjoy it.

‘I’m watching Tour De France: Unchained at the moment; I’ve got a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old who have just been watching Wimbledon. They had never watched Wimbledon before but they did this year because they knew the characters from the tennis documentary.

‘You have had others; you’ve had rugby, you’ve had Full Swing with golf. Now the public are going to get the chance to know who (jockeys) Gavin (Sheehan) is, who Nico (De Boinville) and others and I think the public will connect with them.’

Champions: Full Gallop airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday. Episodes two and three will be available to livestream on ITVX immediately afterwards