When people aren’t watching live sports, they’re often watching or listening to other forms of sports content, one being documentaries. While sports documentaries have been popular for a while, there has been a resurgence in the last few years, and the BBC has managed to produce some fantastic watches that come highly recommended.

Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait

There is only one place to start where sports documentaries on the BBC are concerned, and that’s with Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait, which details how the Anfield outfit rose back to the top of English football under manager Jurgen Klopp. While many will be backing Manchester City by betting on the Premier League this season, nobody can deny how great it was to see Liverpool finally secure their first Premier League crown. And this documentary from the BBC has all the insight you could ever want or ask for and contributions from key figures such as Klopp.

Being Evel Knievel

Being a stuntman isn’t something you necessarily think of where sport is concerned, but then when you consider the high risk involved, maybe it happens to be one of the most dangerous sports on the planet. Being Evel Knievel documents the story of the world’s first famous stuntman, Evel Knievel, exploring his career across the 60s and 70s, when he became renowned for pulling off high-octane stunts involving motorcycles. The documentary also looks into Knievel’s private life, especially the part where he ended up spending time in prison after a brutal assault. And his love for alcohol and women, gives insight into the character Knievel was at the time of his success.

Lance

It’s hard to tell whether Lance Armstrong, the subject of this BBC documentary, is famous or infamous. Either way, what Lance the documentary does, across two parts, is detail Armstrong’s rise to the top of cycling after growing up in Texas and being tipped for greatness, the struggles he faced, such as his battle with testicular cancer, and then his fall from grace for doping. The documentary involves both extensive interviews and conversations with Armstrong, which are key when you also consider that there continues to be major interest in the use of performance-enhancing drugs within cycling and other sports.

Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever and best-received sports documentaries of all time, and one that many people will recall watching. While Hoop Dreams is, of course, a documentary about basketball and two young players taken out of poverty and given an opportunity to play ball under the tutelage of a legendary high school basketball coach, it also documents the process of growing up, relationships with loved ones such as parents and siblings, and coming of age. It’s also interesting to see how both players discover how easy it is to become sidetracked on a sporting mission because of everything going off around them.