David Frost vs

If there’s a criticism here, it’d be how the biographical details of Lennon, Ali and co, which provide context around the (sometimes brief) interview excerpts, can make for a slightly scattershot feel. The second episode, focusing on Ali, is the best because it becomes the most emotive, not least when it reaches a moving final encounter between the pair in 2002.

The six-part series (three now, three later in the year) isn’t always wholly successful, but when it is, as in its completely spellbinding second episode, it is mighty documentary-making, both cerebral and emotional.