Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams On Tour review: He's lost the cheeky persona, but cricket can still bring back brave Freddie's glow, writes CHRISTOPHER STEVENS
Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams On Tour (BBC ONE)
Andrew Flintoff wants to save the world through cricket. His heartfelt joy in playing the game seems to make him glow, radiating warmth like an image on a heat-sensitive camera.
It's this feeling that he was desperate to share with a motley gang of lads from his hometown, Preston, in Lancashire, when he first taught them the game two years ago – and it's this feeling that can be a lifeline for Freddie (as everyone knows him) now.
Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour is his first TV documentary since his horrendous accident while filming for BBC One's Top Gear in December 2022.
The man we knew of old – the gregarious cheeky joker who entertained us both on the cricket pitch and in television panel games such as A League Of Their Own – has changed dramatically.
He seemed at ease only when, in the crowded Indian city of Kolkata, he joined in a game of street cricket or 'gully' – marvelling at the urban rules where hitting a six meant instant dismissal.
Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour is his first TV documentary since his horrendous accident while filming for BBC One's Top Gear in December 2022
The Top Gear star sustained major injuries and deep wounds on his face after the life-altering crash
The BBC reportedly paid Freddie Flintoff (pictured during his documentary) compensation for two years' loss of earnings, though none of this was mentioned in the documentary
Once he got the hang of it, the tension in his face vanished for the first time. 'When I'm around cricket, I seem to forget everything else,' he said. 'I lose myself in the game and the people.'
But as soon as Freddie begins to speak, the extent of his crash injuries becomes apparent – and it goes far deeper than the savage scarring on his face. He has had major reconstructive surgery and will probably need more. His jaw, mouth and nose are all painfully marked.
His speech, once so laconic and breezy, is now laboured. Equally obvious is the fragility of his mental state. He is traumatised, something he evidently had not expected and is accepting with difficulty.
'I struggle with anxiety,' he told former England cricket colleague Kyle Hogg. 'I have nightmares, I have flashbacks. I thought I could just shake it off but it's not been the case.'
At another point, he said: 'I need help. I'm not the best at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes. Got to look on the positive [side of things] – I'm still here. I've got another chance and I've got a go at it. I am seeing that as how it is – a second go.'
Test-driving an open-top Morgan three-wheeled roadster in December 2022 on the Top Gear track in Surrey, he rolled the car on a corner. With no helmet, his head and face scraped along the tarmac.
Members of the film crew were so shocked by his 'life-alteringly significant' injuries that some were given indefinite leave and the series has been suspended, probably cancelled for good.
The BBC reportedly paid Freddie compensation for two years' loss of earnings – though none of this was mentioned in the documentary.
Flintoff at Headingly in Leeds for The Hundred men's match between Northern Superchargers, who he is head coach of, and London Spirit
Flintoff quit Top Gear and reached a £9million settlement with the BBC following the crash
Flintoff had been test driving a three-wheel Morgan Spencer 3 when it flipped over on the Top Gear race track
We caught a glimpse of how raw the injuries were in phone footage he filmed himself while in bed after surgery, his face a criss-cross of stitches.
'I genuinely should not be here with what happened,' he said. 'It's gonna be a long road back.'
Whether it was the choice of Freddie or the BBC's lawyers, little more than this was said, because it was on his protégés that the programme focused.
Filmed before the crash, the first series of Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams saw him teach cricket to a ragtag bunch of lads, all shorn of confidence. In this second instalment, he takes the group on tour to India.
Many had never been abroad before. Director Jonny Ashton played on their culture shock, plunging them into situations that made their heads spin like a Shane Warne googly.
This began with a hair-raising ride through the teeming Kolkata traffic, before a visit to a meat market where chickens were killed and plucked before their eyes and rats scurried to snatch the leftovers.
None of that put them off their dinner of chicken nuggets and chips. 'Nice to have an authentic Indian meal,' Freddie remarked drily. 'I feel like I'm father to nine lads at the minute.'
His desire to share his love of the sport with the Preston boys is patently sincere. Freddie wanted it to be life-changing for them. His Field Of Dreams has proved a very different place – one that promises a better future not for the lads but for their mentor.
His bravery in returning to TV, in laying bare the physical and emotional marks with which the crash has left him, is commendable.
He may not be able to save the world through cricket. But cricket is saving him.
