Peacock will soon stream a docuseries about Premier League side Burnley. The show, Mission to Burnley, previously aired in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports earlier this fall. The two television networks are essentially siblings as they are owned by Comcast. Peacock is also the current home in the United States to many live Premier League matches. The streaming service airs English top flight games along with their partners USA and NBC.
Mission to Burnley follows the historic club just as they were relegated from the Premier League in 2022. The drop from the top flight came less than two years after an American investment group purchased a majority stake in the team. It was the first time in the club’s history that they were acquired by anyone outside of local businessmen. Former NFL star J.J. Watt also recently became a minority owner of the club as well.
Following relegation, Burnley brass made the decision to appoint former Manchester City great Vincent Kompany as their new manager. This was also the first time that the club hired a coach from outside of the United Kingdom/Ireland to run the team. Kompany previously earned 89 caps for the Netherlands during his playing career.
Burnley’s time in the Championship, however, did not last long. Kompany quickly led the Clarets to promotion back to the top flight after a successful 2022/23 season. In fact, the club only lost three matches during that entire campaign and quite easily won the second division title.
Behind-the-scenes soccer docs have increasingly grown in popularity in recent years. FX’s Welcome to Wrexham is perhaps currently the leading show in this category at the moment. The series is incredibly popular and follows Welsh side Wrexham as they also climb the English soccer league ladder.
Sunderland ‘Til I Die on Netflix was also immensely successful. The series debuted in 2018 and actually helped inspire Rob McElhenney to buy Wrexham along with friend Ryan Reynolds. Amazon’s All or Nothing series also currently remains a hit as well. Unlike the other shows, this series follows a different soccer team each production season.
Mission to Burnley was produced by Ad Hoc Films. The production company’s co-founder, Mat Hodgson, hinted that the timing was right to tell Burnley’s recent story. “It is a golden era for sports documentary, but real privileged access of the type the club have afforded us still remains very rare,” stated Hodgson. “We are extremely proud of this very special fall and rise story, that encompasses Boardroom to Boot Room and all in between.”
The docuseries will be available on Peacock here in the States later in December. While Burnley essentially dominated the Championship last season, they have found life much more difficult back in the Premier League. The Clarets entered the weekend sitting 19th in the standings. Kompany has managed to collect just two victories in league play so far during the current campaign.
Photo credits: IMAGO / NurPhoto
