Documentary
Meet your new history teachers, snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan and sports broadcaster Matt Smith, as they cross the pond to explore America’s 300 year history with the game of pool. The real-life mates travel the US to hunt down America’s most notorious pool hustlers while…


This week the boys hit the heights in the Big Apple, visiting Ellis Island, once New York’s gateway to America, and cruising in their very own Yellow Cab from historical pool scenes to street basketball games, sampling some classic New York street food, attempting to hustle local hot-shots – and tangling with pool-hall legends ‘Kid’ Delicious and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Strickland.

Ronnie and pal Matt are in Chicago, the ‘Windy City’, getting a taste of Americana watching baseball team the Cubs at Wrigley Field – and seeing if the snooker champ can turn his hand to this very different ballgame. After cruising the streets and jazz clubs once run by notorious mobster Al Capone, Ronnie tries shooting at a gun range – and certainly needs his killer instinct hustling the locals where iconic pool flick The Color Of Money was filmed – before he takes his sporting life in his hands facing the sassiest pool legend in the USA today… the ‘Black Widow’ Jeanette Lee.

Snooker champ Ronnie O’Sullivan and friend Matt Smith hit the birthplace of the blues on the latest leg of their epic US tour – starting with the Graceland home of Elvis Presley – but will Ronnie be allowed to play on the King’s own pool table? Elsewhere in this fascinating town they learn some inspiring lessons in the Civil Rights Museum and make a top-class pool-cue with a maestro of the craft. On the tables, an attempt to hustle the locals might just backfire – before Ronnie risks a sting in the tale from a man they call ‘The Scorpion’ – one of the greatest players in pool history.

Snooker superstar Ronnie O’Sullivan and pal Matt Smith hit the streets of San Francisco in a Steve McQueen-style ’68 Mustang to try to hustle the locals – with some sleight of hand from Ronnie – before he plays pool against one of the game’s biggest ever money-earners. Along the way, they train with local NFL team the 49ers, check out the cyber-future of pool in nearby Silicon Valley – with disastrous results – and get the shocking real story of life behind bars at notorious former prison Alcatraz, from an inspiring ex-guard.

Self - Presenter
Self - Presenter

Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's sitcom created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC One and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comic retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an incompetent ex-tailor. The programme was much appreciated by children and adults alike, and has been likened to Blackadder, not only for its historical setting and the presence of Tony Robinson, but also for its comic style. It is more surreal than Blackadder, however, and drops even more anachronisms. Many of the show's cast such as Howard Lew Lewis, Forbes Collins, Ramsay Gilderdale and Patsy Byrne had previously appeared in various episodes of Blackadder alongside Robinson. Like many British children's programmes, there is a lot of social commentary sneakily inserted, as well as witty asides about the Royal family, buses running on time, etc. Many of the plots spoofed or referenced film and television shows including other incarnations of Robin Hood in those mediums.

Big Break is a British game show based around the game of snooker, mixed with traditional game show elements. It was broadcast on BBC1 between 30 April 1991 and 9 October 2002. It influenced a later game show for the network called Full Swing, but based around golf, and itself was in part influenced by ITV's long-running darts quiz Bullseye.

The Legend of Tarzan picks up where the 1999 feature film left off, with the title character adjusting to his new role as leader of the apes following Kerchak's death, and Jane adjusting to life in the jungle. Rounding out the cast are Jane's father, Professor Archimedes Porter; Tantor, the germophobic elephant; and Terk, a wisecracking female gorilla and Tarzan's old wrestling buddy.