After emerging victorious from last year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, Harry Redknapp is returning to our screens for his toughest challenge since his stint in the Australian jungle.
In Harry’s Heroes: The Full English, the football manager is tasked with rounding up a group of Nineties football stars to go head to head against a team of German legends in ‘one last grudge match.’
But two decades on from their sporting heyday, the players are a long way from their professional peak – and in many cases, they’re seriously out of shape. Can Redknapp get them back to their best in time for the game?
Here’s everything you need to know about the two part special.
What is Harry’s Heroes: The Full English all about?
Redknapp has gathered together a squad of Nineties footballers who are well past their prime in order to take on their German counterparts in a special one-off match.
However, their years away from the pitch have taken a toll on their fitness, and Redknapp has to help them confront their bad habits and embrace a healthier lifestyle so that they can fit back into their old Three Lions shirts.
“You look at the group there and they were real top players but once you stop playing, it’s difficult,” Redknapp told Jonathan Ross earlier this month.
“They’ve probably spent their old lives training and being careful with what they eat and so they probably let themselves go when they finished playing,” he said, hinting: “Some of them got back in great shape, not all of them… Some of them.”
Which footballers are taking part?
Former England and Liverpool left-winger John Barnes was lined up to join the team, but a last minute injury forced him to step into a pitchside role instead.
“I had to become Harry’s assistant because a week before I was due to be joining my esteemed colleagues, I [ruptured] my patellar tendon on my shoulder,” Barnes told Good Morning Britain earlier today. “I was really looking forward to getting fit, losing weight, because I’ve got no willpower. But I became Harry’s assistant.”
Redknapp’s squad features David Seaman in goal, along with Robbie Fowler, Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock, Paul Merson, Matt Le Tissier, Mark Wright, Mark Chamberlain, Chris Waddle, Rob Lee, Ray Parlour and Lee Sharpe, all of whom have previously represented England on the pitch.
When is Harry's Heroes: The Full English on TV?
The series is being broadcast over two consecutive nights this week: the first part will air on March 18 at 9pm on ITV, with the second instalment following at the same time on March 19.
