Welcome back to the drop-in. It has been a while since we last chatted to you, but today we've got

something a little bit different that hopefully you're going to really enjoy. The past month has

seen a play about England, the England national football team going on in the national theatre in

London. It's called Dear England and it's not happily going to be the subject of Pete's film club.

It's not like Goal. It's not like United Passions. It's a play about Gareth Southgate mainly and

the England men. And Gareth Southgate is played by Hollywood actor Joseph Finds and their actors

playing Delialli, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and even Eric Dyer. So what's it all about? Well

that's what I'm finding out today with the play's writer James Graham. He's a celebrated

script writer for stage and for screen including the huge UK series Sherwood and he spent time

as Southgate and other big figures in the England team to write this. His own experience as an

England fan started in Euro 1996 which makes a lot of sense. So I wanted to talk to him about

the positives he's found from following this team and from Southgate, positives that stretch

well beyond the football pitch. So sit back, get one of those little baby theatre ice creams

and enjoy it because this is the drop-in with James Graham. Dear England,

I can't possibly hope to speak to an entire country but I would like to say a few things as

you as we begin this journey. It's been an extremely difficult time. It's given us all a new

understanding of the fragility of life and in the grand scheme of things perhaps football doesn't

seem so important and what I want to speak about is much bigger than football.

I tell my players that what they are a part of, what we are all a part of is an experience that

lasts in the collective consciousness of our country. Every game has the potential

to create a lifelong memory for an England fan somewhere. Why do we care so much?

What I know is what is often forgotten is how much it means to the players.

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