James Graham has said in interviews that he regards Gareth Southgate as ‘a hero for the ages’. Even if he hadn’t, though, this view wouldn’t be difficult to detect from Dear England, an adaption of his own stage play.

In this week’s two episodes, Southgate’s unfailing loveliness succeeded in reviving not just the England football team, but also a sense of what England itself essentially is. At one point, he watched the Queen’s Covid address about ‘the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet, good-humoured resolve and of fellow feeling’ that ‘still characterise this country’ – and, as ‘Jerusalem’ swelled on the soundtrack, he clearly believed every word; not surprisingly given that these sentiments underlay everything he did.

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If that makes Dear England sound a bit corny, well it sometimes is. But it’s also impossible to resist – as all the best myths are. And mythic the show certainly and unashamedly is, right from the moment of its big, tragic origin story: Southgate’s match-losing penalty miss against Germany in the Euro ’96 semi-finals.

From there, we fast-forwarded to England’s........

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