Darts Tarts - Welcome to my World - Video -2006

[Justin Credible]

Jacques Peretti sets out to find out what happened to the game that obsessed him as a kid.
He meets the heroes of the darts underground: Nigel, a 54 year old biker and darts fundamentalist; Justin, the man who gave up his job to become world champion (but didn't); Bob Potter, the darts millionaire (and real life model for Peter Kaye's wheelchair-bound nightclub owner in Phoenix Nights) and Caroline the careworker from Bristol, struck down by a dreaded affliction that means she can't let go of the dart.
Plus, the superstars such as Bobby 'the dazzler' George and Andy 'the Viking' Fordham and Ross Montgomery
Writer Jacques Peretti grew up glued to darts: a gripping, beer-swilling sport with high scores and larger-than-life stars. In this documentary, he presents a (bull?s) eye-opening account of the sport's heady popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He speaks to the fans and the players, including the Rabid Squirrels, the worst darts team in Britain.
Back in the 1970s and 80s, darts was one of the biggest sports in the country. Every pub had its own dart board and mini league of players. The UK and World Darts championships attracted the kind of TV audience figures that are unheard of nowadays, attracting more than 18 million viewers.
The likes of Eric "The Crafty Cockney" Bristow, Jocky Wilson, John Lowe and Bobby George were household names. Even game shows got into the act, with Jim Bowen regularly enjoying a 'bit of Bully' with an enraptured audience every Sunday evening on Bullseye.
But then, the UK's love affair with the oche and the arrow came to an end. In the space of a few short years, the whole idea of a Darts tournament being a major TV ratings hit would go from being perfectly normal to totally laughable. But why was this? Why did the British fall out of love with darts?
In Darts Tarts, writer and columnist Jacques Perretti sets out to discover what really happened to the game that fixated him as a child. He meets former players, obsessive fans, and people who have achieved the darts equivalent of a hole-in-one - the Nine Dart Finish.
Jacques also gets to meet the man who's turned his garden shed into a Museum of Darts, and the Rabid Squirrels, said to be the worst darts team in the whole of Britain.


http://justincredibledarts.blogspot.ie/

This was aired on BBC back in 2006

[Lee Taylor]

Good find Gaz.

Seen this when it was originally broadcast, but was good to see it again.