‘I’m exactly what the game needs – I’m an entertainer …’

A new film revives the 1980s rivalry between Alex “Hurricane” Higgins (Luke Treadaway) and Steve “The Nugget” Davis (Will Merrick), two very different personalities who helped popularise the sport on TV. In 1985, the world snooker final was watched by 18.5 million people, still a record for a post-midnight audience in the UK.

Debuting on BBC iPlayer, The Rack Pack is directed by Brian Welsh (Glasgow Girls, Black Mirror), written by Shaun Pye, Mark Chappell and Alan Connor, the team behind A Young Doctor’s Notebook. Nichola Burley plays Alex’s wife Lynn Higgins, with James Bailey as Jimmy White and Kevin Bishop as Davis’s manager Barry Hearn.

The Rack Pack trailer.

The Rack Pack will be available on BBC iPlayer from 17 January, 9pm