Olly Croft

How darts become one of Britain's most popular sports in the 1970s thanks to innovative ideas in television coverage and the increasing popularity of the top darts players.

Jacques Peretti sets out to find out what happened to the game that obsessed him as a kid. In this documentary, he presents an eye-opening account of the sport's heady popularity in the 1970s and 1980s.

The popular rise of darts is charted in this pin-sharp documentary that follows the trajectory of arrows from local pub to beer-soaked arena. Featuring archive footage, behind-the-scenes access and interviews with current darting personalities such as Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld, the film traces the sport's evolution from humble beginnings through to the glamorous heyday of the 1980s and on into the lucrative professional era.

This documentary sheds light on the background of the famous, infamous Darts Split. Many dart players like Phil Taylor, Rod Harrington, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen or James Wade but also the main responsible people like Olly Croft, Tommy Cox and Barry Hearn have their say.

This documentary tells the complete story of darts from its early beginnings in English pubs in the Middle Ages right through to the dramatic televised competitions of the Embassy World Championship. Presented by the legendary Bobby George, the BBC's face of darts, and narrated by Dougie Donnelly, the film uses a mix of archive footage and stills to tell the early history, before moving on to the televised era from the 1970's onwards.