Touchline Tales - An Uproar of Butterflies

Old friends Des Lynam and Christopher Matthew head for some famous sporting venues - to enjoy, observe, reminisce and trade tales about some of the greatest pleasures in their lives. They lay some bets at a mid-week meet at Goodwood Races and take in the opening day at this year's International Tennis Championship at Eastbourne and, in the opening programme of the series, attend a Pro-Am competition at the Royal Blackheath Golf Club, claimed by some to be the oldest in the world. As a commentator and friend of sporting stars, Des has a fund of stories to tell, and insights to reveal, about the men and women in professional sport - their lives, their characters, their training regimes, their triumphs and their disasters. But Christopher more than matches him with his own experiences as a lifelong spectator at the highest levels of sport (and, like Des, an occasional participant at the lowest), as well as with his observations on sporting events he finds himself attending for the first time. Indeed, amusing, informative and entertaining talk between old friends is what these programmes are all about. Recorded entirely on location, their extended discourses have been edited down to a seamless half hour - with each programme capturing the atmosphere, the passion, the frustration, the humour and, at times, the sheer quaintness, of entertainments regularly enjoyed by millions of people up and down the land. Producer:Paul Kobrak.