If you found yourself charmed by Arnold against your better judgement, add Netflix’s Beckham to your watchlist when it premieres on October 4. Directed by Oscar-winner Fisher Stevens—a.k.a. Hugo Baker from *Succession—*the four-part series retraces David Beckham’s journey from Leytonstone lad to national treasure on par with Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, and Harry Potter—at least if Hugh Grant’s Love Actually speech is anything to go by.
Beckham sees the Inter Miami owner open up about his infamous red card against Argentina during the 1998 World Cup, resulting in England’s subsequent elimination from the tournament (at least as far as the British tabloids were concerned). David was consequently eviscerated in the press, with one paper printing a full-page dartboard with his face at the bull’s eye. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it, just because I can’t,” he tells Stevens’s crew in the docuseries. “I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. It took a toll on me that I never even knew myself.” Beckham also gets candid about the fact that he “went at” Alex Ferguson after the Manchester United manager accidentally kicked a boot at the midfielder’s head—reportedly a catalyst for David leaving the team in 2003.
It’s glimpses into Beckham’s life off the pitch, though, that will prove most interesting to students of the Posh and Becks phenomenon—with footage of the pair’s Robin Hood-themed wedding shown in the trailer, alongside scenes of family life with their four children. “My manager kept saying, ‘Try and keep it under wraps,’” Victoria reflects of their earliest dates. “And so we would meet in car parks—and that’s not as seedy as it sounds.’” (David’s take on their rendezvous points? “Classy.”)
Predictably, the toll that fame can take is central to Beckham, too. As Victoria has it: “It’s really entertaining when the circus comes to town, right? Unless you’re in it.” For her part, VB has learned to cope with being the apple of the paparazzi’s eye. “You are going to be very, very famous, both for the band you form and because of the man you marry, and then later for a fashion business you will launch in your own name,” she wrote in a letter to her 18-year-old self for British Vogue’s October 2016 issue. “You will get used to fame. Although you cannot set a price on losing privacy, you will learn to use celebrity to your advantage. For good things.”