Boxing
Ellen and Mark step into the ring to explore cinema's most heavyweight genre, 50 years on from Rocky. With guests Amir El-Masry, Christina Newland and Tony Bellew.
Ellen and Mark step into the ring to explore cinema's most heavyweight genre, fifty years on from Sylvester Stallone's smash-hit film Rocky. What is it about the boxing movie that makes it not just a sports movie, but a genre of its very own?
Critic Christina Newland gives Mark a punchy rundown of how boxing movies throughout history - from Body And Soul to Raging Bull - have tackled themes of race, class and identity.
Ellen speaks to former world cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, who moved from the ring to the big screen in 2016, acting in the Creed films.
And Ellen also talks to actor Amir-El Masry, who played the Yemeni-heritage, Yorkshire-born maverick boxing champion Prince Naseem Hamid in the electrifying 2026 biopic Giant.
Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4
On radio
Broadcasts
- Friday19:15BBC Radio 4
- Tomorrow11:00BBC Radio 4
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Screenshot
Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode guide us through the expanding universe of the moving image
