Amazon kicks off Gary Lineker docuseries with Orchard Studios

Prime Video has commissioned a four-part docuseries on Gary Lineker from Orchard Studios, the indie behind Untold UK: The Jamie Vardy Story.

Lineker, which is currently in production, will examine the 65-year-old ex-footballer’s career on the pitch, as a pundit and at the helm of podcast juggernaut Goalhanger, as well as his life beyond.

While the series will feature interviews with Lineker as well as his family, friends and colleagues, Orchard head of programmes Nat Lippiett promised a “no-holds barred” approach to its famously outspoken subject, who stepped down from his role as host of the BBC’s Match of the Day last year after sharing a post which included an anti-Semitic trope.

Directed by Gussy Sakula-Barry (Channel 4’s Diddy: In Plain Sight), the documentary will be led by a mostly female production team.

Lippiett told Broadcast the indie had set out to “tell the definitive story that [Gary Lineker] hasn’t told before”.

He added: “We’re doing it in a way that covers everything from the nostalgia-soaked ‘80s and ‘90s and being, in many ways, the first British footballing superstar who was exported to the world, right through to the present day.”

Lippett pointed out that while the former Leicester City and Barcelona striker and Match of The Day presenter was a familiar face on TV screens, he had never written an autobiography or “committed his story to record in any broad detail”, beyond interviews and analysis of particular footballing career highlights.

“Everybody’s version of Gary Lineker is different – from the posters on the bedroom wall to the Rest Is Football host, and his is the kind of iconic story that we wanted to tell, and he felt ready to tell it now,” Lippiett said.

“He’s in a place now where he reflects differently on his career, he’s more thoughtful than ever, and our hope is to bring that all together with the excitement of those moments that we’re all aware of, alongside the untold story.”

The series will go beyond being simply a football documentary to tell “a human story”, Lippiett promised, emphasising the approach would be “rigorously independent”.

“It is vital to us that we are telling the story journalistically and that we are interrogating it and acknowledging all the different Gary Linekers that are out in the world, and making sure that the program reflects that,” he said.

He added that Sakula-Barry had been chosen as “somebody whose vision was really unique and distinctive, that was collaborative and would lead a good creative team”.

The series is expected to launch globally in 2027.

Lineker is the first Amazon commission for Orchard, which was founded in 2024 by former Amazon Prime head of UK originals Dan Grabiner and former co-chief executive of The Garden Nicola Hill.

Orchard’s top team sat down with Broadcast to discuss Lineker, the company’s next phase and the need for scale in the current market – that interview will be available later today.