Joseph Fiennes admits he'll watch the Euros 'a very different way' after playing Gareth Southgate

Watch: Joseph Fiennes shares excitement for Gareth Southgate TV series and Euros

When Joseph Fiennes watches the Euros this Summer, the experience may be a little odd.

The Emmy-nominated actor recently portrayed the England football team’s manager Gareth Southgate on stage in the play Dear England, winning Fiennes rave reviews and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. The BBC has even commissioned a TV adaptation.

"I feel somewhat connected [to Southgate]," Fiennes tells Yahoo UK while promoting his new documentary series, Fiennes: Return to the Wild, which sees him traverse the Canadian wilderness with his cousin, the explorer Ranulph Fiennes.

"[Dear England] deals with so many more themes, football’s a sort of metaphor where we’re looking at identity and national identity and other themes and politics. But I'm certainly looking at the Euros. I'm wildly excited. And I do feel incredibly nervous."

Fiennes points out that the newly named England squad is full of youthful players: "It seems to be very much leaning into the theory of bringing in young players, which was the big success of Gareth… It's funny, I'll be watching this in a very different way compared to had I not done this production."

As for the TV adaptation of James Graham’s play, which tells of the run-up and aftermath of three of Southgate’s major tournaments as manager — the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, as well as the 2020 Euros — work continues on the scripts.

"It's a little bit like the group stages with the BBC," Fiennes says. "James has to do the heavy lifting. James Graham — our wonderful, illustrious, prolific writer — has to deliver the scripts, and then they have to be accepted, and then we move on to the next stage of possibly going into production next year, fingers crossed.

"Maybe there will be a new narrative, who knows what this year will bring? Because obviously, that will affect the tale that will be told."

Fiennes: Return to the Wild premieres on National Geographic on Sunday, 26 May at 8pm, followed by the second episode on Sunday, 2 June at 8pm.