The PDC World Darts Championship

Episode 36: The PDC World Darts Championship - "This darts match will make you happy!"

Every Christmas thousands cram into Alexandra Palace in fancy dress to scream in unison at a little black, white, red and green board on the wall. In this episode, we trace how that surreal festive tradition came to be - from darts as a pub pastime, through the birth of the televised World Championship, to the civil war that split the game and created the PDC’s neon-lit circus at Ally Pally.

Along the way we meet the swaggering heroes and fragile geniuses of the oche - Bristow, Jocky, Taylor and Barney through to van Gerwen, Smith, Humphries and Littler - and dig into how walk-ons, nicknames, Sky money, global tours and life-changing prize cheques turned a smoky, working-class obsession into a worldwide Christmas staple.

It’s about the sound of “One hundred and eighteeee!”, but also about class, rebellion, reinvention and a sport that somehow stayed true to its roots even as it wrapped itself in fireworks and confetti - and whether it can maintain that as more and more money pours into the game, fuelled now more than ever by the so-called "Littler Effect".

It’s gaudy, raucous, sometimes ridiculous, often sublime - and at Christmas, it somehow belongs to all of us.