United: Busby Babes and the Munich air crash

Emdad Rahman: Liverpool fans have suffered with footballing tragedy, and despite the rivalry with their North West rivals, Reds are best placed to understand the loss felt by their greatest rivals - Manchester United fans at Munich 53 years ago.

I watched United and have got to say that it is by far the finest BBC sports docudrama I've yet seen.

With a weekend first division game to return to, Manchester United returned hurriedly from a victorious European Cup tie in Belgrade. 23 precious souls were tragically lost at Munich in a horrific air crash, including eight Manchester United players.

During a torrential blizzard, the BEA Elizabethan airplane with players, officials and press members stopped at Munich Airport to refuel. The ill fated airliner made two aborted take-off attempts. The third attempt ended in disaster. It is the blackest day in the history of the global institution that is Manchester United.

United Director James Strong wrote on his BBC Blog - “The story of the Busby Babes and the Munich air crash is sacred ground to many. And, more than any film I've ever done, I felt the responsibility to do the best job possible."

Team BBC had their work cut out rekindling the memories of footballing giants. They did a terrific job, and viewers, whether they are football fans or otherwise will reminisce and honour the lives of those who were at Munich.

Producer Julia Stannard said the drama is the first to tell the wider story, starting in 1956 and ending with the FA Cup Final of 1958, three months after the February 6 tragedy.

The cast and crew were masterful and the character depiction was very powerful. During lighter moments, I particularly liked the friendship and banter between the young Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards. If Edwards had survived Munich he would probably have become the best player in the world. I also enjoyed the depiction of the straight talking no nonsense Harry Gregg.

This tearjerker is a drama and as the Director has said, not a definitive account of what happened during that tragic period. Writer Chris Chibnall has done a splendid job to balance out the historical facts, testimonies and come up with a powerful and compelling script.

United puts emphasis and focuses on two of Manchester United’s most closely associated figures – Assistant Manager Jimmy Murphy, and Sir Bobby Charlton. David Tennant was outstanding as Jimmy Murphy as was Jack O'Connell, who played Sir Bobby.

United would have left many shedding tears.

The Busby Babes were the pride of English football. Feared by opponents and loved by the masses. Their youthful exuberance stands still and is the measure used by any team fielding a promising batch of youngsters.

Viewers will share the lives of a group of friends who happened to ply their trade together, their tremendous loss, and trauma, how they overcome their grief in their own personal way, and despite such adversity how a football crippled giant rises up as a Phoenix does so from the ashes.

Bravo BBC. If you missed it, you can still catch United on iplayer.