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This disarmingly sincere autobiopic tackles a northern lad’s struggles with disability with an unselfpitying eye, evoking the goodwill of vintage of British studio-era films

While we’re waiting for Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham AFC film, here is a lower-league paean to Darlington Fc in the shape of a sometimes clunky but disarmingly sincere autobiopic. It’s written by Paul Hodgson, dramatising his own upbringing after a diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis as a 10-month-old; he was predicted to live only a few short years. Yet, though in a wheelchair with speech and motor-coordination issues, he grows up (played by Daniel Watson) to become a hard-drinking Quakers fan with a lively social life. At home though, he is saddled with being the middleman between fractious mum Alice (Toyah Willcox) and sullen dad Norman (Bill Fellows) who – “robbed of a son” – has checked out of life.

Especially in its first quarter, Give Me...

Kicking off the new season with our first round of predictions, the action starts with the amazing London double header at Twickenham where last year’s relegation dodgers Wasps take on champs’ Harlequins and Saracens take on London Irish. Let us know your predictions either in the comments below or on Twitter @Ballintouch

For this season on Whatculture, we will be providing previews and predictions for every single Aviva Premiership game. Also watch out for our new “Rugby Round-up” after every weekend’s action to summarise for your convenience what exactly happened.

For Round 1, the fixture generator has already thrown up some interesting match ups. The double header at Twickenham between the London sides will revive some local rivalries whilst the match up of new boys London Welsh against Leicester will be a baptism of fire and put a marker down for how they will fare this season. In another...