TV review: The Overlap on Tour is padded-out travelogue stuff from the first whistle

Roy Keane: one of the pundits behind The Overlap. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

About two minutes into The Overlap On Tour (Sky Max and NOW) and four footballers from 20 years ago are rowing a boat down the River Po in Turin.

I thought that Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher might rescue it with banter. But the banter is bad. 

At one stage we’re shown an aerial shot of Turin, with a voice-over of (I think) Keane saying, “Nice scenery.” Carragher replies, “Lovely place isn’t it.” 

This is like the worst postcard in the world.

Then we’re brought back to a live-show in Manchester where the lads are being interviewed about rowing the boat in front of a large crowd. 

All credit to Roy Keane for looking like he was enjoying himself, but this might have been because it was a crowd of people in Manchester who didn’t need an excuse to start chanting Keano, Keano.

Now we’re back in Turin and the lads are playing an Italian version of boules. (It’s boules, but in Italy.)

There is a reason people don’t take out a Sky Sport subscription to watch live boules. It’s not exactly a spectator sport. 

Particularly when Jamie Carragher can’t stop making jokes about balls. 

Anyway, back to the studio to discuss the game of boules. Jesus. These guys are better than this. 

Whether it’s football punditry or chewing the cud on their various podcasts, these four can make a point and raise a laugh. 

But to make them plough through some bang average celebrity travelogue activity and then analyse it as if they were pundits of their own show, that’s a big ask.

Back in Turin, they got on an old-fashioned tram. It blew a whistle when it left the station. Ian Wright imitated the whistle. That survived the edit, which makes you wonder what they left out.

Ian Wright asked Roy what was his best game for Man United. Roy said, it’s hard to say. That survived the edit as well.

Then the lads walked through central Turin. Gary Neville started a deep dive into the formation United used after Roy Keane went off injured in the 1999 FA Cup Final. 

I’m a Manchester United fan. I’ll watch a clip of their best goals from 1982-83. But even I couldn’t get my United head tuned into this one.

Part of the problem is it’s an hour long, so they’re padding it out from the first whistle. Which I’m sure Ian Wright would have imitated.

There is a good test for these shows – Would I be watching this if these guys weren’t celebs? The answer for The Overlap on Tour is no.