At the start of the film George Best is earning his living from personal appearances in 1994. News of Sir Matt Busby's death shocks a severely hung-over Best and prompts him to look back on his life.
35 years earlier, Best is a young whippersnapper on a Belfast housing estate who is spotted by a Manchester United scout, Bob Bishop. The football team is slowly recovering from the shock and loss of the Munich Air Disaster and, under Matt Busby's eye, is becoming a great team once again.
George Best quickly becomes a professional player and, by his late teens, is a firm favourite with players and fans alike. In fact, the adulation he receives is much more akin to that of a pop star than a footballer, with merchandising deals, magazine features, men's fashion promotions and hordes of screaming girls following him wherever he goes.
However the darker side of Best is his struggle against alcohol - not that he really perceives it as a problem. However, as his physical health begins to deteriorate and his professional career hits the skids, he becomes filled with a sense of self-disgust.
But this is not by any means the end of George Best's journey - and a renewed sense of hope lies waiting just around the corner
Best is a Film programme that first aired in 2000 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
