Behind the scenes

Look if we're completely honest - if we had to make a choice between watching golf or having a tooth extracted without anaesthetic...the latter option would win hands down every time.

But a behind-the-scenes Netflix docuseries about golf players and their struggles on the tour?...well, you had us at the tee off.

Following on from their successful F1 and tennis docuseries ventures, Netflix have just announced that they'll be releasing Season 2 of Full Swing (the golfing version of the fly-on-the-wall styled back stories involving well known sports).

Reality TV has evolved considerably since the first season of Big Brother lured views with its rather creepy format of voyeuristically observing people be people.

Now the format is pretty much being used as a new kind of promotional tactic. Just think how the Kardashians have used it to their advantage for more than a decade.

Now, one can't help but notice just how powerful this kind of long-form TV narrative is for the long-term commercial success of sport. It satisfies the curiosity of existing fans and invites new fans into the sport through good old-fashioned basic story telling.

I don't think anyone who has watched Break Point will see tennis the same way again - even those who previously were not that into tennis to begin with.

Perhaps the surprising popularity of these things is because these sports and their characters are so polished and distant usually; and the behind-the-scenes perspective offers us the dirt, the juice, the skinner that we has human beings crave.

Long form storytelling is alive and very much in demand - just make sure to make it nice and messy.