David Beckham has won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, a Champions League title, two MLS Cups in the United States, a Ligue 1 title in France, and a LaLiga title in Spain. He’s bent free kicks into the far corner of the net in stadiums across the globe. But in the new limited series BECKHAM, director Fisher Stevens offers an unprecedented look at what actually drives the footballer. Hint: It’s not the trophies. What’s revealed is arguably more transfixing than any highlight reel — and Beckham says opening his home and mind for the series was the only way to tell that story.
“Throughout my life, I’ve always done things to the fullest,” Beckham told Netflix. “If I was going to do this, I had to do it right. I’m only going to ever do this once.”
The four-part series chronicles the athlete’s early career with Manchester United, his relationship with wife, Victoria, and how he’s maneuvered through tremendous pressures and complexities, both on and off the pitch. Below, read about some of the most revelatory moments in BECKHAM, including the first meeting with his future wife, his surprisingly wholesome hobbies, and his life now as a family man.
“I didn’t want to make this documentary for me,” Beckham said. “I wanted to make it for my family, for my kids, for the grandkids, for my mom and dad to look back on it and have something to cherish, because it has been a journey. It’s been unbelievable what I’ve been able to do in my life.”
In the opening scene of BECKHAM Episode 1, “The Kick,” director Fisher Stevens follows his subject as he strolls in full apiarist attire to his beehives. Victoria Beckham shared a video of David checking his hives in 2022, but in BECKHAM, the retired soccer star reveals that he and his wife had conflicting ideas of what he should call the honey he bottles and sells.
“There’s a bit of an argument in the house at the moment,” Beckham says in the episode. “I think it should be Golden Bees. Victoria likes DBee’z Sticky Stuff.”
British Vogue reported in 2020 that Beckham picked up the hobby during lockdown, and this charming exposition in the doc series reveals that the footballer may be more of a hobbyist than anyone thought.
“What other hobbies do you have, like this?” Stevens asks.
“Lego,” Beckham replies, before quietly turning his attention back to his sticky stuff.
The first episode of BECKHAM largely chronicles the highs and lows of the athlete’s early career, including the devastating red card he received in the 1998 World Cup Round of 16 match after kicking out at Argentina’s Diego Simeone. However, the episode also explores what was going on in Beckham’s private life at the time — including how he and Victoria met.
At the time, Victoria didn’t know that David already knew exactly who she was — he and teammate Gary Neville first saw her on TV. In BECKHAM, the star reveals that he told Neville that he was going to marry Posh Spice, saying, “ ‘See that one there? I’m going to marry that one.’ And we were laughing and joking, and I’m like, ‘No, I’m going to marry that one — the posh one, in the black dress.’ ”
When Mel C and Victoria arrived at a Manchester United game in 1997, things started falling into place.
“In the changing room before the game,” Beckham recalls, “one of the players came in and was like, ‘There are two Spice Girls here.’ I was like, ‘Which one?’ And he said, ‘The sporty one, and the posh one.’ And I was like, ‘Great.’ ” Beckham played even better than normal that day.
Of course, when it came to Victoria, football simply wasn’t ever going to be enough.
“I am not into football at all,” Victoria says in BECKHAM. “I wasn’t into football then, I’m not into football now. But I’d seen pictures of him in magazines, and he was obviously a very good-looking boy… the fact I went to the games really was just to kind of, some would say ‘stalk’ him.”
And once the pair had a conversation, the rest was history.
“I just fancied him,” Victoria says. “It was as simple as that.”
In addition to being one of the best players in UK soccer history, Beckham has always had his thumb on fashion and popular culture — over his long career, he’s been a marker of his era both on and off the pitch. From the time Beckham famously wore a sarong on vacation with Victoria, to their deep purple wedding attire (check out those iconic photos in BECKHAM Episode 2, “Seeing Red”), to his ever-changing hairstyles and experimentation with clothing — it’s fascinating to watch the athlete evolve with the times.
Throughout the four episodes of the series, Beckham gets surprisingly vulnerable and reflective on his career, from that gut-wrenching red card in 1998 to the painful deterioration of his relationship with manager Sir Alex Ferguson. He talks about his eventual involuntary exit from Manchester United (check out Episode 3, “Golden Balls,” for more about his shocking departure), as well as what it felt like to become a father. Beckham also isn’t afraid to admit where he made mistakes in his career and personal life. Director Stevens says watching Beckham process these moments felt like a rare look into the mind of a man who always plays it cool in the public eye.
“I sat with him over 10 different periods, over almost two years,” Stevens said in Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast, which debuts on Oct. 10. “It wasn’t easy for him. He’s never been to therapy, he never really reflects… he’s always about the next moment. He wanted to tell his story, but he didn’t always know how to express himself. He was exhausted after some of those interviews, because he was reliving mental things he’s pushed aside for so many years.”
One of the most touching moments in the series comes all the way at the end of Episode 4, “What Makes David Run.” Together with wife Victoria and children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and Harper, Beckham gets emotional as he reflects on the life he’s built in tandem with his incredible career.
“Going through every part of my life, it’s given me clarity on many things. And one of those things, which is the most important thing to me, is what we’ve got,” Beckham says in the series, holding back tears.
Of course, as a dad, Beckham can’t help but add a bit of levity to his emotional outpouring.
“We’ve tried to give our children the most normal upbringing possible. But you’ve got a dad that was England captain, and you’ve got a mom that’s Posh Spice. They could be little shits, and they’re not. That’s why I say I’m so proud of my children, and I’m so in awe of my children and the way they’ve turned out.”
Watch BECKHAM on Netflix now.
