Matchroom Sport’s Showmen Are the Next Netflix Subjects

by Roy Brindley, 30 September 2025

Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen is the latest sports-related docuseries to land on Netflix.

Eddie Hearn and his father, Barry Hearn, are the stars of a new Netflix docuseries, Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen. © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Netflix turns to Matchroom Sport for a four-sport family jewels docuseries.
• New six-part series produced by the acclaimed makers of Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
• Contrived conversations leave critics underwhelmed.
• Snooker star claims the documentary treats his sport like an ugly relative.

Netflix famously boosted Formula 1’s popularity with the introduction of its hugely successful Formula 1: Drive To Survive series. The streaming service first took a look behind the scenes of the sport in 2018, and it, like the motorsport itself, has not looked back since.

A whole generation of Netflix sports documentaries has followed with varying degrees of success. Full Swing, a similar offering that takes an insider look at professional golf, was recently renewed for its fourth season. It will air in 2026.

Break Point attempted to do the same for a cohort of tennis stars, but after two seasons, it was cancelled in March 2024 due to disappointing viewership. Tour de France: Unchained did manage three seasons, but in February 2025, Netflix announced that the show will not return for a fourth season.

Three Sports Rolled into One Docuseries

And so, the question is, what will work next for the Netflix sports fanbase? In what appears to be a case of hedging bets, the video-on-demand company has turned to British-based sporting event promotions company, Matchroom Sport.

Behind-the-scenes access to its inner sanctum has given Netflix access to four key sports: boxing, snooker, pool and darts. Primarily, the show also acts as a vehicle to propagate veteran sports promoter Barry Hearn and his gregarious son, Eddie.

Titled Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen, this new show became globally available on Netflix on September 17. The organisation – famously shy about revealing its exact viewing figures – has declared the new docuseries was a top-five watched show in the UK during its first week online.

Barry Hearn, the Juke Box Hero

The six-part series was produced by Box To Box, the acclaimed makers of Formula 1: Drive to Survive and the producers of At Home with the Furys. Warren Smith, its Head of Sport and Factual, declares Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen to be “funny, emotional and entertaining.”

“This is the life of the best Sports Promoters in the business – In father and son Barry and Eddie Hearn, we have the best of British – two of the greatest deal makers around but also two of the most competitive men you can meet.”

While Barry Hearn briefly touches on the early days of his career, highlighting his background in the distribution of “fruit machines (AKA slot machines), juke boxes and pinball tables” in the docuseries, the show does move at a real-time pace.

There is no place for Matchroom’s involvement in the Golf and EuroPro Tour, which Hearn set up and ran. Likewise, televised poker – which the company produced and wallpapered on countless European satellite channels during the boom years of online poker – and the decade spent as the owner of Layton Orient is passed by.

Not Convinced It Is Not Contrived

Surprisingly, reviews by traditional ‘newspaper’ critics are few and far between. “Its fly-on-the-wall approach is not entirely convincing, with conversations often feeling contrived for the drama. Even so, the family dynamics, which have a strong succession streak, are gripping,” stated one of the few, a Financial Times review.

IMDb, the online database for movies, television, and video games, currently features only nine written reviews of Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen. Five award it just one star. One, titled ‘Just a Little Bit Underwhelming’, says: “Really disappointed in this series as a huge fan of all things Matchroom.”

“I grew up watching the snooker back in the 80s and have enjoyed watching Eddie rise through the ranks of boxing, with his online interviews being very entertaining.”

“This series is a little bit bland and often far too forced and seemingly contrived. Some of the fringe characters at the Matchroom business don’t really come across as particularly likeable people and are often rather dull, without naming names.”

Snooker Coverage Leaves World Champ Vexed

Another not enamoured with Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen is snooker pro Shaun Murphy. His views, given to the onefourseven podcast, were later reported in The Sun newspaper.

The 2005 World Champion did not pull his punches, declaring snooker was treated “almost as the ugly relative” in the documentary — “that is, something you keep around because of familial origin or heritage, but don’t give the same respect or spotlight to.”

“What I found surprising was… I was slightly vexed… it felt as if some of the bosses at Matchroom were mocking the [English Open] venue in Brentwood on the Netflix documentary.”

“You wouldn’t have formed the impression watching the documentary that it [snooker] is very important to Matchroom, and of course it is, it’s massively important, the whole organisation was built on snooker.”

“Barry Hearn would be a chartered accountant who you’d never heard of; you certainly would never have heard of Eddie Hearn,” Murphy stated when assessing the importance of snooker to the Hearn dynasty.

Despite being shed in a poor light, earlier this year, the World Snooker Association, chaired by Barry Hearn, announced the 2025/26 snooker season would likely surpass its prizemoney record with £20 million potentially up for grabs.