Moby plays Scrabble. Nigeria has a SAS-style training camp. Words have never been this cutthroat.
Scrabble is experiencing a renaissance. The younger generation have rediscovered the game online - through the copyright busting Scrabulous - and they're having night after night on the tiles. Alan Yentob sets out to discover why the word game leaves us spellbound, tracing its surprising history, meeting the American tournament Word Freaks, and paying a visit to the SAS-style training camp that the Nigerian government trains their players at.
Direction
MacLaverty treats Scrabble like an international sport thriller.
Production
That Nigerian government training camp footage is unhinged cinema.
Writing
Yentob's narration balances genuine awe with gentle mockery.
Director
John MacLaverty
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Nigeria's Scrabble dominance stems from 1970s government investment treating word games as national prestige projects — colonial education systems weaponized.
Moby appears because he played Scrabble daily while touring; he lost to Yentob on camera using 'QI' — a word he claims he still doesn't understand.
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