Ted Lasso

1. The character began life as an NBC Sports advertising gimmick. Sudeikis first played Ted Lasso in 2013 promos marketing NBC's new Premier League coverage to American audiences. The joke was that an oblivious American gridiron coach had been hired by Tottenham Hotspur — the sketch went viral and, seven years later, became a series.

2. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in both of its first two years. Seasons 1 and 2 took the top comedy prize in 2021 and 2022, with Sudeikis winning Lead Actor both years, and Brett Goldstein winning Supporting Actor for Roy Kent in consecutive years as well.

3. Brett Goldstein was hired as a writer, not an actor. Goldstein worked in the writers' room and became so convinced he understood Roy Kent that he secretly filmed an audition tape and sent it in. The producers agreed, and he ended up playing the character he had helped write.

4. The show is credited with shifting how mainstream television depicts men in therapy. Ted's panic attacks and his combative-then-collaborative relationship with sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone were praised by mental health organisations for portraying therapy as ordinary maintenance rather than crisis intervention.

5. AFC Richmond's home ground is a real non-league stadium. Nelson Road is played by Selhurst Park — home of Crystal Palace — for match exteriors, while The Crown & Anchor pub and other Richmond locations were shot on location in and around Richmond, south-west London.

6. Season 3 was filmed as an ending without ever being formally billed as one. Apple and the producers consistently declined to call it a final season, even as the cast spoke about the story concluding. The season finale functions as a series ending while leaving the door structurally ajar.

7. "Believe" sign moments were carefully rationed. The handmade yellow BELIEVE sign above the locker room door became the show's central symbol, and the writers deliberately limited how often it was invoked so that its destruction and eventual reassembly in season 3 would land as a genuine structural beat rather than a recurring gag.