Netflix is making an eight-part ‘fictional drama’ about Ayrton Senna

Run out of good TV post-lockdown? Us too. But don’t worry because a) Top Gear will be back on the BBC before long and b) Netflix is working on something that could well be worth a watch.

Set for release in 2022, the streaming giant has commissioned a miniseries about Ayrton Senna. Not a documentary – like Asif Kapadia’s excellent Senna, which was released in 2010 – but a ‘fictional drama’ that “explores the personality and family relationships of the three-time Formula 1 champion”.

Senna’s family is fully onboard, and is committed to making the series “something totally unique and unprecedented”, according to Ayrton’s sister Viviane. It’s being produced by Brazilian production company Gullane and will be shot in both English and Brazilian Portuguese. Filming locations will include Ayrton’s childhood home in São Paulo, to which the family have granted access.

The eight-part story will start when Senna moves to England in the early Eighties to compete in F1600 and end with his death at the San Marino GP in 1994. Netflix hasn’t confirmed who will play Senna in the miniseries. Any suggestions?