Respect was a ground breaking seven part documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 television series featuring some of the biggest names in British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 sport and was broadcast each Sunday at 5.00pm on Central Independent Television

Central Independent Television

Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...

 during November/December 1995.

Produced at Central Independent Television studios in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, the series of half hour programmes focussed on sportspeople of African Caribbean origin who have gained "respect

Respect

Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity , and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected...

" through their single-minded determination to their chosen sport.

Subjects in the series were Lennox Lewis

Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...

 (Boxing), Judy Simpson

Judy Simpson

Judith Earline Veronica Simpson , is a former British heptathlete. She competed in three Commonwealth Games, 1982, 1986 and 1990, winning a silver, gold and bronze respectively in the heptathlon...

 (Athletics), Martin Offiah

Martin Offiah

Martin Offiah MBE is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer.He is known as "Chariots" Offiah after the film Chariots of Fire...

 (Rugby league), Diana Bowles (Disabled Tennis), Tony Daley

Tony Daley

Anthony Mark Daley is an English former footballer, who made the vast majority of his appearances for Aston Villa, playing mainly as a winger, well known for his pace...

 (Football), Gladstone Small

Gladstone Small

Gladstone Cleophas Small is an English former cricketer, who played in seventeen Tests and fifty three ODIs for England....

 (Cricket) and John Regis

John Regis (athlete)

John Paul Lyndon Regis, MBE is a retired English sprinter. During his career, he won gold medals in the 200 metres at the 1989 World Indoor Championships and the 1990 European Championships, and a silver medal in the distance at the 1993 World Championships.He was a member of the British teams...

 (Athletics). The narration was provided by sports presenter Garth Crooks

Garth Crooks

Garth Anthony Crooks OBE is a retired English football player of Jamaican ancestry. He played principally for Stoke City and Tottenham, with whom he was a prolific goal scorer and an FA Cup winner at Wembley in 1981...

.

Says series producer and director Pogus Caesar

Pogus Caesar

Pogus Caesar is a British artist, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.-History:...

. "Over the past decade Britain has seen the tremendous impact and contribution of black people in sport on a worldwide scale.

"This will be the first series of its type which concentrates exclusively on black sports people, looking at their life stories and lifestyles and perhaps more importantly finding out what gives them the will to win." - contributors to the series included Sharron Davies

Sharron Davies

Sharron Elizabeth Davies MBE is a retired swimmer from the United Kingdom. She won a silver medal in the 400 metre individual medley at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, and two gold medals at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton...

, Ian Botham

Ian Botham

Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...

, Nigel Benn

Nigel Benn

Nigel Benn , known as "The Dark Destroyer", is a British former boxer who held world titles in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions....

, Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper

Henry Cooper may refer to:*Sir Henry Cooper , British Heavyweight boxer*Henry Cooper from Tennessee*Henry Cooper , English recipient of the Victoria Cross...

, Denise Lewis

Denise Lewis

Denise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.-2000 Olympics:...

, John Barnes

John Barnes (footballer)

John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE is an English football manager and former player.During his playing career, Barnes had successful periods at Watford and Liverpool in the 1980s and 1990s, winning the First Division twice, the FA Cup twice, and playing for England 79 times...

, Roger Black

Roger Black

Roger Anthony Black MBE is a retired British athlete. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4x400 metres relay gold medals at both the...

 and Kriss Akabusi

Kriss Akabusi

Kriss Kezie Uche Chukwu Duru Akabusi MBE is a former sprint and hurdling athlete from the United Kingdom. During his career, he won the gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the 1990 European Championships, a gold in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1991 World Championships, and a silver medal in...

.

Respect was produced and directed by Pogus Caesar

Pogus Caesar

Pogus Caesar is a British artist, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.-History:...

, and is a Carlton Television

Carlton Television

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...

 UK production and a Central Independent Television

Central Independent Television

Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...

programme.