You can see what Netflix is punching towards with At Home With the Furys (streaming from today). The fly-on-the-wall documentary aims for a reality sweet spot somewhere between the never-ending Kardashians franchise and the granddaddy of the genre, The Osbournes.
There is certainly potential. Fury is an undefeated boxing champion and a cheery chap. But he also has had mental-health struggles, having received diagnoses of bipolar disorder and ADHD. Indeed, those personal struggles threatened to derail his career in 2016, when he took a break from boxing, saying he had “no motivation” to continue.
The stark reality of living with mental-health challenges is too much for this breezy doc, however, which takes up the story weeks after his retirement. Fury’s mental health stays largely in the background – as does Fury’s Irish heritage: his paternal grandfather is from Tuam, in Co Galway; his grandmother on his mother’s side is from Tipperary.
The focus is instead on the domestic bliss of life with the kids. As a portrait of a boxer as a big softie, it has its moments. We see Fury enthusiastically make breakfast for his six children at their home in Morecambe, in Greater Manchester.
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Matt Cooper: I’m an only child. I’ve always been conscious of not having brothers or sisters
A Dublin scam: After more than 10 years in New York, nothing like this had ever happened to me
Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December
The series also introduces Fury’s wife, Paris, his brother Tommy, and Tommy’s partner, the Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague. They’re a bubbly bunch, and parents everywhere will empathise with the chaos as Tyson and Paris try to get the kids out the door to school or activities.
There is also a refreshing lack of bling. Fury has earned more than €200 million in his boxing career, and his driveway is strewn with luxury cars. But, otherwise, he and Paris seem to live a thoroughly normal life involving packed lunches and camping trips with the children.
Where At Home With the Furys falls down is drawing a fully rounded portrait of an athlete at a transition point. Fury has spoken about his depression, but At Home With the Furys doesn’t want the more troubled side of his personality to derail the feelgood factor. Paris talks about his struggles, describing him as a “giant child”. And at one point Fury vanishes on a weekend to Iceland.
But these are mere glimpses of the more troubled soul behind the chipper interior. It’s exceedingly bingeable, and the Tysons are a likable family. But this is one more example of fly-on-the-wall TV where reality is an inconvenience to be soft-peddled – or, worse yet, shoved into the shadows.
