My favourite sports documentary – OJ: Made in America

Continuing the series of films chosen by our sports writers is this five-part dissection of the OJ Simpson murder case. For our Senior Football Correspondent, Melissa Reddy, growing up in South Africa, the way the case turned on race brought it close to home in a way that only Ezra Edelman's documentary has explored

OJ Simpson in a photograph shown in documentary 'OJ: Made in America' (ESPN Films)

On 17 June 1994, just over a month after Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as South Africa’s first black and democratically elected president, there was a break in transmission about the new “rainbow nation” to screen a live slow-speed chase happening on the Los Angeles freeways.

Lying on the carpet in the lounge at my great grandmother’s house in Durban, I didn’t immediately understand why this footage from abroad was given so much airtime.

OJ Simpson, one of the greatest-ever running backs in American football history turned A-lister, was being trailed by a sea of police cars as he sat in the back seat of his white Ford Bronco SUV with a gun to his head, as it was driven by a long-time friend.