A SIX-PART drama series, partly filmed in Bolton, charting the history of one of the world’s first professional footballers and his move to play in English football, is set to hit screens on March 20.

Written by the creator of Downton Abbey, Lord Julian Fellowes, The English Game turns the clock back to the 1870s when football was still in its infancy.

It tells the story of Glasgow stonemason Fergus Suter, who moved south in 1878 to play for Darwen FC.

He played for the Anchor Ground side amid industrial unrest, and the Netflix drama also explores how the game reached across the class divide.

Suter first played as an outside right, but subsequently became a full-back, in which position he established a great reputation.

He was in the team that won the Lancashire Challenge Cup in 1880, and later in the year moved to Blackburn Rovers, where he was in the team that appeared in four FA Cup finals and collected winner’s medals in 1884, 1885 and 1886.

He was well-known for helping to introduce the ‘passing and running’ version of the game that spectators nowadays watch.

Fergus Suter is being played by Kevin Guthrie, who also starred in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The star-studded cast also includes Kingsman actor Edward Holcroft, Line of Duty’s Craig Parkinson, Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders) and Joncie Elmore (Downton Abbey).

The cameras of Nutmeg (42) Ltd filmed in the North West, crews using the football pitches in Stoneclough, near Bolton, and at Smithills Hall.

For filming, Stoneclough FC’s ground was converted into a stadium dating back to the late 1800s. During filming, residents were asked to avoid parking cars in Brook Street.