The Program

This film from Stephen Frears focuses on the doping scandal that turned cyclist Lance Armstrong (played here by Ben Foster) from hero to villain. His confession on Oprah in 2013 opens the film, before Frears tracks back to chart his unlikely transition from day racer to seven-time Tour de France winner. There are frequent pit-stops for drug-taking and it's shocking to see just how sophisticated this "program" became. Armstrong roars at his peers and the press (Chris O' Dowd pops up as the crusading journo David Walsh, on whose book the film is based), buthis battle with cancer is a mere footnote. The man behind the headlines remains frustratingly remote throughout, leaving it to Jesse Plemons to inject the sole note of emotion as the disillusioned teammate who finally called Armstrong out.