Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History

PBS: UK PREMIERE Thursday 10 August at 7.20pm

The origins of that perennially popular board game in which table-top tycoons battle it out on the property market are put under the microscope in this revealing documentary.

A pastime that has players competing to pile up paper money and drive their rivals into bankruptcy would appear to embody – and even promote – capitalism red in tooth and claw. Yet as the programme explains, the true story of Monopoly and the ideas that inspired it, back at the turn of the 20th century, is not quite so politically clear-cut.

Delving deep beneath the various myths surrounding the game’s gestation, RUTHLESS: MONOPOLY’S SECRET HISTORY uncovers a hitherto untold tale in which theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing would all play a part.