Knuckle review

“I left him with a face like a butcher’s block,” says bare-knuckle-boxing grandad Big Joe Joyce at the start of Ian Palmer’s horrifying documentary.

He’s talking about the savage, Snatch-like fights in which travellers ‘settle’ clannish quarrels, although it’s clear this violence only begets more of the same.

Hanging up his camera when he gets too close to the fire, Palmer shows real integrity and gets incredible access, but there’s only so long you can watch people beating the hell out of each other before wanting to throw in the towel yourself.