Well the pitch part was simply competition, it started when one team decide to take pitch seriously and had competitive advantage, then everyone else had to do it. EPL is also the most competitive league, people were watching lots of it, there were money, and then incentives.... And as mentioned, expert commentators really set it apart.

Generally speaking football is about the only thing Brits give a damn about. Since all the incentives align, great things came out of it. ( Which also made football too commercial and not as fun to watch )