BBC to broadcast rare Beatles footage

Press Association

Monday, 17 August 2009

The Independent

 

Unheard outtakes from The Beatles' final recording sessions in Abbey Road will be broadcast for the first time as part of a BBC Fab Four season, it was announced today.

 

The programme, The Beatles On Record, will include studio chat from the band as they pieced together the album, which contained their final sessions as a band. It also features what the BBC says is "rare footage", as well as excerpts from 60 songs.

 

It will be screened next month during a week-long season as the world prepares for the release of the band's remastered back catalogue and the much-anticipated Beatles Rock Band computer game.

 

The Beatles On Record has been directed by Bob Smeaton, who worked on the Beatles Anthology project which traced the story of the band and was screened on TV in 1995 to tie in with a series of albums of the same name.

 

The programme similarly traces the band's story from the days of Please Please Me to their break-up after the recording of Abbey Road. Although Let It Be was the last Beatles album to be released, it's recording predated that of Abbey Road.

 

The programmes will be screened across BBC2 and BBC4 and will include the TV premiere of the The Beatles: The First US Visit, in which cinematographers Albert and David Maysles charted the band's arrival in America in 1964.

 

An edition of Storville will examine How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin, revealing how the music of the band may have contributed to the collapse of the USSR, as a generation of Soviets were influenced by their music.

 

Other programmes in the short season will include Sings Beatles, a compilation of archive footage of bands such as Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Carpenters covering the music of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr, plus a repeat of the Timewatch: Beatlemania and a screening of the Help! movie.

 

George Entwistle, controller of BBC Knowledge commissioning, said: "This is a chance for viewers to enjoy some rare footage and fascinating insights into the career of the greatest pop group of all time.

 

"Through BBC Two and BBC Four's close working relationship we will be inviting our audience to join us on a rich and colourful journey across two TV channels, through new and archive content, shown in just one week in September."

 

Are you looking forward to these programmes, I know I am?

Monday, 17 August 2009 16:25 UK

Uncovered Beatles footage to air

BBC Entertainment News

 

A documentary featuring previously unheard conversation between the four members of The Beatles will debut on BBC Two next month.

 

The programme is the centrepiece of BBC Two and BBC Four's Beatles Week, which runs from 5 September.

 

The Beatles on Record focuses on a history of The Beatles in the studio.

 

Other programmes include The Beatles: The First US Visit and Storyville: How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin, about the band's impact in the former USSR.

 

The film introduces the Soviet Beatles' generation and hears stories about how the Fab Four changed their lives.

 

'Fascinating insights'

 

The Beatles on Record is narrated entirely by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and their producer Sir George Martin.

 

The previously unreleased out-takes come from studio chats during the famous Abbey Road recording sessions.

 

BBC Two will also re-show Timewatch: Beatlemania, the inside story of the rise and fall of the phenomenon.

 

By 1966 the Beatles had played more than 1,400 gigs and toured the world four times.

 

"This is a great chance for viewers to enjoy some rare footage and fascinating insights into the career of the greatest pop group of all time," said BBC controller for Knowledge Commissioning, George Entwistle.

This sounds like a must see, will keep an eye open for it.

Watching them now, can't believe this was made from discarded footage. :)

Watching them now, can't believe this was made from discarded footage. :)

 

I was watching it as well.

 

The Beatles On Record was brilliant.

 

So sad that most posters would rather watch the moronic X-Factor on ITV, when this fantastic programme that brilliantly summarised the work of The Beatles + George Martin in their own words was on BBC2 at the same time.

And look what has been uploaded to youtube :D

 

The Beatles On Record (part 1)

 

The Beatles On Record (part 2)

 

The Beatles On Record (part 3)

The Beatles On Record (part 4)

 

The Beatles On Record (part 5)

 

The Beatles On Record (part 6)

 

The Beatles On Record (part 7)

 

Fab stuff!

I was watching it as well.

 

The Beatles On Record was brilliant.

 

So sad that most posters would rather watch the moronic X-Factor on ITV, when this fantastic programme that brilliantly summarised the work of The Beatles + George Martin in their own words was on BBC2 at the same time.

 

Couldn't agree more, but the average poster now on BJ thinks the X factor is the epitome of singing talent

I watched the programme and it's great that The Beatles On Record has now been uploaded to YouTube!

Watched both shows, absolutely amazing. I'm sure The Beatles On Record is what's on the box set DVD too :kink:

A really good programme on Radio 2 was "Record Producers: The Extended Cut - Sir George Martin":

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mk..._George_Martin/

 

It's available until Sat 12th Sep on BBC iplayer.

 

"The next extended edition of The Record Producers profiles a man often labelled "The Fifth Beatle" - Sir George Martin. Richard Allinson and Steve Levine examine his work as a producer, arranger and, through his experiments with sound, technical innovator.Highlights include the first chance to hear the newly restored version of the original master tapes for Please Please Me, a close up look at both Martin's orchestration for She's Leaving Home and the recording of A Day In The Life. Steve Levine also recreates the mellotron part from the opening of Strawberry Fields forever.The programme also contains examples of a recent technological development that gives 6 Music listeners the opportunity to hear some of the Beatles most famous songs in a new way. Because of the limitations of tape machines during the 1960s, it was necessary to either record or mix various instruments and voices onto the same track. Once they'd been committed to tape there was no way of separating them. But now, through the use of revolutionary software, there's the chance to hear some of these parts in isolation for the very first time.But the undoubted highlight of the programme is the in-depth look at the eight track recording of Come Together.In his exclusive interview, Sir George talks about various aspects of the studio and recording process, the albums Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road, along with a number of songs, including Strawberry Fields Forever, Tomorrow Never Knows and Rain".

Edited September 8, 200915 yr by SimonW