In the first of our four episodes covering the 1995 documentary series, we start with some of our own memories of when it aired, when we were teenagers and Britpop had made The Beatles cool again in the UK. We note the vast structural difference between episode 1, which of course covers the bit of their career of which there's the least amount of video footage, and episode 2, which focuses much less on talking head recollections and more on live and TV appearances, often shown nearly in full.

We also discuss the practical impact of the three Beatles still alive at the time, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, being interviewed mainly separately, and how much each of them is enjoying the experience. Paul is in full anecdote mode, but is George enjoying himself more than he expected to?

Plus: how are Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best treated in this, and why? What are the implications of only including a limited core of contributors? And a bit of digging into the idea that they got their name from the Marlon Brando film The Wild One.

• The Beatles Anthology DVD boxset is available to buy.
• Watch a TV advert for the Anthology DVD release: https://youtu.be/hlHX8FPqsDM
• The tweet from Joe Wisbey of the Beatles Books Podcast, linking to the short doc that aired before the Free as a Bird video premiere on ITV. Thanks Joe! https://x.com/BooksBeatles/status/1631351804335120391
• Beatles Bible diary entry for 30 October 1963, when the Beatles performed on the Swedish TV show Drop In: https://www.beatlesbible.com/1963/10/30/television-drop-in-stockholm-sweden

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

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