Fans of The Beatles can look forward to an exciting opportunity to view rare footage of the ‘Fab Four’ on the BBC soon. As part of a series of upcoming celebratory events to mark the 50Th Anniversary of the release of the seminal Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the Beeb will showcase out-takes and never previously seen material featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
New film part of June series of programmes
Among the radio and television content planned for the nostalgic June remembrance of The Beatles’ musical talent will be a film entitled Sgt Pepper’s Musical Revolution, which utilises the writing and composition skills of Howard Goodall, one of Britain’s leading composers.
The new BBC2 documentary from Huge Films promises to present Sgt Pepper’s as you’ve never heard it before, drawing on the direction of the highly-acclaimed Francis Hanly.
Series of Radio 2 specials
Backing up that intriguing glimpse into Liverpool’s finest will be a series of Radio 2 specials presented by the likes of Sherlock’s Martin Freeman and the comedian and presenter Paul Merton. The planned documentaries will look to depict the stories behind the making of the iconic album and demonstrate its influence on modern-day music thereafter.
Hit in Britain and America
Sgt Pepper’s was released on 1st June 1967, the band’s eighth studio album in a stellar partnership, and proved to be a tremendous commercial success both in the UK (27 weeks at the top of the album charts) and in America.
Besides the stunning and eye-catching artwork on the record cover, its content broke new ground in terms of music production and song-writing, leading to four Grammy Awards in 1968.
Sumptuous songs and images
Besides the memorable title track, Sgt Pepper’s featured a host of sumptuous songs that ably demonstrated the creativity and diversity of the band, under the watchful eye of the innovative George Martin.
Rock and pop were to the fore, as Ringo insisted that he could get by With a Little Help from My Friends and McCartney wondered what life would be like in the future on When I’m Sixty-Four.
Dispute over potential LSD connections
The psychedelic imagery that accompanied the cleverly composed Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds led to speculation of a link to LSD, an insinuation that the band members disputed.
Instead they pointed to the inspiration of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland fiction, with the title linking back to Lennon’s son Julian and a drawing of the same name that he drew whilst at nursery school.
