ShowBiz TV launches with Last Lennon interview
ShowBiz TV, a brand-new U.K. entertainment channel for the discerning viewer, launches on 8th December 2015 @ 6.30pm.
ShowBiz TV is a free-to-view platform offering the broadest range of exciting programming, seven days a week. Broadcasting on Sky channel 266 (National), Manchester (Freeview 80) and TV Catchup Online, there will always be something for everyone, they say.
The channel launches on 8th December with a World Exclusive: “THE LAST LENNON INTERVIEW”. It’s not really, but it’s one of the last and the last really long one.
On 6th December 1980, having given not a single British press interview for ten years and having been a domestic recluse for half a decade, baking bread and bringing up the baby, John Lennon and his wife Yoko One spoke to Radio 1 broadcaster Andy Peebles in New York about their new album, “Double Fantasy”.
The interview covered an astonishing range, no subject taboo. John talked for more than three hours about the Beatles, their break-up, his first meeting with Yoko, his conversion to feminism, his heroin-addiction, his drinking, his music-making and song writing, and his hopes for the future, both for his family and for his career.
Andy Peebles flew back to London with an unprecedented eight precious reels of tape in his bag. But while he and his production crew were half-way across the Atlantic, the most famous rock star on earth was shot dead by a deranged assassin at point-blank range, outside his home, the Dakota building. Only upon landing was Peebles made aware of the tragedy. He was accompanied by uniformed policemen to the BBC’s studio at Heathrow, where he was forced to talk about the murder live on air. Not since then has he discussed it publicly.
Now he does so, for the first time in thirty five years, to ShowBiz TV’s Creative Consultant and former Fleet Street journalist Lesley-Ann Jones: sharing experiences that, as he says, have “haunted me for decades.”
“The Last Lennon Interview has been an extraordinary piece to work on,” comments Executive Producer Scott Millaney.
“Once Andy opened up, there was no stopping him. This is an important piece which will remind viewers why Lennon mattered, and why he is still revered today as perhaps the greatest rock star of all time.”
“I had been trying to persuade Andy Peebles to talk about his historic interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono for more than twenty years,” adds co-producer Lesley-Ann Jones.
“He had always been constrained by his broadcasting contracts. Now that he is retired, with no allegiance to the BBC nor to any other broadcaster, he was at last free to speak openly about his experiences, and the profound effect they had on him. It is a most moving piece, and it was such a privilege to work on this with him. This interview should reverberate around the world.”
I've read one recent interview with Peebles in the execrable Daily Mail where he made some pretty strong allegations about Yoko Ono. I will not say what I really think about YO on a public forum, other than to point out that I probably bought into the myth of their marriage, split and reconciliation until the late 1980s, but Goldman't biography of John started to change my mind. I think it is interesting that almost every account by someone who dealt with YO has reported pretty much the same impression – more than a coincidence I think.
I don't buy the 'she split the Beatles' argument; it's more about the way she manipulates every situation for her advantage. I may try to watch this programme if I can get access to it.
Andy has said that through the years Yoko stayed in touch with him as one would with a friend. Once Andy was no longer associated with the BBC, Yoko stopped all contact .This program should be interesting . I hope I'll be able to see it.
The interview I read said a bit more than that, including YO's relationship with Havadtoy both before and immediately after John's death, and her 'cheerful' state of mind in 1981.