Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution – clip

Howard Goodall has written and presents the programme.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles on 1 June 1967, the BBC will celebrate with programmes across radio and TV. The centrepiece is BBC Two’s, Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution, a new documentary from Huge Films, directed by Francis Hanly, which will present the album as you have never heard it before.

Considered by critics and music lovers to be one of the greatest records ever made and a major cultural moment not only for this country but globally, the album features classic songs including, A Day In The Life, With A Little Help From My Friends, She’s Leaving Home and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Whatever your music tastes, if it was written after 1 June 1967 then more likely than not it will have been influenced, one way or another, by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The record’s sheer ambition in its conception, composition, arrangements and ground-breaking recording techniques sets it apart from others of the time, making it a landmark in 20th century music.

The programme-makers have been given unprecedented access to The Beatles’ own archive, photographs and multi-track studio tapes. It will include extracts from material never before accessible outside of Abbey Road, studio chats between the band, out-takes, isolated instrumental and vocal tracks as well as passages from alternative takes of these world-famous songs.

The programme is written and presented by one of Britain’s leading composers and most admired music broadcasters, Howard Goodall. He will be getting to grips with the album’s musical nuts and bolts and will be able to give an insider’s view into the making of this landmark album and reveal his own insights into why it was so revolutionary. Using visually-striking set dressing, projections and props the film will be conjuring up the multi-coloured, phantasmagorical world of Sgt. Pepper. Following on chronologically from the 2016 documentary Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years, Sgt Pepper’s Musical Revolution will show what happened when the studio took over from the stage and the screams.

“Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution” was produced by Apple Corps Ltd.

To help assess the phenomenon of Sgt. Pepper the programme will find out why the album came to be made. It will rediscover The Beatles at a pivotal moment in their career – both as a band and as four individuals, each with his own musical tastes, and ambitions. Having given up touring, they poured their energies into the studio: Sgt. Pepper, as Paul McCartney remarked, would be the performance.Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution features material previously unaccessible outside of Abbey Road Studios, including recordings of studio chatter and isolated instrumental and vocal tracks. The documentary also traces the evolution of other key tracks on the LP, along with the band members’ personal stories and biographical connections to the music.

UK: BBC 2 on 3 June at 9pm to 10pm

USA: PBS June 3, 2017 at 8/7c. (Check local listings)