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Beatles Christmas

Documentaries

Music: Classic Pop & Rock

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Beatles Christmas

Alexei Sayle explores The Beatles festive fan club recordings and Christmas concerts.

Alexei Sayle explores the Beatles festive fan club recordings, Magical Mystery Tour film and Christmas concerts. From 2011.

Let It Be – Christmas!  When it came to celebrating the season, the chart-topping Fab Four pulled out all the stops to get festive for their fans.

The Beatles -  John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – made special fun-packed recordings for fan club members, panto appearances and their Boxing Day TV film 'Magical Mystery Tour'. 

Alexei Sayle explores how the Liverpool legends’ fan club messages were recorded with comments from the man who wrote the scripts, their publicist Tony Barrow. The featured recordings reflect the changing stages of the Beatles career and creativity. 

Back stage capers are also revealed from their two seasons in panto. Christmas 1963 saw them undertake 16 shows in full costumes – with 21 shows the following year.

Alexei also hears how their 'Magical Mystery Tour' film was made and came to debut on BBC 1 on Boxing Day. 

Featuring singer Elkie Brooks, Barron Knights guitarist Peter Langford and film editor Roy Benson.

Producer: John Sugar 

A Sugar production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in December 2011.

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

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Beatles Christmas

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