Description
1. The Making of Do They Know It’s Christmas? Air Date: 25th of November 2024: Forty years on from the release of the hit single by charity supergroup Band Aid, this documentary unearths 75 minutes of RARE and PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN film footage from the day of recording of that original footage, shot on 16mm film and newly restored and digitised.. The film features footage from the November 25, 1984 recording session at SARM Studios in Notting Hill, London, filmed by director Nigel Dick.
It features rare and unseen moments in which stars, including Bananarama, Bono, Boy George, Duran Duran, George Michael, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Spandau Ballet, Sting and more, rehearsed and recorded their parts and interacted with each other during that 24 hours which would make musical history.
The film also includes interviews which were shot on the day with Bono, Gary Kemp, George Michael, John Taylor, Simon Le Bon and Trevor Horn, plus an appearance from Nigel Planer, who played Neil in the BBC TV series, The Young Ones.
Inspired by a news report on BBC 10 O’Clock News on October 23, 1984, Sir Bob Geldof created Band Aid and brought together some of the biggest names in pop – including Bananarama, Bono, Boy George, Duran Duran, George Michael, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Spandau Ballet and Sting – for the groundbreaking charity single, produced by Midge Ure.
In a press release, Bob says: “That Sunday morning when a bunch of young spotty English pop stars who were (more or less) just out of school and had taken over the pop culture of the world, ambled up a Ladbroke Grove street in London to make a song their friends had written for the starving people of Ethiopia, they could never have understood the enormous consequences of that day.”
“It was, if not exactly the ‘shot that rang around the world’, it certainly became, however unwittingly, ‘the shout that rang around the world’, culminating 20 years later in all its unlikely majesty in ultimately forcing the global political process to bend to its focused will at the Gleneagles G8 summit of 2005 and after the Live8 concerts.
“This then is the ‘fly on the wall’ story of that day from found footage that no-one had thought to look for before, but is now an integral part of British pop history. I love it because it is so… English. So guileless, so charming and yes so innocent.”
He continues: “These rock stars piling into the control room, babies under arm – it was a Sunday, family day, chipping in, laughing, shouting suggestions, taking the piss, funny, having fun making history, on top of the world. And boy can they sing.
“Compare and contrast with the American follow up and it’s hyper-sophisticated, hyper super-talent, hyper-organised and professional and our lot, basically a bunch of bouffanted oiks giving it large and being quite brilliant.
“What wonderful people they were. And largely still are. Great film. The Maysles Bros would be proud.”
Cast: Bono & Adam Clayton (U2) Boy George, Jon Moss (Culture Club) Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe, Johnnie Fingers and Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats), Phil Collins, Midge Ure & the late Chris Cross (Ultravox) Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward (Bananarama), Tony Hadley, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble (Spandau Ballet) Simon LeBon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor and Andy Taylor (Duran Duran), Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware (Heaven 17), Marilyn, George Michael (WHAM!) Francis Rossi & the late Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), Sting. Paul Weller (The Style Council & The Jam), Paul Young, Robert ‘Kool’ Bell, James ‘JT’ Taylor and Dennis Dee Tee Thomas (Kool & The Gang) and Jody Watley (Shalamar) and Nigel Planer (actor The Young Ones)
2. Top of the Pops Christmas ’84 Special 25/12/84: The 1984 Christmas special of the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 25 December 1984. Featuring Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Howard Jones, Duran Duran, Nik Kershaw, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, Jim Diamond, Wham!, Paul Young, George Michael and Band Aid.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Two Tribes
Howard Jones” What is Love?
Duran Duran: The Reflex
Nik Kershaw: I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Culture Club: The War Song
Thompson Twins: Doctor Doctor
Jim Diamond: I Should Have Known Better
Wham!: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
Paul Young: Love Of The Common People
Duran Duran: The Wild Boys
George Michael: Careless Whisper
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: The Power of Love
Thompson Twins: You Take Me Up
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax
Finale:
Band Aid: Do They Know It’s Christmas? This is a historical performance as it is the only performance (apart from LIVE-AID 5 months later) to feature a majority of all the bands who were a part of the original Band-Aid recording to sing this, what is now become a Christmas classic!
BONUS MATERIALS:
3. Top of the Pops Christmas ’84 27/12/84: Lenny Henry introduces the artists who have produced 1984’s top-selling records.
Spandau Ballet: “Only When You Leave”
ULTRAVOX: “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”
Bronski Beat: “Smalltown Boy”
Bananarama: Robert DeNiro’s Waiting
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 2 Hours 27 Minutes
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