Episodes
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Rock Star. Poet. Visionary. Peacemaker.
He’s sold tens of millions of records - but his influence goes far beyond music. He’s one of the most recognisable faces on Earth - but how much do you know the man behind the smile?
As the world celebrates 80 years of Bob Marley, Trevor Nelson sits down with Cedella and Skip Marley to hear their personal takes on the enduring legend of Reggae’s first and greatest superstar.
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Rock Star. Poet. Visionary. Peacemaker.
Trevor Nelson tells the story of Reggae’s first and greatest superstar, Bob Marley.
In the years since his death in 1981, Bob Marley has become an icon unlike any other.
In Episode One of Eras: Bob Marley, you’ll discover where his story began.
From the rural village of Nine Mile to the yards of Kingston, follow Bob’s first steps into the music industry, and his earliest encounters with the band that would make him famous - The Wailers.
Featuring brand new interviews with friends, fans and collaborators, plus rare BBC archive, you’ll get to know the man behind the music.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Series Producer: Joe Foley
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Missing episodes?
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Trevor Nelson tells the story of Reggae’s first and greatest superstar.
In the second episode of Eras: Bob Marley, it’s 1972, and The Wailers find themselves in London. When a strange twist of fate puts them in front of Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, a new chapter begins for Bob, Peter and Bunny.
But under the pressure of life on the road, tensions grow between the old friends - and something has to give.
As the eyes of the world turn to Bob Marley, a golden age of Reggae begins.
Featuring brand new interviews with friends, fans and collaborators, plus rare BBC archive.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Series Producer: Joe Foley
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Trevor Nelson tells the story of Reggae’s first and greatest superstar.
In Episode 3 of Eras: Bob Marley, it’s an election year - and Jamaica is rocked by political turmoil. Bob is living peacefully at his home in Kingston, but when violence comes to 56 Hope Road, his days in the city are numbered.
The next chapter of his story will cement his legacy as the King of Reggae - an icon whose impact goes far beyond music alone.
Featuring brand new interviews with friends, fans and collaborators, plus rare BBC archive.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Series Producer: Joe Foley
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Trevor Nelson tells the story of Reggae’s first and greatest superstar.
In the final chapter of Eras: Bob Marley, Bob’s incredible life comes to end. But his Legend is immortal.
Friends, fans and collaborators celebrate his legacy of activism, his potent spirituality and his undeniable musical accomplishments, which left the world so much richer than he found it.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Series Producer: Joe Foley
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When you’ve been in the game for as long as Sting has, it’s tempting to just keep giving the people what they want. But that’s just not him, is it?
In Episode Four, Vernon Kay finds Sting in a place in which inspiration is everything. Whether it’s a lute album, a turn on Broadway, traditional folk or Reggae, Sting refuses to be pinned down.
That’s the attitude that’s won him millions of fans, the respect of his peers, and a musical legacy that only a handful of stars can match. And in his eighth decade, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Through the BBC Archive and brand new interviews, you’ll understand what makes Sting truly unique.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Written and produced by Joe Foley.
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The Police are no more. But Sting never rests on his laurels.
In Episode Three, Vernon Kay follows the first stages in a solo career spanning four decades. Embracing his origins in Jazz, and his magpie instinct for melody, Sting joins the ranks of the great British soloists. At the same time, he’ll help to forge the bond between pop music and philanthropy that still exists today.
Through the BBC archive and brand new interviews, you’ll hear how Sting embraced the new, honed his craft, and fought for a better world.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Written and produced by Joe Foley.
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When Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers formed the Police, none of them could have predicted the phenomenon that they would become.
In Episode Two, we follow the band from the start of that journey to their world-dominating peak. In 5 years, they’ll go from grubby bars to the home of arena rock - Shea Stadium.
Along the way, they’ll produce some of the defining hits of a generation. But as Sting asserts himself as a songwriter, tensions brew… and something has to give.
Featuring rare BBC archive, expert interviews and iconic tunes, this is your window into the blend of genius and hard work that propelled Sting and the Police to the top of the charts around the globe.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Written and produced by Joe Foley.
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Storyteller. Activist. Superstar. This is the story of Sting.
Vernon Kay is your guide to one of British music’s most individual artists.
In Episode One, you’ll hear the stories, and the music, that shaped Sting’s early life. From the terraces of Wallsend to Punk-era London, where a single phone call changed his destiny forever.
Told in Sting’s own words through the BBC archive, and featuring brand new interviews with friends, fans and collaborators, you’ll get to know the man behind the name.
A Cup and Nuzzle Production. Written and produced by Joe Foley.
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After establishing themselves as one of music’s pop giants, the ABBA legacy continues in an exciting new chapter - ABBA Voyage. The futuristic and visually groundbreaking show ignites a new love for ABBA, once again.
In Episode 5, Sara Cox sits down with the producers of ABBA Voyage - Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson (who is also Benny from the band’s son) to discuss how the concept came about, and what really went into creating one of the most talked-about shows of the last decade.
As Svana and Ludvig give us an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at ABBA in the studio, and Sara Cox also digs into what might be on the cards for ABBA in the future.
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They’re famous for their marriages, divorces, and impossibly perfect pop songs.
But how much do you really know about ABBA?
In this series, Sara Cox is your guide to Sweden’s biggest musical export.
When Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, their lives changed forever. But that win didn’t come easy.
Because the road to Waterloo is a long one. It took years of hard work, and the combination of four world-class talents - each of them already successful in their own right - to pull it off.
Through the BBC’s archive and new interviews with experts and insiders - as well as the group’s timeless back catalogue - you’ll get to know ABBA like never before.
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With Waterloo, ABBA became an international act. But in the aftermath, they were almost written off as one-hit wonders.
In Episode 2 of ABBA: Eras, Sara Cox tells the story of how the group pulled themselves back from the brink of obscurity - and found legions of new fans a very long way from Sweden.
Featuring rare BBC archive material, expert interviews and lashings of ABBA’s indelible pop, this is your window into the musical genius and sheer perseverance that brought ABBA to their rightful place at the top.
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It’s 1979, and ABBA are one of the world’s most famous bands. But beneath their successful surface, things are changing.
In Episode 3, Sara Cox follows the band to the peak of their career. As ABBA release some of their most iconic and sophisticated music, their personal relationships come under incredible strain. The band play on - but how long can they really last?
Through the BBC Archive and brand new interviews, we chronicle the beginning of the end for the masters of the scene.
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After a wildly successful but grueling decade, ABBA were no more. Their ‘indefinite hiatus’ allowed each member of the group to follow their own path. But nothing lasts forever - not even endings.
In Episode 4, Sara Cox tells the story of a comeback like no other.
From pop history’s greatest Greatest Hits, to theatrical smashes, Hollywood acclaim and futuristic entertainment experiences, ABBA have achieved a truly timeless legacy.
Through the BBC Archive and brand new interviews, you’ll understand exactly why.
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In the final episode of Eras: The Beatles, we hear the story behind The Beatles' final single Now and Then, including new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
Narrated by Martin Freeman, the episode also features insight on the new track from Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Peter Jackson. In 1994, Yoko Ono gave Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr a selection of unfinished demo tapes recorded by John Lennon in the 1970s. Two of those songs, Free as a Bird and Real Love, were arranged and released on 1995’s Beatles: Anthology project. A third demo was never completed. At the time, the tape was deemed too muddy to work with. But, decades later, a new machine-assisted learning programme, pioneered by Get Back director Peter Jackson and his team, made Now and Then, the final Beatles single, possible – with each Beatle performing on the track.
Listen to the story of how it came about as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and more reflect on the decades and discuss the making of the band’s last song.
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If you’re in the biggest band there ever was, how do you cope when it all comes crashing down? That’s the question John, Paul, George and Ringo were asking themselves in the spring of 1970, when it was announced that The Beatles were breaking up for good.
In part five, Martin Freeman arrives at the end of an era - and the start of four more. In the aftermath of the split, bitter recriminations give way to new beginnings, and each individual Beatle embarks on a successful solo career. Rumours of a reunion swirl, before a senseless act of violence seems to draw a line under their story as a unit.
But a band like The Beatles never goes away - it lives forever in the people who love it... and this is a story that never really ends.
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When tragedy strikes at the end of 1967, the Beatles are faced with an uncertain future. In the months and years to come, cracks begin to show in the foundations of the world’s most powerful musical unit. As each member matured and developed as artists, the end became inevitable.
In Part 4 of Eras: The Beatles, Martin Freeman explores the pressures that broke the biggest band on the planet, and the incredible music that this turbulent era produced.
From the high-minded psychedelia of Magical Mystery Tour to the drama of Let It Be, to the masterpiece that was Abbey Road, the BBC Archive team have scoured their collections to bring you the interviews that shine a light on a dark period for the Beatles.
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No high lasts forever. And in 1966, the pressures of fame begin to weigh on the globetrotting lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo.From a close-call with military police in the Philippines, to an all-out religious backlash in the United States, the band starts to question whether being a Beatle is quite so fab after all.Maybe it’s time for something new.To become a different band entirely.
In Part 3 of Eras: The Beatles, Martin Freeman finds the band at a critical juncture in their story - the extraordinary decision to abandon the live shows that made their name, and embrace the potential of the recording studio with the groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.Featuring illuminating archive from the band and their contemporaries, we’ll follow the Beatles as they shape popular music for decades to come with the birth of the concept album.
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It’s 1964. British Beatlemania is in full swing. But this summer, the Fab Four are about to go global - and nothing can stand in their way.In Part 2 of Eras: The Beatles the band scales new heights as they enter the pop stratosphere on both sides of the Atlantic.
From silver-screen adventures to the invention of Stadium Rock, the BBC Archive team have scoured their collection for the interviews that put you right at the heart of those manic months on the road - including an exclusive find that hasn’t been heard since it was first broadcast 60 years ago. Hear the story of the Fab Four’s rise, fall and rebirth - and how they changed the world along the way, as narrated by Martin Freeman.
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In Eras: The Beatles, Martin Freeman tells the story of the Fab Four’s rise, fall and rebirth - and how they changed the world along the way. In the space of just 8 years, their journey took them from the smoky clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool, to Abbey Road and unprecedented global fame.And when their time together came to an end, each Beatle began anew - creating a body of work that’s still growing today.
As the world welcomes Now and Then - the first new music from the Beatles since 1995 - hear a fresh retelling of a story with no real end in sight.In Episode 1, we meet the Beatles as they work their way to the brink of global superstardom - shaping their sound, honing their iconic look, and making the tough decisions that take them all the way to the top.
Featuring rare interviews from the BBC’s treasure trove of Beatles material, sourced with a little help from our friends on the Archive team, Eras: The Beatles is an immersive celebration of the biggest band in history.
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