{"id":3485,"date":"2025-11-23T17:05:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=3485"},"modified":"2025-11-23T17:05:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T17:05:57","slug":"the-beatles-anthology-new-episode-first-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/11\/23\/the-beatles-anthology-new-episode-first-look\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beatles Anthology New Episode \u2013 First Look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]
\t
\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tFEATURE<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Beatles Anthology New Episode \u2013 First Look<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”||0px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

MOJO reviews the brand-new episode of The Beatles Anthology TV series, out next week on Disney+.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/The-Beatles-Anthology-2025.jpg” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ alt=”The Beatles Anthology Disney+” title_text=”The-Beatles-Anthology-2025″ align=”center”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Beatles Anthology – Episode 9<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Disney +<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Absurd though it seems, the 1995 release of The Beatles\u2019 \u201ccomeback\u201d single Free As A Bird is as far away from today as that was from Yesterday or Day Tripper. It was fortuitous timing. Along with The Beatles Anthology, the TV series that inspired it, the single reinjected the music and the myth of The Beatles into the heart of popular culture at the height of Britpop, and there it has remained ever since. As Anthology makes its streaming debut on Disney+, a new finale, directed by Oliver Murray, covers the making of the project itself in 1994 and 1995, creating a little Russian doll of nostalgia.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Anthology was quite the saga. As soon as The Beatles imploded in 1970, Apple\u2019s Neil Aspinall harvested all the footage he could and produced a 90-minute documentary called The Long And Winding Road, but it was far too early for the ex-bandmates to enjoy looking back and the film gathered dust until it was expanded into a six-part TV series in the 1990s: the epic tale of The Beatles \u201cfrom the inside out rather than the outside in,\u201d as Paul McCartney<\/strong><\/span><\/a> puts it. George Harrison<\/a><\/strong><\/span> muses Zennishly that their divergent memories make a \u201cdefinitive\u201d story of The Beatles<\/strong><\/span><\/a> impossible but that the story doesn\u2019t belong to them alone anyway: \u201cThe Beatles exist without us.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” link_option_url_new_window=”on” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” link_option_url_new_window=”on” link_option_url=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/UpCwdkGby6E” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Paul, George and Ringo<\/strong><\/span><\/a> originally planned to write nothing more than incidental music for the series on the principle that it couldn\u2019t be The Beatles without John, but somebody (accounts differ) asked Yoko Ono<\/strong><\/span><\/a> if she had any unreleased Lennon songs kicking around. She handed over some demo cassettes John had recorded on his piano at the Dakota Building in the late 1970s. Three songs sounded raw but promising: Free As A Bird, Real Love and Now And Then<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Can-do producer Jeff Lynne took on the arduous slog of digitally cleaning the lo-fi, rhythmically shaggy mono demos so that the band could get to work finishing them at McCartney\u2019s Hog Hill Mill studio. (They ran out of time for Now And Then but Paul correctly predicts, \u201cIt might not go away, that one.\u201d It was finally finished and released in 2023.)<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

\u201cIt was a very heavy time for me,\u201d Ringo admits. The prospect of making new Beatles songs was so emotionally daunting that McCartney suggested they all pretend that John had recorded half a song before going on holiday and had trusted them to finish it. When Paul was playing with John\u2019s voice in his ears, he says, \u201cIt was like the old days.\u201d And when Ringo heard the harmonies that had been added to Real Love, he exclaimed that it sounded \u201cjust like The Beatles,\u201d which seems banal until you consider that he hadn\u2019t heard that chemistry occur since the summer of 1969.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

If Peter Jackson\u2019s fan-thrilling Get Back<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span> allowed us to eavesdrop on The Beatles in their heyday, then the Anthology finale invites us to hang out with men in their fifties who no longer took their friendship for granted. We see the \u201cThreetles\u201d in acoustic mode, rattling through Bill Monroe\u2019s Blue Moon of Kentucky and Thinking of Linking, which Paul wrote when he was just 15. They also appear cross-legged on a picnic blanket in the garden of Harrison\u2019s Henley-on-Thames home, plucking the 1920s jazz standard Ain\u2019t She Sweet on ukuleles. The nostalgia of reunion leads them back to the very start, before the name the Beatles meant anything.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

In another poignant scene, the three are sat around a giant mixing desk as their former producer George Martin slides the faders to single out the separate tracks of Tomorrow Never Knows and they react as if they\u2019re witnessing a delightful magic trick. When Martin isolates the exquisite harmonies from You Never Give Me Your Money, Paul seems sweetly amazed that this was his handiwork. Musicians who had spent 25 years refusing to wallow in their glorious past clearly enjoyed being given permission to do nothing else.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The individual interviews tell us nothing new about The Beatles\u2019 mad canter of a career (\u201ccrazy times but great times,\u201d Ringo says Ringoishly) but put the three together and the anecdotes fizz, from Abbey Road shenanigans to the origins of the classic early 60s Beatles look. Of the tensions that shattered their bonds, there is scant trace, although Paul does get a gentle ribbing for his workaholic intensity in the band\u2019s final years. \u201cI like The Beatles,\u201d he retorts a little defensively. \u201cI like to work with The Beatles. I\u2019m not ashamed of that.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

When they joke about playing stadiums, but as mud-wrestlers rather than musicians, it occurs that had John still been around in 1995, a reunion tour would have been more than likely. What this episode does is highlight the lasting impact of that loss and the black hole in this reunion. At one point, Paul points to an empty chair and imagines that John has just popped out for lunch. Anthology, and the songs that came out of it, were the surviving trio\u2019s opportunity to reconnect with their old friend and recreate, if only briefly, the four-cornered miracle that was The Beatles. \u201cEven though John\u2019s not here,\u201d Paul says, \u201che\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

What we learned from the new episode of The Beatles anthology<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Free As A Bird had an Elvis inspiration:<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

After Roy Orbison\u2019s death in 1988, the Presley estate gave his Traveling Wilburys bandmates (including Harrison and Lynne) permission to fill the gap by using Elvis\u2019s voice on a song. Fortunately, George says, they dropped the idea because it was \u201cgimmicky\u201d but a few years later it prompted the thought that a posthumous collaboration with John would be possible.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Late-night Abbey Road sessions were fuelled by \u201cspecial\u201d tea:<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Beatles liked to work late into the night but George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick sometimes flagged after dinner. One night, the band came up with the morally dubious solution of dosing their tea with uppers, fostering a suitably energetic session. \u201cGeorge hasn\u2019t come down yet,\u201d Ringo quips.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]

The Beatles Anthology, featuring a brand-new episode streams exclusively on Disney+ from November 26.<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Get the new issue of MOJO for the definitive verdict on all the essential new music releases, reissues, music books and films – plus, our must-have review of 2025’s best music. More info and to order a copy HERE<\/span><\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

Images: Bruce McBroom\/Apple Corps Ltd<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOJO reviews the brand-new episode of The Beatles Anthology TV series, out next week on Disney+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"akindell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3485"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3498,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3485\/revisions\/3498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}