Eras

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.

Join Scott Mills for the ultimate celebration of the UK’s best-loved pop star, who this year headlines Radio 2 in the Park on Sunday 17 September.

Australia rings in the New Year first. But as a new millennium dawns, one of her favorite daughters is relaxing in LA. She won’t be standing still for long.

In the summer of 2000, the world entered Kylie Minogue’s third and most iconic era so far. Newly signed to a major label, she’s about to unleash a wave of shimmering dance-pop - an imperial phase.

Spinning Around introduces audiences to a yet another incarnation of Kylie - one whose sophisticated sound, sex appeal and knowing sense of fun rockets her to her rightful place at the top of the charts. It’s a feat she’ll repeat with a run of hits that dominates radio playlists. Can’t Get You Out of My Head, with its La La La earworm, makes waves across the Atlantic. The future looks Golden.

But in 2005, a shock diagnosis with breast cancer cuts the music short. Her illness and recovery play out in public.

Through BBC Archive and new interviews with those who knew her at the time, you’ll track the dizzy highs and crushing lows of a turbulent era for the Queen of Noughties Pop. An era that leaves her stronger, wiser - and more determined than ever to perform.

Contributors include British singer and actor Olly Alexander, Tia Kofi, Jessie Ware, Beverley Knight, Jack Savoretti, Jake Shears and Cathy Dennis (who co-wrote Kylie’s 2001 hit Can’t Get You Out of My Head), as well as Radio 2 presenters Fearne Cotton and Michelle Visage.

Join Scott Mills for the ultimate celebration of the UK’s best-loved pop star, who this year headlines Radio 2 in the Park on Sunday 17 September.

All good things come to an end - unless you’re Kylie Minogue, apparently.

In 2012, Kylie marked 25 years in the music industry. The Abbey Road Sessions, an album of radical reworkings of some of her biggest hits, could easily have bookended a career few others could match. As it turned out, it was more of a bookmark - an acknowledgement of what had gone before, with the promise of more to come.

In the last decade, Kylie has embraced possibility, turning her time-tested talents to new musical challenges. From country music to Covid home-studios and star-studded floorfillers, this was the era where Kylie most obviously did what she’s always done - whatever she likes.

And then... Padam Padam. The undeniable sound of summer 2023, and the hook that caught a whole new generation of fans.

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.

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.