Joanna Lumley says The Beatles spread ‘a magic’ that has ‘never been matched’

Following a preview screening of the upcoming Disney+ docu-series, The Beatles Anthology, the actress opened up about her experience with one of the Fab Four, attending one of their concerts and feeling part of the group as they got bigger and bigger.

The documentary series, which first aired in 1995, has been restored and expanded from eight episodes to nine with new behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr when they came together in 1994 and 1995 to make the Anthology collections.

The series explores the life of the influential band from its early days, to the phenomenon of Beatlemania, to their global stardom, as told by The Beatles’ members themselves.

During a Q&A, hosted by journalist Caitlin Moran, Dame Joanna recalled a Beatles concert she attended in 1965 with a group of friends, describing the moment the Fab Four took the stage as a “tremendous shock”.

She said:

“We all had our favourite Beatles. We all just loved the Beatles. And they were going to be just down the road, and it was just a pop group.

“We went into this extraordinary, cramped theatre, which was buzzing with excitement.

“When they came on, it was like one of these tremendous shocks when the nuclear bomb goes off. There’s just … and there was no noise, because it was only noise.

“There was no question of hearing a note tapering, but they were there, and it was compulsory to run straight down to the front of the table and start screaming as well. You couldn’t even hear yourself screaming.”

The Beatles formed in 1960 and are the best-selling musical act of all time, becoming one of the most influential groups in the world with 18 UK number one singles and 15 UK number one albums.

She added:

“They were ours. They literally were ours. We owned them. And I knew that if they saw me, they’d know I was theirs, that I belonged to them as well.

“And I think everywhere in the world, millions and millions of people completely got them, and then as their music became more and more fabulous and sophisticated, they took us with them.

“The whole thing about it, there was a magic they spread that has never been matched.”

The series is accompanied by the album Anthology 4, which contains 13 previously unreleased Beatles tracks to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the first edition of the series in 1995.

The album was released on November 21 in a new box set alongside remastered versions of Anthology 1, 2 and 3 by Beatles producer George Martin’s son Giles.

The actress also recalled the time she almost met one of the stars at a screening of The Beatles’ film, A Hard Day’s Night.

She said:

“I’d been invited to a kind of rough cut showing of A Hard Day’s Night, which had just been made. And The Beatles, I tell you, they were bigger. You can’t believe people who weren’t there.

“You can’t believe the size of them. They were talked about in Parliament. There was no place in the world that didn’t know them, that didn’t adore them, that wasn’t just part of them.

“So I went to see A Hard Day’s Night and it was one of these screening cinemas, so it only had about 40 seats in it and only about six people in it, and I sat here, and sitting there, I could see at once was John Lennon.

“Darlings, coolness overcame me. I didn’t say a word to him. He didn’t say a word to me. And that was the end.”

The Beatles Anthology was originally broadcast in 1995, with several elements of the series being updated, including footage restoration and sound mixing.

The new ninth episode, available to stream from November 26, was directed by Oliver Murray while episodes one to eight were directed by Geoff Wonfor, Bob Smeaton and Mah Longfellow.

All episodes are produced by Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde, and Martin R Smith.

Sign up to Disney+ to watch The Beatles Anthology here.

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