Home / Series / The Beatles Anthology / Aired Order /

All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 July '40 to March '63

    • November 11, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    This is the scarcely credible beginning of the Great Adventure, going back, back, back into a great war in a grey time that seems to belong to other beings in other worlds. Britain under Hitler's bombs, boys not yet Beatles struggling for a place in the sun. Wonderful archive of yesterday's enemy seaports now united by primitive, derivative rock'n'roll - Hamburg and Liverpool, full of young men scuffling for position and rank, nobody with advantage except for real gifts and those the Beatles had aplenty: wit, music, energy, looks, personality. The good Lord sent them a manager, Brian Epstein, and a producer, George Martin, and so we see how John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr influenced by the power of American r'n'r and r&b used their cheek and confidence and talent to get their first Number One in Britain: Please, Please Me. Wallow in these Black and White beginnings - see how the forties became the fifties became the sixties and discover how becoming the Beatles became.

  • S01E02 March '63 to February '64

    • November 19, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    The earth is moving fast beneath their speeding boots. Millions of saloon bar prophets who couldn't tell them apart had to hand it to them': "They've got something! From Liverpool, I hear - of all places." From Liverpool uber alles! They leave their Cavern Club in this episode and within months they take the ascendancy in the British pop world, and start to live the life of Riley in London. They play the Palladium, the Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Variety Show, sing Moonlight Bay with Morecambe and Wise, give a spare hit to the Rolling Stones, play hundreds of concerts in Britain, nip over to Sweden, invent Beatlemania, record I Want To Hold Your Hand (their 4th British number one in a year) and as if in a dream - while they're conquering Paris - the record goes to Number One in America three weeks before the Ed Sullivan Show in New York. If there had been no Beatles, no-one would have had the imagination to invent such a story.

  • S01E03 February '64 to July '64

    • November 19, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    This was still a time of wonderment on both sides of the equation. The world couldn't believe this magnificent four-headed creation could continue to be so delightfully entertaining and impudent and the creature couldn't believe the world could be so nice. Wherever they went now, first America, then Europe, the Far East and Australasia, and back to Liverpool for the special 'local' premiere of A Hard Day's Night, they brought Beatlemania with them. They couldn't help it; it was a form of real love. George would say many years later that the world used them as an excuse to go mad and then blamed it on the Beatles, but there is a parallel theory that it was time for the world to go that sort of mad - get down a bit, loosen up, and, like Uncle John in Long Tall Sally, have some fun tonight. The crowd scenes in this segment are awesome and , in retrospect awful. How did no-one get killed? The bloom of success was still fresh in the story herein.

  • S01E04 August '64 to August '65

    • November 19, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    Success, well earned, in the struggles for recognition, is now assumed as a natural state. All the records are number one, both singles and albums and educated America is now in thrall to them. The Beatles sweep through the great US cities, drawing tens of thousands to airports for the merest glimpse. They play for now more than half an hour per concert. A Hard Day's Night has guaranteed them star status in the cinema and they laughed their way through Help! in Technicolor. Paul dreams he has written Yesterday - and has. They are the first group to play a baseball stadium, Shea in New York, breaking records for crowd fever, numbers and good cheer. Oh, and they go to Buckingham Palace to receive medals from the Queen and, by now, more or less accept it as their due. They are, however, as happy and polite as can be. Life is now almost fun, albeit with a strand of stress now slicing through it...

  • S01E05 August '65 to July '66

    • November 22, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    There is a real joy within this video... yet now and again we hear the bell of a cash register ringing up some early charges in the price of fame. Within lie 'miles' of archive of performance and off-duty fun, either unseen or forgotten and certainly never before assembled in such a feast of words, music, sights and sounds. This is substantially the autumn and winter of 1965 and the continuation of their rule as Lords of the Earth into 1966, absorbing Rubber Soul and Revolver. They meet Elvis and hang out with him. The four are never more musical, confident, fluent or assured than in this episode, which is my favourite because everything has come together in full colour, with the keys to all kingdoms theirs for the asking. Hints of a bad day in Manila bring us up short and it seems that things are about to change... Exciting? Or ominous? Maybe both.

  • S01E06 July '66 to June '67

    • November 22, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    The glory of this story is that if you didn't know it, the surprises are truly astonishing and if you do, the delight is in the detail and this episode contains so many astonishing advances and reverses, setbacks and recoveries and in such quick-time that in fiction many of them would have been edited out. Our heroes 'snub' Mrs. Marcos of Manila and a nation's fury turns on them after three years of world-at-their-feet. Then it is thought John suggested in an interview that they are more important than Jesus. He explains himself, but too late to prevent Third Reich-style pubic burnings of their work. They live this down but retire from touring and go into the studio which brings an amazed world the might whirligig of Sgt. Pepper, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields here on the screen in surreal and glorious colour. They sing Baby You're A Rich Man, and they all are, but they don't buy an island in Greece. That is about the only crazy thing that doesn't happen in this episode.

  • S01E07 June '67 to July '68

    • November 23, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    It is the summer of Love, and those whom Timothy Leary has called the "avatars" sing All You Need is Love on black and white television on the first world satellite television programme. It is here in full colour and precedes the disillusionment of George with Haight Ashbury (San Francisco's hippieville), and the slamming of another door with the death of Brian Epstein, who was rarely alone but often lonely. The same weekend, as all who know the story know, the four are with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who is initiating them in Transcendental Meditation. Magical Mystery Tour takes their minds of things and becomes a great TV vehicle for more wonderful songs even if critics don't like it. Apple Corps, their new company, is formed to "mix business with pleasure". Those Were the Days, sings Mary Hopkin, and they were - those days.

  • S01E08 July '68 to The End

    • November 23, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    All things must pass, as the man said in this final episode, things are passing strange and fairly fast. The music holds out till the end (as good as gold, as good as ever better even, some might say, bearing in mind the quality of Abbey Road, which ends this stunning story) and the Beatles, having worked through the White album, Let It Be, Hey Jude and Revolution, two weddings, two busts an the rooftop concert equal Gilbert and Sullivan in the level of acrimony and the heightened quality of the work that was done through it and despite it all. The Beatles have survived their success and survived their era to remain modern, timeless and supreme against all comers. Paul, George and Ringo can still sit around a table and relive the twentieth century's greatest romance. This final tape evades nothing and reveals the rents and splits that ended their 60's life together but it cannot avoid encouraging all of us to believe in magic.

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x1 Recollections — June 1994

    • ABC (US)

    Paul, George and Ringo spend a happy summer's day together; singing, playing and warmly remembering early days of room sharing, haircuts, Beatleboots, first cars and meeting Elvis.

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Compiling the Anthology Albums

    • ABC (US)

    Paul, George, Ringo and George Martin detail the process of how they choose the tracks for Anthology Albums 1, 2 and 3.

  • SPECIAL 0x3 Back at Abbey Road — May 1995

    • ABC (US)

    Returning to Studio 2, Paul, George, Ringo and George Martin reflect on recording at Abbey Road Studios in the Sixties and some of the inventive techniques used in creating these recordings.

  • SPECIAL 0x4 Recording “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”

    • ABC (US)

    Paul, George, Ringo and Jeff Lynne reveal how they were able to produce the two new Beatles tracks from John's original demos provided by Yoko. This section includes intimate footage filmed in the studio during the recording of the tracks.

  • SPECIAL 0x5 Production Team

    • ABC (US)

    Neil Aspinall, Derek Taylor, Geoff Wonfor, Chips Chipperfield and other key members of the Anthology production Team explain the process of how The Beatles Anthology series was created.

  • SPECIAL 0x6 Making the “Free as a Bird” Video

    • ABC (US)

    An intriguing insight into how the Grammy award winning video for Free as a Bird was made. Director Joe Pytka explains how he and Apple developed the concept and discusses the innovative techniques that were used in the production.

  • SPECIAL 0x7 “Real Love” Video

    • ABC (US)

    The video that was not featured in the Anthology series, now remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound.

  • SPECIAL 0x8 Credits

    • ABC (US)

    Production Credits

  • SPECIAL 0x9 \"Hey Bulldog\" Video

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x10 The Beatles Anthology AD (13m)

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x11 Electronic Press Kit (29m)

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x12 Anthology I Electronic Press Kit (11m)

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x13 Sneak Preview ABC mini-series

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x14 Anthology II Electronic Press Kit (9m)

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x15 The Perfect Holiday Gift AD (15m)

    • ABC (US)

  • SPECIAL 0x16 First Night of the ABC Broadcast

    • November 19, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    Originally aired on Sunday, November 19, 1995 from 9 pm to 11 pm on ABC, the first feature-length episode of the Beatles Anthology focused on their early years in Liverpool to their 1964 World Tour. The first night also featured the world premiere of the first new Beatles song in 25 years, Free As A Bird.

  • SPECIAL 0x17 Second Night of the ABC Broadcast

    • November 22, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    Originally aired on Wednesday, November 22, 1995 from 9 pm to 11 pm on ABC, the second feature-length episode of the Beatles Anthology focused on the pressures of Beatlemania to Sgt. Pepper. The second night also featured the world premiere of the second new Beatles song in 25 years, Real Love.

  • SPECIAL 0x18 Third Night of the ABC Broadcast

    • November 23, 1995
    • ABC (US)

    Originally aired on Thursday, November 23, 1995 from 9 pm to 11 pm on ABC, the first feature-length episode of the Beatles Anthology focused on the death of Brian Epstein to their breakup in 1970.

  • SPECIAL 0x19 The Director's Cut '93: Program 1

    • ABC (US)

    Program 1 focuses on July '40 to March '63 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x20 The Director's Cut '93: Program 2

    • ABC (US)

    Program 2 focuses on March '63 to January '64 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x21 The Director's Cut '93: Program 3

    • ABC (US)

    Program 3 focuses on February '64 to July '64 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x22 The Director's Cut '93: Program 4

    • ABC (US)

    Program 4 focuses on August '64 to August '65 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x23 The Director's Cut '93: Program 5

    • ABC (US)

    Program 5 focuses on August '65 to July '66 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x24 The Director's Cut '93: Program 6

    • ABC (US)

    Program 6 focuses on July '66 to June '67 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x25 The Director's Cut '93: Program 7

    • ABC (US)

    Program 7 focuses on June '67 to July '68 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.

  • SPECIAL 0x26 The Director's Cut '93: Program 8

    • ABC (US)

    Program 8 focuses on July '68 to January '69 Story VS Performance - The 1993 Director’s Cut of Anthology focused primarily on the Beatles story, using performance footage only to enhance the story. The final version would remove much of the story and details to include as much TV and concert footage as possible. At the time this appeared to be the best approach, but in retrospect opinions may chance after hearing the uncut interviews; this was after all their one change to tell their story. Collectors have countless sources for the TV and concert footage, but only one option to hear their story as done for the Anthology series, until now that is! Uncensored Version - comparisons between the two versions of Anthology clearly show heavy editing. An entire sequence regarding Yoko Ono and her effects on the band has been cut-down to almost nothing; only on the 1993 version will you hear unedited and sometimes unflattering comments. Many interviews did not even make it to the Anthology book. One example is George commenting on the positive experiences he had with drugs, including the famous dentist real name! The 1993 director’s cut also includes the original extended sequence on George’s songwriting later trimmed at George’s request. It becomes obvious by program 1 what you are seeing is what the director and production team assembled and presented to the band before they made numerous change request. Program Beginnings- Each program begins with an unused animated sequence in place of the Help! Introduction.