The Beatles Films on British Television

The Beatles Films on British Television

Last update:- June 2008

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
UK TV Premiere :- BBC1 Monday 28th December 1970, from 4:05pm
2nd broadcast :- BBC1 Monday 27th December 1971, from 9:40pm
3rd broadcast:- BBC1 Wednesday 26th December 1973, from 10:30am
4th broadcast:- BBC1 Tuesday 3rd August 1976, 6:45-8:08pm
5th broadcast:- BBC2 Tuesday 25th December 1979, 3:00-4:23pm
First British Home Video Released:- 6th July 1984 by Vestron Home Video
6th broadcast:- ITV Sunday 14th June 1992, Late Night
7th broadcast:- ITV Sunday 28th February 1993, Early Hours
8th broadcast:- Central (ITV Midlands) 14th October 1994, Time unknown
9th broadcast:- West Country/HTV/Anglia (ITV Regions) April 1995, various days & times
1st UK Satellite/Cable broadcast:- Sky Movies November 1995, Evening
First Region 2 DVD Released:- 30th September 2002 by Miramax
BBC2 Saturday 3rd May 2003, 3:27-4:50pm
BBC4 Sunday 6th June 2004, 7:30-8:53pm
BBC4 Monday 12th December 2005, 10:09-11:32pm
BBC4 Friday 25th January 2008, 11:30pm-12:55am

Help! (1965)
UK TV Premiere :- BBC1 Tuesday 6th July 1971, from 7:30pm
2nd broadcast:- BBC1 Tuesday 26th December 1972, from 3:30pm
3rd broadcast:- BBC1 Thursday 26th December 1974, from 10:30am
4th broadcast: - BBC1 Tuesday 10th August 1976, 6:44-8:11pm
5th broadcast:- BBC2 Saturday 22nd December 1979, 6:35-8:02pm
6th broadcast:- BBC1 Tuesday 9th December 1980, 7:30-8:57pm
First British Home Video Released:- 26th March 1990 by VCI
7th broadcast:- ITV Sunday 14th June 1992, Afternoon
8th broadcast:- ITV Sunday 28th February 1993, Early Hours
9th broadcast:- Central (ITV Midlands) Sunday 1st January 1995, from 12:05am
10th broadcast:- West Country/HTV/Anglia (ITV Regions) April 1995, various days & time
1st UK Satellite/Cable broadcast:- Sky Movies Late 1995, Evening
BBC2 Saturday 27th October 2007, 7:50-9:20pm [pre-video release mono print]
First British DVD Released:- 5th November 2007 by EMI/Apple
BBC4 Sunday 25th November 2007, 7:00-8:30pm
BBC4 Wednesday 16th January 2008, 8:30-10:00pm

Magical Mystery Tour (1967 TV Film)
TV Premiere :- BBC1 Tuesday 26th December 1967, 8:35-9:24pm [BBC1 was still a Black & White channel at the time]
2nd broadcast:- BBC2 Friday 5th January 1968, 9:57-10:46pm [This broadcast was in colour]
3rd broadcast:- BBC2 Friday 21st December 1979, 6:10-7:02pm
First British Home Video Released:- 26th March 1990 by VCI
1st UK Satellite/Cable broadcast:- MTV Europe Monday 1st November 1993, Early Evening

Yellow Submarine (1968)
UK TV Premiere :- BBC1 (Easter Monday) 15th April 1974, from 7:40pm [probably European version]
2nd broadcast:- BBC1 Tuesday 17th August 1976, 6:45-8:09pm [probably European version]
3rd broadcast:- BBC2 Monday 24th December 1979, 5:36-7:01pm [European version]
4th broadcast:- BBC2 Friday 3rd September 1982, 8:25-9:50pm [European version]
5th broadcast:- BBC2 Friday 3rd January 1986, 5:34-6:59pm [European version]
First British Home Video Released:- 28th August 1987 by United Artists Home Video [American version]
6th broadcast:- BBC2 6th-8th September 1988, shown in 3 parts [probably European version]
7th broadcast:- Channel 4 Sunday 16th June 1991, Afternoon?, [possibly the American version]
8th broadcast: - Channel 4 Monday 26th December 1994, Time unknown [European version]
9th broadcast:- S4C Tuesday 27th December 1994, Time unknown [European version]
10th broadcast:- Channel 4 Thursday 27th March 1997, Time unknown [European version]
First Region 2 DVD Released:- 13th September 1999 by MGM/United Artists Home Entertainment [New DVD version]
BBC2 Monday 1st January 2001, 3:14-4:39pm [DVD version]
BBC2 Saturday 3rd May 2003, 2:00-3:25pm [DVD version]

Let It Be (1970)
UK TV Premiere :- BBC1 Friday 26th December 1975, from 10:55pm
2nd broadcast:- BBC1 Tuesday 24th August 1976, 6:51-8:08pm
3rd broadcast:- BBC2 Wednesday 26th December 1979, 5:53-7:10pm
4th broadcast:- BBC2 Saturday 8th May 1982, 3:10-4:27pm

Beatle Films on TV, further information........
The 1970's
After watching the Christmas 1970 British TV premiere of A Hard Day's Night at his home (Tittenhurst Park) John Lennon was inspired to write the song "I'm the Greatest" which he eventually gave to Ringo who recorded it for his eponymous 1973 album. The first UK terrestrial screening of a Beatle feature film was also responsible for the re-entry of the A Hard Day's Night album into the chart - a 1 week appearance at #30 followed the broadcast a few weeks later.................The premiere of Help! in the summer of 1971 was the first of a weekly series of Rock 'N' Roll films broadcast on BBC1 under the banner Pop Go The Movies and, as with A Hard Day's Night six months earlier, the Help! album re-entered the UK chart a few weeks after its' TV debut, this time for a 2 week appearance where it peaked at #33.................1976 was something of a Beatle revival year, EMI re-issued all of the British singles and many of them re-entered the charts, the Rock N Roll compilation album was also a big seller that year, Beat Publications began re-printing the 1960's Beatles Monthly magazines with each issue now accompanied by 8 new pages reflecting the revived interest in the band and BBC Television ran a season of Beatle films in August 1976 (one every Tuesday night), but fans were unhappy with the omission of Magical Mystery Tour and they began a petition (the BBC had in fact only bought the rights for 2 screenings back in the 1960's) ....................Three years later, Magical Mystery Tour was shown as part of another Beatles season, this time a daily dose of the Beatles over a 6 day period in December 1979, special trailers were broadcast to promote "The Beatles at Christmas" which also included The Beatles at Shea Stadium which had not been seen on UK TV since 1966.
The 1980's
A late change to the schedule on the night of 9th December 1980 saw Help! shown as a tribute to John Lennon, it was arguably the least appropriate of the Beatles Movies given the circumstances, not least because Lennon had never disguised his disappointment with it ..................................The May 1982 screening of Let It Be was its' last on British Television - not only has it failed to get an air-ing on Satellite or Cable, it has never even been released on a British PAL video...................The August Bank Holiday week of 1982 was BBC2's Rock Films season, Yellow Submarine was shown on the Friday (this broadcast was overlooked by The Beatles Monthly magazine) ......................... With VCR's still being regarded as something of a luxury in the UK (until a very sharp increase in sales around 1984), the final BBC screenings of Help!, Magical Mystery Tour & Let It Be had come a little too early for the average fan to record, and so - for a number of years - these films became much sort after on 'pirate' copies (with most dubs being from the 1979 "Beatles at Christmas" screenings). Meanwhile A Hard Day's Night became many UK fans first official Beatle video purchase when it was released on Home Video in 1984. Yellow Submarine continued to be the only Beatle movie to get an airing on UK TV throughout the rest of the decade and so few fans (who had recorded it off air) were tempted by the official 1987 release (not least because as it contained the inferior American version which did not include the "Hey Bulldog" sequence - but it does have some alternate scenes leading up to the moment Ringo finds Jeremy tied to a tree).
The 1990's & 2000's
ITV celebrated Paul & George's 50th birthdays by showing both A Hard Day's Night & Help! (the first broadcast of these films since 1979/80), some ITV regions showed them again before SKY snapped them up for Cable/Satellite viewers to enjoy from late 1995 onwards ..............Magical Mystery Tour had been the first of the Beatles films to get an airing on a UK available Cable/Satellite channel when MTV Europe showed it as part of their "Beatles Day" in 1993, George & Paul were specially interviewed for their opinions of the film and these were screened beforehand.................As in the case of Home Video's, A Hard Day's Night and Yellow Submarine were also the first Beatle movies to be officially released in Britain on DVD (the latter happily including the "Hey Bulldog" sequence). A British Apple sanctioned Help! DVD eventually appeared on 5th November 2007 preceded on 27th October 2007 by a screening on BBC2 who also showed the documentary which was included on the special features disc............... Both A Hard Day's Night and Help! were shown on BBC4 in January 2008 as part of their "Pop on trial" season........... At the time of writing, Magical Mystery Tour is still awaiting a British DVD release whilst Let It Be, as with the long promised and unfulfilled video release, seems to be rumoured for a DVD release every other year, and still we are waiting.
Films about the Beatles on TV
The much maligned TV film The Birth of the Beatles had its UK Premiere on the BBC on 31st December 1980 (8:08-9:47pm) and was repeated by BBC1 on Saturday 26th January 1985 (11:44pm-01:23am), it was then seen on ITV before returning to the BBC for repeats in 1994, 1995 & 1997 ...................The 1978 American Movie I Wanna Hold Your Hand was premiered on BBC2 on Tuesday 17th June 1986 (6:54-8:28pm) .........................The 1985 US TV film 'Docudrama' John & Yoko: A Love Story was first screened in Britain by ITV in a late night slot on 9th December 1988.................. Backbeat, a film focussing on Stuart Sutcliffe's time with the Beatles, had its' UK Television Premiere on Channel 4 on Thursday 5th December 1996, it was immediately followed by The Hours And The Times which was a short fictional account of John's holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein.
Solo Beatles in films on TV
How I Won the War starring John Lennon was first shown on ITV, presumably around 1972, it's final ITV screening occurred in 1976 and it was not seen again for another 10 years when the BBC bought the rights and broadcast it on BBC1 on Friday 12th September 1986 (11:38pm-01:23am) .................. The Magic Christian, starring Ringo and Peter Sellers, was shown by BBC2 on 30th September 1979 (11:33pm-1:10am), presumably this film had been shown at least once before (around 1975-76) but it wouldn't be shown by the BBC again until Bank Holiday Monday 29th August 2005 (10:03-11:40pm)............ A more popular film with the schedulers was That'll be the day, starring Ringo and David Essex, it was shown by BBC1 on 10th September 1979 (9:30-10:56pm) and the same channel repeated it on Saturday 28th August 1982 (9:17-10:43pm) and again on Friday 22nd February 1985 (11:18pm-00:44am), ITV then bought it for late night screenings .....................................Paul's Give My Regards To Broad Street was given its TV premiere on Saturday 14th May 1988 when it was screened by most (though not all) ITV regions that night............ The 1988 Documentary film Imagine: John Lennon was premiered by BBC2 on Wednesday 27th December 1991 (albeit in slightly edited form 10:56pm-00:34am), BBC1 repeated it in the early hours of 7th October 1994 and a BBC2 repeat occurred during the first few hours of New Years Day 1996 ...............The 1971 film 200 Motels, starring Ringo and the Mothers of Invention, was given a rare screening by BBC2 on 25th July 1993 (00:24-02:04am) and then by BBC1 on Saturday 9th March 1996 (00:52-02:25am)................... The U.S vs. John Lennon was first screened free-to-air by BBC2 under the Arena banner on Friday 30th March 2007 (11:35pm-01:10am).

E:Mail: urthepob@hotmail.com

References:- Mark Lewisohn "The Beatles Chronicle" & "25 Years in the Life", Keith Badman "After the Break-up", The Beatles Monthly Book (Beat Publications), Radio Times (BBC), TV Times Magazine (ITV), BBC Infax.