Eras BBC Radio 2

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.

No high lasts forever. And in 1966, the pressures of fame begin to weigh on the globetrotting lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
From a close-call with military police in the Philippines, to an all-out religious backlash in the United States, the band starts to question whether being a Beatle is quite so fab after all.
Maybe it’s time for something new.
To become a different band entirely.
In Part 3 of Eras: The Beatles, Martin Freeman finds the band at a critical juncture in their story - the extraordinary decision to abandon the live shows that made their name, and embrace the potential of the recording studio with the groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Featuring illuminating archive from the band and their contemporaries, we’ll follow the Beatles as they shape popular music for decades to come with the birth of the concept album.

When tragedy strikes at the end of 1967, the Beatles are faced with an uncertain future. In the months and years to come, cracks begin to show in the foundations of the world’s most powerful musical unit. As each member matured and developed as artists, the end became inevitable.
In Part 4 of Eras: The Beatles, Martin Freeman explores the pressures that broke the biggest band on the planet, and the incredible music that this turbulent era produced.
From the high-minded psychedelia of Magical Mystery Tour to the drama of Let It Be, to the masterpiece that was Abbey Road, the BBC Archive team have scoured their collections to bring you the interviews that shine a light on a dark period for the Beatles.

If you’re in the biggest band there ever was, how do you cope when it all comes crashing down? That’s the question John, Paul, George and Ringo were asking themselves in the spring of 1970, when it was announced that The Beatles were breaking up for good.
In part five, Martin Freeman arrives at the end of an era - and the start of four more. In the aftermath of the split, bitter recriminations give way to new beginnings, and each individual Beatle embarks on a successful solo career. Rumours of a reunion swirl, before a senseless act of violence seems to draw a line under their story as a unit.
But a band like The Beatles never goes away - it lives forever in the people who love it... and this is a story that never really ends.

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.