The Beatles’ ‘Top Of The Pops’ archived episode have been uncovered, and just in time for Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday, too.
Many early episodes of the BBC’s Top Of The Pops have become lost media.
And now, one of them, The Beatles first appearance on the show, has been found, and is to be restored.
The show is dated back to 19 March, 1964.
On this appearance, the band played ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’.
These tracks were released as the A and B sides of a single the very next day, and of course, went Number One in the UK.
After decades, Film is Fabulous!, a charitable film preservation organisation, has pulled through.
The group is well-loved for recovering media including Top Of The Pops, as well as long-lost Doctor Who episodes recently.
The group shared that they were presented with a 35mm BBC film negative including the episode at the recent British Film Collectors’ Convention (BFCC) in Oxted, Surrey.
The archival footage was given “on behalf of the family of a deceased former industry professional”, the group shared via facebook.
The recovered footage will be returned to the BBC archives, and hopefully shared to a wider audience.
“The inserts beautifully captured the Fab Four at the height of Beatlemania. Passages of the recording show the studio, the technicians, and the make-up ladies. There were four takes of the first song, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, with two being aborted because of technical errors. During breaks, the Beatles openly joked, and could be seen dancing to amuse themselves.
“The other song, ‘You Can’t Do That’, had two takes. During the second of these recordings John Lennon pulled a funny face when the camera came in for a ‘close-up’. It’s an amusing piece of Beatle history,” shared Film is Fabulous! via facebook.
If the restoration is successful, this TOTP episode will become the oldest footage we have access to of the band on the show.
