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The Beatles 10/06/2012

SHOWID 571191

Set I


Set II


Set III


Comment

Boxing Day evening, 1967. After enjoying This Is Petula Clark at ten past eight on BBC1, at 8.35pm the nation settles in for Magical Mystery Tour, a new TV movie by the unstoppable authors of Strawberry Fields Forever and Sgt Pepper, who previously appeared in the wholesomely enjoyable films Help! and
A Hard Day's Night.

Fifty minutes later, Britain is pretty angry. The fallout lasts for weeks. Magical Mystery Tour is seen as a baffling, murky meander, made by musicians arrogantly thinking they can make up a film as they go along and get away with it. Even today, it's routinely cited as The Beatles' only major creative
failure.

Is that impression fair? Tonight, a new Arena documentary re-assesses the film, complete with previously unseen out-takes.