BBC Celebrates Rolling Stones’ 60th Anniversary With New Specials
The BBC will help celebrate The Rolling Stones‘ 60th anniversary with a slate of new documentary programming. Set to premiere this summer, the British Broadcasting Company will premiere a four-part documentary series as well as a radio special.
Airing on BBC Two, My Life As A Rolling Stone will take an intimate look at each of the band’s four core members: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and the late Charlie Watts. The three remaining members sat for new interviews with Oliver Murray (Bill Wyman, The Quiet One) and Clare Tavernor (Keith Richards: A Culture Show Special) for the four, hour-long episodes. The episode devoted to Watts, who died last August at age 80, will consist of previously recorded interviews. Each members’ episode will feature interviews interwoven with archival footage and previously unseen performances.
“We are thrilled to celebrate 60 years of The Rolling Stones with these four films which give fans around the world a new and fascinating look at the band,” the band’s manager Joyce Smyth said in a statement.
In addition to interviews with the band members, My Life As A Rolling Stone will host input from P.P. Arnold, Chrissie Hynde, Slash, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, and Steven Tyler. The series, from Mercury Studios which produced it for BBC, currently has no set release date.
Also on tap for The Stones’ 60th anniversary is a two-hour audio documentary, Rolling with the Stones. The series, also to premiere this summer at an unspecified date, will hear The Stones tell their story in their own words, featuring interviews with Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor, as well as the departed Watts and Brian Jones.
The new content will also arrive in conjunction with a slew of archival programming, including a number of previously released Rolling Stones documentaries. Available on BBC iPlayer this summer, viewers will be able to stream Crossfire Hurricane, Brett Morgan‘s 2012 profile of The Stones’ early days from their debut at London’s Marquee Club on July 12th, 1962, through the height of their fame in 1975. In addition, both the 1995 and 2016 versions of The Rolling Stones: Totally Stripped will be made available on the platform. Both the original and re-versioned edition examine the sessions that birthed The Rolling Stones’ Stripped album, featuring paired-down versions of the group’s many classics.
Stay tuned for more information from the BBC on the network’s rollout of Rolling Stones content this summer. The band is set to celebrate its 60th anniversary with a stadium tour of Europe. For tickets and a full list of tour dates click here.