ABBA - Thank You for the Music

Björn was interviewed very briefly for this new and rather disappointing ABBA programme which had been billed as follows:

"ABBA's hits are adored worldwide.  The stage shows Chess and Mamma Mia! have been seen by thousands.  But there's an important part of ABBA history that even die-hard fans know little about.  Thirty years ago Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson wrote a mini pop-opera called "The Girl with the Golden Hair "- never recorded in its complete form.  Here, it is re-created complete, starring ex-Atomic Kitten star Liz McClarnon.  Director: Steve Cole; Producer: Chris Hunt."

Produced by Iambic Productions, the people behind The Winner Takes It All - The ABBA Story, Super Troupers: 30 Years of ABBA and ABBA's All Time Greatest Hits, the programme has been sold to both ITV1 in the UK and Network Seven Australia.  They have heavily drawn on footage and interviews obtained for their previous programmes with this interview with Björn being the only new contribution filmed.

The programme featured ex-Atomic Kitten singer Liz McClarnon performing songs from "The Girl With The Golden Hair" under the guidance of "Mamma Mia!" Musical Director Martin Koch.  However, in spite of the promotional information everywhere, these parts were interspersed throughout the programme and they failed to include "Get On The Carousel" completely merely referring to it as the fourth song of the mini-musical.  They didn't even show ABBA performing it from ABBA - The Movie despite using footage from the film throughout the programme.  Other footage used, apart from the PROMO videos, was from ABBA D'ABBA Doo and oddly, the Making of the National commercials. 

The angle used this time was that Agnetha's experiences in ABBA as the girl with the golden hair mirrored that experienced by the character in the mini-musical.  The part of the narrator in the mini-musical was "played" by Richard O'Brien (from Rocky Horror Picture Show fame) although as it was all shown out of context I doubt it made sense to Joe Public.

As usual, there were lots of musical faces passing comment and these included Louis Walsh; Pete Waterman; Lulu; Robin Gibb; Donny Osmond; Sophie Ellis-Bextor; Paul Gambaccini; Anders Eljas; Janne Schaffer and the Rock Critic from The Times.

As the other two programmes by Iambic have been released on DVD, don't be surprised to find this released soon - and I wouldn't be surprised to find the whole mini-musical featured as bonus.  A quote from producer Chris Hunt about this programme: "Our ABBA films have, over the years, been Iambic's most profitable, and we see no reason for this one to be an exception".

Viewing figures in the UK were 3.8 - 3.9 million.