Björn was interviewed by host Reinhold Beckmann where he talked about ABBA, Chess and of course the opening of Mamma Mia! in Hamburg.

At the start of the programme, there was a couple of seconds of footage of Björn arriving by car to the interview and blink-and-you-miss him footage of Benny with Judy Craymer and the German Donna at the launch of something (what was it exactly?!).

Richard Beckmann: The plot of Mamma Mia! has nothing to do with ABBA. Why didn't you incorporate the real-life ABBA story into the musical?

Björn Ulvaeus: I'd like to keep that story to myself. There was never any talk about making a musical based on the ABBA story. All four of us are quite private people and it would have been a really boring musical anyway, as most of the time, we were just at work and there was nothing really interesting about that".

RB: When you married Agnetha, ABBA's career basically still had to take off. Agnetha most of all wanted a family and children. Linda was born in 1973 and shortly afterwards, ABBA's rise to stardom began. How did you cope with that situation? On the one hand, you had a chance to become world-famous popstars and a lot of hard work was needed to achieve that of course, but on the other, you couldn't ignore what your wife wanted out of life either. Wasn't that difficult? Didn't that cause a lot of conflict?

BU: Well... there was a conflict when we had the children, yes. Of course, you don't want to leave your children alone, at least not for a long time. So when people were constantly asking us for tours and TV-appearances, we brought that down to an absolute minimum. Agnetha definitely didn't want to travel much in those days. Then when the kids grew up, we took them with us and things went better again. But yes, there was a conflict. And it was difficult.

RB: Were you in a situation where you were thinking the opportunity was there for you to show your talents to the world as a musician and you wanted to do just that?

BU: Yes, I guess, between the two of us, I was the one who was pushing all the time. I always wanted to go out there and promote our work. Whenever we had finished recording in the studio and we'd heard the final mixes, I always used to be so proud and just wanted to present it to the rest of the world. So yes, I was pushing her sometimes and I sort of regret that today.

RB: Do You?

BU: Yes.

RB: Do you still see Agnetha these days? Are you still in contact with her?

BU: We have a grandchild now and we see each other at the kids' birthdays etc. I would say we see each other about 5 to 10 times a year and we get along splendidly these days. There are no problems anymore whatsoever.

RB: We've been hearing many stories over the past years about how Agnetha doesn't want to have anything to do with ABBA anymore and that she's living a reclusive life. Why has she chosen to do so?

BU: Well, it's not as bad as it sounds, you know. People make it sound as if she's a complete recluse, which isn't the case at all. It's just that she doesn't like to travel, she doesn't like flying, so that's something she doesn't do very often. But apart from that, she goes out of her house and meets up with friends like any normal person. So, it's all just silly rumours when people say she's withdrawn completely and doesn't want to know about ABBA anymore. As a matter of fact, she's actually very proud of ABBA.

RB: Yet, we read in the tabloids all the time that Agnetha isn't doing well, that she's depressed, etc? So all of this is just rubbish then?

BU: I met her a week ago and she was very happy and not depressed at all. Our daughter Linda lives in an apartment in the same house as Agnetha's, which means she can spend a lot of time with her grandchild, which makes her very happy as well.

RB: Do the four of you still meet up from time to time?

BU: No, that doesn't happen. The last time all four of us were together was at Görel Hanser's 50th birthday party three years ago. We even performed a song and stood on stage together for the first time since 1981 or 1982. We sang a birthday song for Görel in Swedish . We actually even rehearsed the song in a room next to the hall the banquet was taking place in. And it really was a lot of fun. The girls were standing in the middle with Benny on one end and me on the other. And I was playing and singing and while looking next to me, I went like, "My God, there's THAT WOMAN again!". It was all very odd. But like I said, the four of us don't meet up very often anymore. We're all just looking forward.

RB: Two years ago, you were offered one billion dollars to reform. Did you take it into consideration?

BU: Actually, we normally turn down immediately whatever offers we get. But this one was so ridiculous that -after we had established it wasn't a hoax, but actually a genuine offer- we obviously had to discuss it. However, it entailed a hundred concerts in one year, plus television and sponsoring and lots of other things too, so we decided to turn it down in the end. Unanimously. All four of us. That year would have taken ten years out of our lives. What decided it for me was primarily the thought of going on stage a hundred times in one year, in front of an enthusiastic audience and leave them disappointed.

RB: What if it were just ONE concert, broadcast live all over the world? Plus an album. Nothing else. No other obligations whatsoever. This would easily bring in millions of dollars, which could be donated to a charity project in Africa, for instance. Could something like that make you change your minds?

BU: We have thought about the charity thing too. Maybe it's immoral NOT to do it, but there's the artistic point of view as well. I don't think we have the artistic motivation at all to do a thing like this. We would just be doing it for the money and I don't want to do that. I really don't want to. It would be such a let-down for the fans.

Thanks to ABBAMAIL (no longer online), Jos Heselmans, Mayumi Taheri and Mats Butenschön.