A press release for the forthcoming series has provided the following statement, “It tells the story of one of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands in a way that has never been done before – by viewing the band through the musical lens of each member, delving deep into their personalities, passions and memories from the past sixty years. Four hour-long films, each an intimate portrait of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts, show how these individual musical geniuses came together to make the music that has provided the soundtrack to the lives of millions.”

The landmark series will join the many forms of media which have been released in celebration of the band’s 60th anniversary, and will also pay tribute to Watts, who tragically passed away last year. Joyce Smyth, manager of The Rolling Stones, has spoken about the film series, “We are thrilled to celebrate sixty years of The Rolling Stones with these four films which give fans around the world a new and fascinating look at the band.”

The four-episode long celebration of the “Paint It Black” hitmakers will also include appearances from other musicians, the special guests will contribute commentaries and stories to the informative segments. The star-studded guest list includes P.P. Arnold, Guns ‘N’ Roses’ rocker Slash, Sir Rod Stewart, legendary singer Tina Turner, Chrissie Hyde and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.

The hotly anticipated series has been created by two award-winning filmmakers, Oliver Murray and Clare Tavernor. Murray is known for his music-themed productions and has already released a tribute to an iconic musician; the British artist wrote and directed the 2020 documentary Ronnie’s. The feature tells the story of the legendary saxophonist and the genesis of his iconic London jazz venue, Ronnie Scotts.

The global production team Mercury Studios have produced the series, CEO Alice Webb has supplied the following statement concerning the upcoming series, “Every now and again, as filmmakers we get to work on extraordinary projects – this is one of those moments. We know their music, their swagger, their unrivalled stage presence – and through these beautiful, intimate films you’ll see the band in all their glory as we explore what makes them truly great. It’s been an honour to work with The Rolling Stones to shine a light on their incredible lives and careers – we can’t wait for audiences around the world to see them.”

The four-part film series will be made available on BBC 2 and BBC iPlayer, and more details concerning the release are yet to be announced.

The first of four mini-documentaries ‘A Film On Possibility’, will explore the themes of the book and how they relate to tracks from the album. This will then be followed by three subsequent episodes that will each air at 6 pm over the next three days on the band’s YouTube channel. They are described as ‘One part album-making-of, one part anthropological study’.

The films will feature special guests namely the writer and activist George Monbiot, academic Dacher Keltner and philosopher Toby Ord and of course the band themselves. In the episodes, they will discuss issues such as climate catastrophe, the dangers of social media, and existential peril.

When asked about the series Reynolds stated that “There’s a 1 in 6 chance that humanity makes it through this century, In a world of TikToks, Tweets, and vox pops, we lose depth, detail, and broader perspectives. We get lost in the 24 hour news cycle, advertising, and online debate. This is us delving headfirst into a whole range of dizzying, yet critical, topics. Knowledge is power.”

#NothingIsTrue is out everywhere now.
Listen here : https://t.co/oMFjBSECxG
pic.twitter.com/wnzLvAHm17

— ENTER SHIKARI (@ENTERSHIKARI) April 17, 2020

The band announced the accompanying book published this month back in April along with their surprise lockdown compilation ‘Moratorium (Broadcasts From The Interruption)’.

Reynolds told NME “It’s really an analysis of the world that it was written in, It goes into social psychology, anthropology, philosophy and more. It’s exploring human possibility, where we’re going, what our potential is and the trajectories we’re on.”

In addition to the documentaries, Enter Shikari have also lined up two intimate shows in Glasgow this November, in collaboration with music industry climate awareness group Music Declares Emergency.

The shows purposely coincide with the COP26 Climate Summit that will take place in the city this November. The group will play at the Glasgow QMU on November 3 and 4, with tickets on sale here this Friday (July 30) at 10 am.

The docuseries, which was announced in March,  will be available on-demand on BT TV and AMC. Writing about the series release on Instagram, the iconic British pop band wrote: “Before We Was We: Madness By Madness”, Episode 1 showing this Saturday 1st of May at 9 pm on @amctvuk via BT TV, on BT Player, and at 10 pm on BT’s YouTube channel.” The post features a video of Madness front man Suggs in front of a Leicester Square cinema. Dressed in a maroon trench coat and a pale yellow suit, he says ‘tickets this way’ and gestures towards a caravan-come-cinema named ‘Cinemadness.’ 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madness (@madnessband)

The three-part documentary series, directed by long-time fans Bill Jones and Ben Timlett, focuses on the band member’s journey pre-madness. Revealing their childhood exploits to their success from their breakthrough single ‘My Girl,’ the series is set to give an insight into the ska pop hit band and how they came to be. Recently speaking on the upcoming series, frontman Suggs said: “You’re always looking at what’s coming next and occasionally you wallow,” He continues: “If I’m downstairs watching old Madness videos it’s worse than being caught watching porn as far as my family are concerned. So it’s nice to wallow in it a bit, and actually be paid to wallow in it, it was great. There were so many different perspectives and a lot of stuff came out that even I didn’t think about… We thought it’d be better if it was like that thing where everybody’s been to a party and everybody’s got a completely different story the following day of exactly what happened.”

The seven-man band self-funded an autobiographical film in 1981 called ‘Take It Or Leave It.’ An early nod to reality to TV, the series saw the Madness men play themselves in a scripted comedic docudrama. The film tracks the band’s progression from their beginnings in Camden Town, London, in 1976 to the present (1981), where the members take to the stage of a sold-out arena. 

Madness are hailed as one of the biggest bands of ’80s Britain, bagging 15 top 10 singles across just three years. The band drifted towards the end of the 1980s, but their near-split paved the way for a successful reunion tour in 1992, with the original line-up playing together once again. Most recently, Madness have announced they will be performing at the London Palladium via a livestream. In a statement accompanying the announcement of their livestream performance, the group wrote: “Lets face it, entertaining is the only thing we’re any good at… so we got together with Charlie Higson (from The Fast Show) and concocted a show featuring live music, new and classic Madness songs, comedy, some incredibly special guests and even Mike Barson playing the part of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. We’re calling it “The Get Up!” we’re filming it at London’s Palladium and we’re beaming this Global Livestream into your Gogglebox of choice on 14th May 2021.”

‘Before We Was We’ premiers tomorrow night (1 May 2021) at 9 pm on BT TV and AMC. The first episode will be free to watch via BT’s YouTube channel.