The Beatles and their 'winter of discontent' in the borough wins fans around world in new landmark documentary

By Rory Poulter 3rd Dec 2021

Twickenham Film Studios takes a starring role in the new Beatles documentary, Get Back, from director Peter Jackson.

John, Paul, George and Ringo created many of the iconic songs for their last album at the studios, including Get Back, Let it Be, Long and Winding Road and Dear Prudence.

The hurried making of Get Back was filmed at the time by documentary maker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, however much of the many hours of footage was then buried.

This footage captures the sometimes explosive relationship between the Fab Four, who were – by this stage - constantly teetering on the edge of a break-up.

The filming at Twickenham is a major element of the new three-part series for the Disney+ streaming channel from the director of Lord of the Rings.

Most notably it captures the day in January 1969 when George Harrison appeared to walk-out on the band for good.

According to The Beatles Bible, just as Ringo Starr had temporarily quit The Beatles in August 1968, George walked out, unable to tolerate the tensions within the group for any longer.

It says: "The Beatles were at Twickenham Film Studios, where their rehearsals were being captured on camera.

"The day began with Paul McCartney working alone at a piano, playing through a number of songs that the group had been working on during the previous week.

"These included solo versions of 'I've Got A Feeling' and 'Get Back', which were usually performed with guitars.

"Following several attempts at working 'Get Back' into shape, The Beatles moved onto 'Two Of Us'. After breaking for lunch, however, George Harrison walked out of the studio."

He left with more of a whimper than a bang, saying simply: "See you 'round the clubs."

However, true to character, a furious John Lennon immediately hit back, saying: "Let's get in Eric [Clapton]. He's just as good and not such a headache."

George later described the episode as a 'winter of discontent in Twickenham'. Speaking to an anthology product, he said: "They were filming us having a row. It never came to blows, but I thought, 'What's the point of this? I'm quite capable of being relatively happy on my own and I'm not able to be happy in this situation. I'm getting out of here."

He added: "Everybody had gone through that. Ringo had left at one point. I know John wanted out. It was a very, very difficult, stressful time, and being filmed having a row as well was terrible.

"I got up and I thought, 'I'm not doing this anymore. I'm out of here.' So I got my guitar and went home and that afternoon wrote 'Wah-Wah'."

In fact, The Beatles had a very long and mostly happy association with Twickenham Film Studios.

According to this website, the band returned from a triumphant US tour in March 1964 to film much of A Hard Day's Night there.

With Beatlemania in full, screaming frenzy, fans stormed the gates, broke into the studios and hid out in workshops.

Ringo filmed a scene at The Turk's Head pub. For the 'Can't Buy Me Love' section, all four Beatles ran around Thornbury Playing Fields in nearby Isleworth.

On April 14, 1965, they completed filming at Ailsa Avenue, west of St Margaret's Road, where they were seen arriving in a black Rolls-Royce and entering four terraced houses.

  • The Beatles: Get Back – Disney+

     

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