W&B Television and Turbine Studios are producing HAMBURG DAYS, a high-quality drama series about the early band years of the world-famous Beatles and their friendship with a young German artist group around Klaus Voormann for AGC Television, ZDF and the BBC. Producers are Benjamin Benedict, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann from W&B Television, Andrew Eaton and Justin Thomson from Turbine Studios, as well as Stuart Ford, Lourdes Diaz and Miguel A. Palos Jr. Executive Producer is Isabel Haug from W&B Television. At ZDF, Frank Zervos, Caroline von Senden and Alexandra Staib are responsible for the project. The BBC has acquired the series for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The series production is currently supported by MOIN Film Funding Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein.
The idea for the six-part series, set in Hamburg and Liverpool, comes from Benjamin Benedict ("Generation War"), with scripts by head writer Jamie Carragher ("Succession"). Christian Schwochow ("The Crown") will serve as showrunner for HAMBURG DAYS, and Mat Whitecross ("Oasis: Supersonic") will direct. The renowned producer and BAFTA award winner David Holmes ("Killing Eve", "Ocean's" series) will provide the musical design. Casting in the UK has already begun.
Benjamin Benedict, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann: "HAMBURG DAYS is not just a series about the cradle of pop culture, the transformative power of art and a German-British friendship that made international history. It also combines everything that makes great serial storytelling: a universal coming-of-age story about love, friendship, failure and triumph. At the same time, it's the origin story of the most influential band in music history – a timelessly relevant subject that is perfectly suited to episodic storytelling. This story deserves to be told with the appropriate cinematic power and international reach it merits; in its very conception, it carries the potential for worldwide attention. We are extremely pleased to be working with such outstanding creatives on this series project and to bring it to fruition together with our wonderful partners at Turbine, AGC, ZDF and the BBC, as well as with the support of MOIN Film Funding."
The series is based on the autobiography "Warum spielst du Imagine nicht auf dem weißen Klavier, John?" (Why Don't You Play Imagine on the White Piano, John?): Memories of the Beatles and Many Other Friends by Klaus Voormann, who is also serving as exclusive consultant: "I was born in Berlin, but my heart belongs to Hamburg. Both my work as a bassist and my graphic career – both have their origins in this city. And so it deeply moves me that in a series with appropriate narrative space, my exciting and formative Hamburg Days and those of my friends are being brought back to life."
HAMBURG DAYS is set in the early 1960s: nightlife pulses in St. Pauli and the smoky bars in the Kiez magically attract sailors, artists and petty criminals alike. In the clubs of the infamous red-light district, a new music scene is developing at this time, and many a band dreams of their big break here. The young artist couple Klaus and Astrid also immerse themselves in this fascinating world that is still unknown to them. When they encounter a chaotic band from Liverpool one evening and become friends with the musicians, none of them yet suspects that they will soon together set in motion the stone that will turn this unknown bar band into the greatest music phenomenon of all time: the Beatles.
Christian Schwochow is one of Germany's most renowned directors. He has celebrated great success with his involvement in the Netflix production "The Crown," one of the most award-winning series of recent years, the Netflix film "Munich: The Edge of War" (Turbine Studios), the acclaimed series "Bad Banks," the TV film "Bornholmer Straße," and the multi-award-winning film "Mitten in Deutschland: NSU" (W&B Television). He recently completed filming the Apple TV series "The Dispatcher" (60Forty Films) as Executive Producer and Director.
Mat Whitecross began his career as an editor working with Michael Winterbottom and later moved into directing. He has garnered attention with his music documentaries, biopics, fictional works and limited series including "This England" about the Boris Johnson government during the 2020 pandemic, as well as "Spike Island," a feature film about five young friends in 1990s Manchester who do everything to get to a concert by their favorite band. Mat Whitecross is well known in the music world for his collaborations with Coldplay ("Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams") and Oasis ("Oasis: Supersonic") and has been honored with the Silver Bear for the documentary "The Road to Guantánamo."
AGC International is handling international distribution of the series project HAMBURG DAYS, excluding the United Kingdom (BBC) and Germany (ZDF).
