Category: Television Page 1 of 4

Following the release last week of ABBA‘s first new studio album in 40 years, Voyage, BBC2 in the UK will be airing an evening of ABBA-themed programmes from 8pm on Saturday 13th November. At 11pm they will screen the 1979 TV special ABBA in Switzerland, which famously features Benny and Björn introducing Kate’s unforgettable performance of Wow, which sent the British popular press into a frenzy at the time. Warm congratulations to Anni-Frid, Agnetha, Benny and Björn on their wonderful new album and enduring success.

UK viewers can watch the classic 1979 Kate Bush Christmas TV special just after midnight on Dec 23rd on BBC4 – lovely way to welcome Christmas Eve. Programme information is here. 

From the Kate Bush Encyclopedia site:

‘Kate’ is the official name of a Christmas special that was broadcast on BBC television (UK) on 28 December 1979. It was recorded in October 1979 at the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, England with choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Part of the show – the sequence for The Wedding List – had been recorded at South London’s Nunhead cemetery, a 19th-century Gothic cemetery with lots of imposing monuments to eminent citizens of that time. The special was a mixture of pre-filmed sequences, dramatic in-studio set-pieces and a handful of straight performances behind the piano.

The special consists of the following songs:

1. Violin
2. Gymnopédie No. 1
3. Symphony In Blue
4. Them Heavy People
5. The Angel Gabriel (with Paddy Bush and Glenys Groves)
6. Here Comes The Flood (Peter Gabriel)
7. Ran Tan Waltz
8. December Will Be Magic Again
9. The Wedding List
10. Another Day (with Peter Gabriel)
11. Egypt
12. The Man With The Child In His Eyes
13. Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake

Here’s a clip from a French TV documentary about Kate, directed by Claire Laborey, that is due to air on 13th September at 21.30 on the ARTE channel in France.

Entitled “Kate Bush, la sorcière du son” (which translates as “sorceress of sound”), the 55-minute documentary gets its first showing on Friday, September 13th on ARTE at 21:30. From the press release (roughly translated!):

“Composed of a host of archives and interviews – including musicians who have worked with her – this portrait, without dissipating the halo of mystery that surrounds Kate, allows to discover many facets, and explores the immense musical talent of the one who is nicknamed the sorceress of sound” More at the ARTE site here. The documentary will be available to view online on the ARTE site from Sept 6th.

Kate’s ‘This Woman’s Work‘ was used as part of the soundtrack in the Season Two opening episode of The Handmaid’s Tale on US television. Spoiler Alert for fans of that show in this article ‘The Unerring Power of ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Jen Chaney from The Vulture here.

A new documentary about Kate’s career, called “The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill” will air on the BBC 4 TV channel on Friday 22nd August at 9.10pm – days before her return to the live stage on August 26th.

The documentary will explore Kate’s career and music from January 1978’s Wuthering Heights to her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow through the testimony of some of her key collaborators and those she has inspired. Contributors include those who have worked closely with Kate; Del Palmer, David Gilmour, Lindsay Kemp, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Stephen Fry and Nigel Kennedy.

Also exploring their abiding fascination with Kate are some of the musicians who have been influenced by her (St Vincent’s Annie Clark, Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes, Tori Amos, Outkast’s Big Boi, Guy Garvey and Tricky) and some writers and comedians who admire her (Jo Brand, Steve Coogan and Neil Gaiman).

It will be immediately followed at 10.10pm by a compilation of “Kate Bush at the BBC“. Both programmes will be repeated later that same night from 12.40am to 2.40am.

From the press release: “BBC Four continues its rich tradition of in-depth, original music documentaries featuring world class talent with single documentaries about Kate Bush, Northern Soul, and The Joy of the Guitar Riff…Kate Bush has always danced to her own tune and we love her for it…(the documentary) explores what makes this singer-songwriter unique through the recollections of her colleagues and friends as well as those she has influenced down the years.”

[Kate performs Rocket Man at the BBC – screenshots by www.katebush.pl]

Following one contestant chosing Wuthering Heights as her blind audition song, and the re-entry of Kate’s original version of that track into the Australian Top 40, another contestant in ‘The Voice Australia’, Russian born  Viktoria Bolonia appeared on the show performing Babooshka, and also got through, and is now on Delta Goodrem’s team.

In 1980 Babooshka was a no.1 single in Australia so we await next week’s chart with interest.