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Filming for BBC's new Beatles drama Hamburg Days has finally begun as the cast were seen on set in Liverpool city centre for the first time on Sunday.
Hamburg Days will show the band's early years, when they included bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best in their line-up.
Rising stars Patrick Gilmore, Harvey Brett, Rhys Mannion, Louis Landau and Ellis Murphy step into the shoes of Pete, George Harrison, John Lennon, Stuart and Paul McCartney.
Ryan Sampson will also feature as the late Allan Williams, the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles.
The six-part series will tell the story of the band's early days in Germany and follow their transformation from a group of Liverpool teenagers into the world's biggest band.
The band started playing together in Liverpool and Hamburg in 1960, where Pete served as the main drummer.
Filming for BBC's new Beatles drama Hamburg Days has begun as the cast were seen on set in Liverpool city centre: Patrick Gilmore (Pete Best), Harvey Brett (George Harrison), Rhys Mannion (John Lennon), Louis Landau (Stuart Sutcliffe) and Ellis Murphy (Paul McCartney) L-R
John, George, Pete, Paul, Stuart's first performance as The Beatles in 1960
John, Paul and George asked Pete to leave in 1962 due to concerns over his drumming and fit with the group and soon went on to recruit Ringo Starr.
Ringo's arrival finalised the iconic, definitive lineup that achieved worldwide fame during Beatlemania.
The series has been inspired by the memoirs of Klaus Voormann, who met the band in Hamburg as a young artist and went on to design the cover of their Revolver album in 1966 before later appearing on John, Ringo and George's solo albums.
Producers said the series would show the band – which at the time included bassist Stuart and Pete – meeting Voormann and photographer Astrid Kirchherr.
The drama has been scripted by Wirral-born Jamie Carragher – one of the writers behind the Home Box Office comedy-drama Succession.
The series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with a release date yet to be announced.
As filming begins for the BBC series, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn and Harris Dickinson have been busy shooting Sam Mendes' hotly anticipated film.
Entitled The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event, the project was announced last year.
The movies will each take the perspective of one member of The Beatles as they evolve from unknowns in Liverpool in the early 1960s to becoming the biggest band in the world and then breaking up in 1970.
Hamburg Days will show the band's early years, when they included bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best in their line-up
Ryan Sampson will also feature as the late Allan Williams, the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles
The six-part series will tell the story of the band's early days in Germany and follow their transformation from a group of Liverpool teenagers into the world's biggest band
The band started playing together in Liverpool and Hamburg in 1960, where Pete served as the main drummer
John, Paul, and George asked Pete to leave in 1962 due to concerns over his drumming and fit with the group and soon went on to recruit Ringo Starr
Darci Shaw (R) plays Cynthia Lennon in the upcoming BBC drama series Hamburg Days
Cynthia was the first wife of John Lennon (L) and experienced the early rise of The Beatles firsthand
Lea Drinda (L) plays the German photographer and artist Astrid Kirchherr
Rhys got into character as John during filming
The series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with a release date yet to be announced
It's the first time that surviving Beatles Paul and Ringo, and the families of the late John and George, have given the rights to feature films about them.
Sam's project described as the first 'bingeable theatrical experience' also stars Aimee Lou Wood, 32, as George's model wife Pattie Boyd, Anna Sawai, 34, as Yoko Ono and James Norton, 41, as the band's manager, Brian Epstein.
Mia McKenna-Bruce, 29, will appear as Ringo's first wife, Maureen Starkey, while Harry Lloyd, 42, plays George Martin, the producer who became known as the 'fifth Beatle'.
In the ambitious four-film anthology, each instalment will tell the story of The Beatles from a different band member's perspective.
All four films are due to be released simultaneously in 2028.
English (US) ·