Never-before-seen Beatles footage unearthed

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The Arena Hotel is an online project for The Space, the new digital arts service developed by the Arts Council in partnership with the BBC. In association with Apple Films, Arena has been granted unique access to some unseen footage of The Beatles during the making of a documentary about their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour and is showing it exclusively at The Arena Hotel at The Space.

Arena Editor, Anthony Wall says, “Few people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the chip shop has never been shown anywhere. It captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time. They’re happily sharing a simple meal with the other passengers on the coach as the astonished residents of Taunton gather outside and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck nation.”

Magical Mystery Tour was first broadcast as the centrepiece of the BBC’s Boxing Day schedule in 1967. Aside from a muted appearance on BBC Two in 1979, it has not been shown since. And this Saturday 6 October at 21.45 on BBC Two, Arena: The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour Revisited presents a new documentary which reassesses the artistic merit and cultural significance of the film before treating viewers to the digitally remastered full length Magical Mystery Tour – for the first time in 33 years.