Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? 40th anniversary documentary announced

BBC Music and BBC Radio 2 will celebrate 40 years of Band Aid's iconic Christmas Number 1 single Do They Know It's Christmas? later this month.

Marking four decades of the festive classic, 75-minute film The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas? will include footage never previously broadcast from the track's recording session on November 25 1984; which saw the likes of U2's Bono, Bananarama, WHAM!'s George Michael and so many more form the now-infamous Band Aid supergroup.

The song was recorded in one day at SARM Studios, Notting Hill, filmed by director Nigel Dick. While some of the footage was used for the song's music video, much of what Nigel recorded has remained unseen for 40 years - until now.

MORE: When will the Official Christmas Number 1 2024 be announced?

What's more, on BBC Radio 2, Zoe Ball will present Do They Know It’s Christmas?: The Song That Changed The World from 12-1am, Sunday December 1, available on BBC Sounds from Monday November 25. This one-hour documentary will tell the story of one of the world’s most successful charity records ever.

Sir Bob Geldof, Band Aid Trust says:

"That Sunday morning when a bunch of young spotty English pop stars who were (more or less) just out of school and had taken over the pop culture of the world, ambled up a Ladbroke Grove street in London to make a song their friends had written for the starving people of Ethiopia, they could never have understood the enormous consequences of that day. It was, if not exactly the ‘shot that rang around the world’, it certainly became, however unwittingly, ‘the shout that rang around the world’, culminating 20 years later in all its unlikely majesty in ultimately forcing the global political process to bend to its focused will at the Gleneagles G8 summit of 2005 and after the Live8 concerts.

"This, then, is the ‘fly on the wall’ story of that day from found footage that no-one had thought to look for before, but is now an integral part of British pop history. I love it because it is so… English. So guileless, so charming and yes so innocent.”

Sir Bob adds: "These rock stars piling into the control room, babies under arm - it was a Sunday, family day, chipping in, laughing, shouting suggestions, taking the p*ss, funny, having fun making history, on top of the world. And boy can they sing. Compare and contrast with the American follow up and it's hyper-sophisticated, hyper super-talent, hyper-organised and professional and our lot, basically a bunch of bouffanted oiks giving it large and being quite brilliant.

"What wonderful people they were. And largely still are. Great film. The Maysles Bros would be proud."

When will The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas? air on BBC Four?

The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas will air on BBC Four in late November, though the exact date is yet to be confirmed.

When will the 2024 Official Christmas Number 1 single be announced?

The 2024 Official Christmas Number 1 will be announced on Friday, December 20. The full Christmas Top 40 will be counted down on BBC Radio 1's The Official Chart with Jack Saunders from 4pm GMT.

The full Top 100 Official Christmas Singles Chart and Official Christmas Albums Chart will be published on OfficialCharts.com from 5.45pm GMT on Friday, December 20.

You can stay up to date with all the latest Christmas Number 1 news here on Official Charts.

Images: Getty.