A brand new docuseries ‘Before We Was We,’ detailing the journey of Madness, to air this weekend.
The docuseries, which was announced in March, will be available on-demand on BT TV and AMC. Writing about the series release on Instagram, the iconic British pop band wrote: “Before We Was We: Madness By Madness”, Episode 1 showing this Saturday 1st of May at 9 pm on @amctvuk via BT TV, on BT Player, and at 10 pm on BT’s YouTube channel.” The post features a video of Madness front man Suggs in front of a Leicester Square cinema. Dressed in a maroon trench coat and a pale yellow suit, he says ‘tickets this way’ and gestures towards a caravan-come-cinema named ‘Cinemadness.’
The three-part documentary series, directed by long-time fans Bill Jones and Ben Timlett, focuses on the band member’s journey pre-madness. Revealing their childhood exploits to their success from their breakthrough single ‘My Girl,’ the series is set to give an insight into the ska pop hit band and how they came to be. Recently speaking on the upcoming series, frontman Suggs said: “You’re always looking at what’s coming next and occasionally you wallow,” He continues: “If I’m downstairs watching old Madness videos it’s worse than being caught watching porn as far as my family are concerned. So it’s nice to wallow in it a bit, and actually be paid to wallow in it, it was great. There were so many different perspectives and a lot of stuff came out that even I didn’t think about… We thought it’d be better if it was like that thing where everybody’s been to a party and everybody’s got a completely different story the following day of exactly what happened.”
The seven-man band self-funded an autobiographical film in 1981 called ‘Take It Or Leave It.’ An early nod to reality to TV, the series saw the Madness men play themselves in a scripted comedic docudrama. The film tracks the band’s progression from their beginnings in Camden Town, London, in 1976 to the present (1981), where the members take to the stage of a sold-out arena.
Madness are hailed as one of the biggest bands of ’80s Britain, bagging 15 top 10 singles across just three years. The band drifted towards the end of the 1980s, but their near-split paved the way for a successful reunion tour in 1992, with the original line-up playing together once again. Most recently, Madness have announced they will be performing at the London Palladium via a livestream. In a statement accompanying the announcement of their livestream performance, the group wrote: “Lets face it, entertaining is the only thing we’re any good at… so we got together with Charlie Higson (from The Fast Show) and concocted a show featuring live music, new and classic Madness songs, comedy, some incredibly special guests and even Mike Barson playing the part of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. We’re calling it “The Get Up!” we’re filming it at London’s Palladium and we’re beaming this Global Livestream into your Gogglebox of choice on 14th May 2021.”
‘Before We Was We’ premiers tomorrow night (1 May 2021) at 9 pm on BT TV and AMC. The first episode will be free to watch via BT’s YouTube channel.
