Queen TV Programmes
All of the programmes on this page were produced specifically for television broadcast in the UK, and focus exclusively on Queen or Freddie.
All shows were broadcast on the main terrestrial or digital channels available in central England. This lists all of the programmes that I know to have been broadcast since about March 1999; undoubtedly there will have been specific programmes produced and broadcast before this, and I could well have missed other programmes broadcast since then.
100% Queen (13 March 2000)
Don't Stop Me Now (4 December 1999)
Freddie's Loves (2004)
Freddie Mercury Saved My Life with Alfie Boe (18 May 2014)
Freddie Mercury: Who Wants To Live Forever (20 November 2016)
Queen Jukebox (7 - 13 March 2000)
Queen Mania (9 April 2005)
Queen Mania - The Show Must Go On (9 April 2005)
The Nation's Favourite Queen Song (11 November 2014)
When Freddie Mercury Met Kenny Everett (1 June 2002)
Freddie Mercury - A Kind Of Magic (12 September 2006) and Freddie Mercury - Magic Remixed (15 September 2006)
Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (16 October 2012)
Freddie Mercury - The Untold Story (8 December 2000)
Freddie's Millions (AKA Mercury's Millions) (2004)
In The Lap Of The Gods (The Queen Phenomenon) (13 March 2000)
Is This The Real Life? (4 December 1999)
Killer Queen (1 June 2002)
Queen: Rock The World (3 November 2017)
Rags To Rhapsody (18 December 2015)
The Making Of 'A Night At The Opera' (18 December 2005)
The Story Of Bohemian Rhapsody (4 December 2004)
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Documentary (2002)
100% Queen
First broadcast on 13th March 2000 on Channel 5 as part of 'Queen For A Day'.
Length 25 minutes.
'100%' was a quiz which was broadcast daily on Channel 5 from 1997 to 2001, and featured 100 multiple-choice general knowledge questions. They also produced a Queen special, where 3 fans answered questions all based on Queen. The programme features a mix of normal questions, and some based on photographs, audio clips and video clips.
The questions can be found in the Quiz section.
Don't Stop Me Now
First broadcast on 4th December 1999 on Channel 4 as part of 'Queen For A Night'.
Length 57 minutes.
Directed by Ben Fuller
Produced by Simon Broadley
Executive producer: Bob Massie
This is a new programme, where celebrities talk about their favourite Queen tracks and videos, with clips of each, including: - Opening Titles - 'Don't Stop Me Now', with footage from many different promo videos
- I Want To Break Free
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
- Play The Game
- A Kind Of Magic
- Radio Ga Ga
- Who Wants To Live Forever
- It's A Hard Life
- Princes Of The Universe
- I'm Going Slightly Mad
- We Are The Champions
- These Are The Days Of Our Lives
- Bohemian Rhapsody
The celebrities interviewed are:
- Comedians Harry Hill, Richard Blackwood, Peter Kay, Bill Bailey, John Shuttleworth and Lee Evans
- Singers Boy George, Ronan Keating, Elton John, Cliff Richard and Holly Johnson
- Groups Westlife, Five and Eternal
- TV Presenters Rolf Harris, Kate Thornton, Jayne Middlemiss, Ian Wright and Matthew Kelly
- And Jim Jenkins (Queen expert), Wayne Hemmingway (fashion designer), Richard O'Brien (TV Presenter & 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' creator), Cleo Rocos (former co-star of 'The Kenny Everett Show'), Michael Starke ('Brookside' actor), and Jake & Dinos Chapman (conceptual artists).
Freddie's Loves
First broadcast in 2004, and later shown on 28 August 2006, on Channel 5.
This programme, as the title suggests, looks at Freddie's love life. It features interviews with his longterm boyfriend Jim Hutton, photographer Mick Rock, former promoter Eric Hall, former manager Ken Tetsi, costume designer Wendy Edmonds, Freddie's friends David Evans, David Wigg, Peter Straker and Wayne Sleep, assistant Peter Freestone, Barbara Valentin's daughter and friend, former schoolfriend Josephine Marston, a member of the Village People, and a long list of Freddie's alleged lovers.
The programme features excerpts from several different tracks and videos, some unseen footage from the Hammersmith Odeon show, and some home video footage of Freddie. However, rather than feature Freddie's music it includes music by numerous other artists, including Elton John and The Scissor Sisters.
Altogether, this is another bad TV programme invading the private life of Freddie, which he obviously did not want to become public knowledge, something which many contributors to the programme seem to have conveniently forgotten. The only redeeming feature of the programme is the title, which lets you know exactly what it will be about, rather than the numerous other programmes which have been made which feature similar content under the guise of it being a serious look at his life and music.
Freddie Mercury Saved My Life with Alfie Boe
First broadcast on 18th May 2014 at 10:00pm on ITV1. Length 49 minutes.
This programme features opera singer Alfie Boe drawing parallels between his career and Freddie's. It covers Freddie's childhood, moving to England, the early days of Queen, 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Live Aid, 'Barcelona', his illness and last days, and features interviews with Brian May, Freddie's mum Jer Bulsara, sister Kashmira Cooke, Bob Geldof, Rick Wakeman, Montserrat Caballe, Zandra Rhodes, Peter Hince, Mike Moran, Peter Freestone, David Evans, Bruce Murray (a bandmate of Freddie's in 'The Hectics') and his college friends.
The programme features previously unseen footage of Freddie at college, rare photographs, footage of Lake Geneva, Freddie's statue, and the Queen Studio Experience, and also features brief clips of Brian performing 'Keep Yourself Alive' and 'Stone Cold Crazy' on acoustic guitar, and Alfie singing 'Barcelona' and 'Mother Love'.
Freddie Mercury: Who Wants To Live Forever
First broadcast on 20 November 2016 at 9pm on Channel 5.
Length 94 minutes.
Freddie Mercury portrayed by John Blunt
Narrated by Richard Allinson
Written and directed by John Fothergill
Executive producers Ed Taylor and Michael Kelpie
This documentary features various interviews alongside dramatisations, telling the story of Freddie's personal life, focusing on the years from 'Live Aid' to his death. As with many of the documentaries of this kind, it relies on a great deal of speculation and was publicly condemned by Brian.
It features interviews with Peter Hince (former roadie), Peter Straker (friend), Harvey Goldsmith (promoter), David Wigg (journalist), Paul Gambuccini (journalist), Reinhold Mack (producer), Mike Moran (producer), Terry Giddings (bodyguard and chauffeur), Brian Southall (head of press, EMI), Richard Young (photographer), Lesley Ann-Jones (biographer) and Dr Graeme Moyle (Freddie's HIV doctor). It includes some footage of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from Live Aid, the 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'Play The Game' and 'The Great Pretender' promo videos, backstage footage of the 'Living On My Own', 'I Want It All' and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' videos, the 'One Vision' recording sessions, and the 'Barcelona' performance at the La Nit festival.
The programme was broadcast from 9pm to 11pm, with six advert breaks lasting four minutes each.
Queen Jukebox
First broadcast on 13th March 2000 on Channel 5 as part of 'Queen For A Day'.
Length 24 minutes.
The aim of this programme was to produce a list of the nations favourite Queen tracks. Over five days from 7-11 March 2000, clips of thirty tracks were shown, with viewers phoning in to vote for their favourites.
The tracks that could be voted for were: - All songs on 'Greatest Hits I', except 'Now I'm Here', 'Good Old Fashioned Loverboy' and 'Save Me'
- All songs on 'Greatest Hits II', except 'Hammer To Fall', 'Who Wants To Live Forever', 'The Miracle' and 'The Show Must Go On'
- And, in addition, 'Heaven For Everyone', 'Let Me Live' and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives'
The programmes were narrated by Radio One DJ Mark Goodyear, and the resulting programme contained the top ten songs, with a segment of each promo video being played. The results were:
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- These Are The Days Of Our Lives
- We Are The Champions
- A Kind Of Magic
- I Want To Break Free
- We Will Rock You
- Somebody To Love
- One Vision
- Radio Ga Ga
- Breakthru'
Queen Mania
First broadcast on 9 April 2005 on ITV1.
Length 59 minutes.
Directed by Stuart McDonald
Produced by Andrew Llinares
Executive producer: Jeff Thacker
This programme saw a number of acts performing Queen tracks (and one solo track). It was presented by Zoe Ball, and contained unforgettable performances (for all the wrong reasons) of: - 'One Vision' by Mel C
- 'Barcelona' by Lesley Garrett and G4
- 'Somebody To Love' by Heather Small
- 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Toyah Willcox
- 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' by Myleene Klass
- 'Who Wants To Live Forever' by Russell Watson
- 'You're My Best Friend' by Tony Christie
- 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by G4
It also included a 'hilarious' version of 'I Want To Break Free' (their words, not mine) by four members of Coronation Street, and interviews with the various performers, intercut with some clips from promo videos and live footage.
Queen Mania - The Show Must Go On
First broadcast on 9 April 2005 on ITV2.
Length unknown, but at least 60 minutes.
Producer and director Esther Dere
Produced by Andrew Llinares
This programme basically featured the performers from the above programme, and other celebrities, talking about Queen, and generally showing how little they knew about the band, intercut with some footage from live shows or promo videos. The celebrities were too numerous and too insignificant to list, but mainly included presenters and soap stars. None of the people asked could name all of the members of the group, showing what great fans they really are. There are plenty of well known Queen fans from the worlds of music and comedy, so why they chose these I don't know (although I suspect they were much cheaper and had more time on their hands).
The Nation's Favourite Queen Song
First broadcast on 11 November 2014 on ITV1 at 9:00pm.
Length 89 minutes (with four advert breaks).
Produced and directed by John Piper
This programme, narrated by comedian Matt Lucas, revealed the top 20 Queen songs as picked by a panel of ITV1 viewers. As well as talking about each track, the programme featured segments about Queen's origins, history, influence, fashion, and Freddie's illness. It features archive interviews with Freddie and John, and new interviews with Brian, Roger, collaborators Spike Edney and Fred Mandel, producer Mack, video directors David Mallet and Bruce Gowers, assistant Peter Freestone, roadie Peter Hince, musicians Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Noddy Holder (Slade), Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet), Mel C (Spice Girls), Tom Fletcher (Mcfly) and Katy Perry, comedian Al Murray, DJ's Bob Harris, Johnnie Walker and Trevor Nelson, designers Zandra Rhodes and Wayne Hemmingway, composer David Arnold, choreographer Arlene Phillips, Kenny Everett's agent Jo Gurnett, and some fan extras from the 'Radio Ga Ga' video.
As well as the usual combination of promo videos and live performances, it also features backstage footage from Houston 1977, the 'Radio Ga Ga' and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' videos, the studio recording of 'We Are The Champions' and an unreleased live performance of 'Bicycle Race' from 1978.
The top 20 was as follows:
20. I Want It All
19. It's A Hard Life
18. One Vision
17. You're My Best Friend
16. Seven Seas Of Rhye
15. The Show Must Go On
14. Another One Bites The Dust
13. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
12. A Kind Of Magic
11. Who Wants To Live Forever
10. Somebody To Love
9. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
8. Radio Ga Ga
7. Under Pressure
6. Killer Queen
5. We Are The Champions
4. I Want To Break Free
3. Don't Stop Me Now
2. We Will Rock You
1. Bohemian Rhapsody
When Freddie Mercury Met Kenny Everett
First broadcast on 1st June 2002 on Channel 4 as part of 'Queen Night'.
Length 60 minutes.
Directed by Nichola Black
Produced by Paul Gallagher
A documentary focusing on the friendship between Freddie and radio DJ Kenny Everett, featuring some audio and video footage of Queen. The programme also features interviews with Mary Austin, Peter Freestone, Jim Hutton, Paul Gambuccini, and Kenny's former wife Lee. The programme was described as 'a fascinating insight' into their friendship, but unsurprisingly is yet another massive invasion of their privacy.