Worth getting (back) into bed with the House of Mouse for

I've only seen part one of Peter Jackson's Beatles doc Get Back, but even that is enough for me to be able to tell you, it's astonishing.

The premise? In January 1969, The Beatles holed up in a film studio in Twickenham for two weeks to write and record a new album, whilst a film crew captured the entire process. Amazing, and not least because, despite the obvious time pressure, they only worked Monday to Friday - clearly work-life balance was important to them. They started with no songs, gave themselves a fortnight and, on top of that, they planned their first live show for more than two years for the end of the session.

Of course, the wheels came off at times. Much was made of how the original film Let It Be portrayed a dissolving Beatles, full of mutual resentment and animosity, and that's no surprise really - they'd lived, under extreme pressure, in each other's pockets for the best part of a decade, but were no longer four lads putting in a shift on the Reeperbahn, they were the four biggest stars in the world, with wives and lives and interests of their own. You'd be worried if there weren't some tensions, wouldn't you? All of this culminates in a brilliant cliffhanger at the end of part one, when George quits the band; "See you round the clubs," he says, and walks out. The remaining members respond initially by trying to joke it off (John talks of how they will split George's guitars) and how they might continue (John, again, says "We'll get Clapton") but, as the remaining band members and their crew discuss options for the proposed live show, it takes producer George Martin to point out that the show is the least of their problems at the moment, i.e. without George. There's a poignant shot of the page from George's diary that reads something like "Got up. Went to Twickenham, rehearsed until lunchtime - left The Beatles - went home." And there's an even more poignant shot of the three remaining Beatles having a brief group hug at the end of that Friday, as the enormity of how things are derailing hits them - all the more poignant, in fact, because it's not an over-the-top, mindful-of-who's-watching, 21st Century showbiz hug, but a gentle, slow, clustering together. Anyway... the episode concludes with a still of Ringo's house, and a caption telling us that the four, plus Yoko and Linda, met there the following weekend, and that the meeting "did not go well".

Well, spoiler alert, obviously George returned to the fold and things proceeded. But even though I know the basics of what happened next, I can't wait for part two to see how the atmosphere was the next Monday morning in the studio...

It's too much to write a long review pulling out everything that was interesting - as I say, I've only watched (all 157 minutes of) part one thus far, and even that needs describing in minute detail to do it all justice. So instead, I'll just bulletpoint some general observations, in no particular, thus:

• Even though Paul and John are writing songs separately by this point, they are still very much a team, bouncing ideas of each other. Even George Martin refers to them as "our team"...
• ...so it's no surprise that George finds it hard to get his songs heard. He demos All Things Must Pass and I Me Mine to his bandmates, and they are ... whelmed, at best.
• This seems to lead into a repeated theme of George's that he is undervalued. At one point, he says to others, "You need Eric Clapton," to which John replies, quick as a flash, "You need George Harrison."
• At the start of the process, the band seem almost surprised at the film crew, and are visibly shocked to learn that their conversations are being recorded. A 2021 band would be shocked if they weren't, wouldn't they?
• John was last to arrive most days, and had Yoko in tow most (but not all) of the time too. One Monday morning, Ringo is last to arrive, and looks a little the worse for wear, like he has had a heavy weekend. We've all been there, right?
• Linda pops up one day, camera in hand, snapping the band. The film crew capture her and Yoko having a right old chinwag - I'm wondering whether any lip-readers have decoded their conversation yet?
• Ringo says very little, but just gets his head down and does what the others ask of him.
• Everyone smokes ... a lot. And whilst there was alcohol on the set, it was limited to the odd glass of wine and a couple of bottled beers. The most visible drink, by far, is cups of tea.
• Paul seems most focused, most driven, and to have more of an idea of what the band should be aiming for in their limited time. Although a positive, this is also a cause of some of the tension, as others (notably George), don't necessarily have the same vision... but don't really have viable alternatives to put forward either.
• There's one scene when, seemingly for fun, Yoko gets behind the mic for a song apparently entitled John. That's when you want to put the kettle on, if I'm honest.
• The band just sit in a tight circle, on wooden chairs, face to face, and create... and it's astonishing. You get to watch as Paul conjures first the riff, then some fledgling words, for Get Back out of the ether. Then he and George bounce it around. Later, we see Paul, George and Ringo working through a more developed version of the song. John arrives from somewhere, picks up his guitar and seamlessly joins in. Here's a band who are still tight, even though they haven't played live together for the longest time - they are still in-tune with each other musically, even if mentally they are starting to go their separate ways.

I could go on and on and on, I really could. I'm not a Beatles obsessive, far from it, but I'm finding this absolutely compelling. And the digital restoration, well - it looks like it could have been filmed yesterday. We have never seen The Beatles like this.

I took out a one month subscription of Disney+ to be able to watch this, and you should too because it really is that good. Yes, it'll cost you eight quid, but that's cheaper than a cinema ticket, right? Just don't forget to cancel again in a month's time, okay? In the meantime, to whet your appetite further, here's the trailer and an extra little clip.

P.S. Don't forget, you can get your "Bassman" t-shirt, inspired by the sticker on Paul's bass throughout Get Back, right here.