The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas? review – spine-tingling scenes alongside camp and chaos

Most years, no festive singles enter the canon of Christmas classics. But in 1984, there were two. And while we celebrated 40 years of Last Christmas on the cover of this year’s first Big Issue Christmas magazine, a new BBC film charts the day that year’s Christmas number one, Do They Know It’s Christmas? was recorded by Band Aid. 

On Sunday 25 November 1984 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure welcomed the biggest names in pop music to Sarm Studios in Notting Hill, West London, to make Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?, which would go on to raise millions for famine relief in Ethiopia.  

The chaos and creativity was captured on film. But much of it has never been seen. And, as the new film shows, there are magic moments, from the mundane to the monumental. 

• George Michael’s incredible generosity went far beyond Band Aid
• Midge Ure: ‘Music kept me away from gangs’

There are spine-tingling scenes as Bono inches his way towards his iconic delivery of ‘Well, tonight, thank god it’s them instead of you’ and then there’s the silliness of Sting feeding Phil Collins a biscuit as they file in for the group photograph.  

There’s Boy George turning up late to inject some camp and chaos before recording an effortlessly beautiful, soulful vocal take and George Michael showcasing his absolute mastery of melody – improving Midge Ure’s guide vocal line on the spot – and the joyous, relentless back-and-forth banter between Status Quo’s Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt as they prepare for their solos.

There are questions too. Why is Culture Club drummer Jon Moss closer to the vocal mic than Bananarama? And were our pop charts really so male and pale back then? 

• Andrew Ridgeley exclusive: ‘Last Christmas is woven in the fabric of Christmas’ – celebrating 40 years of Wham!’s festive classic
• Midge Ure: ‘Music kept me away from gangs’
• Simon Le Bon: ‘I’m very lucky. Solo artists have nobody to tell them they’re being an arsehole’

There is also the wider question about the impact and legacy of Band Aid. The millions raised saved lives. The immediate impact was that tens of millions of pounds was distributed to organisations working on the frontline of famine relief very quickly and governments were galvanised into taking action.

But what of the long-term impact? Band Aid had a long tail. The song is played very widely each year, has been re-recorded and re-released three times – in 1989 produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, in 2004 – with Coldplay’s Chris Martin heavily involved, and in 2014 – with Ed Sheeran and One Direction prominent vocalists.

Again, this has raised vast amounts of money. But by perpetuating the stereotyping of an entire continent – and especially Ethiopia – as a place in constant need of charity, as a place ‘where nothing ever grows’, Do They Know It’s Christmas? has reinforced harmful colonial attitudes. Four decades on, surely it’s time to change the record rather than re-release it.

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The new film is merely footage of the day when Band Aid first got together. A team of pop star first responders. There is no discussion of the wider issues.

In the context of pop music history, seeing the singers of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham! sharing a mic – pop wars temporarily forgotten – is a joy to behold. We can also remember Paula Yates’s huge contribution to Band Aid as we see her interviewing and rabble-rousing with baby Fifi on her hip.

So don’t watch this expecting a reassessment of or debate around Band Aid’s legacy. It’s purely archive film of a big moment in pop. And as such, it is a fascinating window on musical history in the making. 

The Making of Do They Know It’s Christmas? airs at 9pm, 29 November, on BBC Four and is then available on iPlayer.

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