BBC has announced a new documentary exploring David Bowie‘s pre-Ziggy Stardust era titled David Bowie: The First Five Years. The film completes a trilogy directed by Francis Whately and follows 2017’s David Bowie: The Last Five Years and 2013’s David Bowie: Five Years. The final installment, set for release next year, picks up in 1966, after Bowie changed his name from David Jones, and unpacks the time that produced Bowie’s first four albums and his alien alter ego.
According to a press release, the doc features unheard audio recordings and unpublished documents, plus interviews with friends and collaborators, including Bowie’s cousin Kristina Amadeus and former girlfriend Hermione Farthingale, neither of whom have spoken before about the artist on camera. Among the uncovered documents is a largely negative 1965 report by BBC’s Talent Selection Group on an early audition Bowie gave the network. Critiques of Bowie’s performance amusingly included “devoid of personality,” “not particularly exciting,” and “amateur.”
Watch a trailer for the film, featuring that audition’s drummer Phil Lancaster reading the audition report for the first time, below.
