Ian Hart's third outing as John Lennon was 2013's Snodgrass, adapted by David Quantick from Ian R MacLeod's short story. Aired as part of the Sky Arts Playhouse series, it deals with a Lennon who left The Beatles in 1962 following his refusal to record How Do You Do It. With John now 50, bitter but insisting he did the right thing, it asks: where does creativity go when it has no outlet? We discuss this and its alternative timeline of a Beatles who went on to be nearly as big as The Hollies. Then we're joined by David Quantick to talk about how the project came to be and his attempts to make a feature-length version, the process of trying to capture Lennonian wit in dialogue, and his views on the Sam Mendes biopics and Paul McCartney's latest output, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

• You can watch Snodgrass, albeit not in great quality, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek89aSrwMN0
• What is probably a better quality version is on Vimeo, but you need an age-verified account because it's supposedly "mature content": https://vimeo.com/240214664
• David's website, including links to buy his books, is at https://davidquantick.com
• Martin Carr's solo work is released under his own name: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3b02YDnufwl9CPIblMomrD and under the name bravecaptain: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4IpVpd0lNWwyReKr5MkloY
• Beatles Forever by ELO (we apologise in advance): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4g3JgwYFio
• David's mention of a film called The Ballad of John and Yoko starring "a McGann" is a reference to John and Yoko: A Love Story, which is on our list.

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

• Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod
• Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast
• Threads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspod
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Apple Films' 1971 documentary, Ravi Shankar is pondering whether he's diluted his beloved Indian classical music by promoting it to the West, through his association with George Harrison and The Beatles. We look at how the film explores this, and how it emphasises the spiritual connection necessary to perform the music, through techniques like focusing on the musicians' eye contact while playing. Plus! Was George actually rubbish at the sitar?

• Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvwf53_ZPEM
• The final scene of Mad Men, in a very similar setting to the Esalen Institute, where Ravi and George practise sitar in Raga: https://youtu.be/LKPI56zW5AA

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

• Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod
• Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast
• Threads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspod
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're in agreement: this is the worst film we've covered. Yes, worse than Sextette. Ringo Starr's role in Frank Zappa's 1971 freakout film seems like it could've gone to anyone: is there a specific reason for using him as a Zappa avatar in this film? We also talk Zappa and free speech: do the arguably puerile lyrics undermine the virtuoso musicianship of Zappa and the Mothers of Invention? And did John Lennon and Yoko Ono rip off a Zappa song after they played together?

A WARNING: there is more effing and jeffing in this episode than usual, because of the necessity to quote some of the dialogue to discuss it.

• Watch 200 Motels: https://m.ok.ru/video/1559126346278
• The documentary The True Story of 200 Motels: https://youtu.be/hHupp3ZDKAk
• Théâtre du Grand-Guignol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol
• Cirque de Clunes on Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge: https://youtu.be/hPQHHP7dfjU
• Benson Boone: https://youtube.com/@bensonboone
• The Darkness: https://youtube.com/@theactualdarkness
• Jamrag/King Kong, as of 2025's Power to the People box set, now credits Zappa as a writer: https://youtu.be/4BDPdquOpnk
• Ringo's quote about his waning commitment to filmmaking is from Alan Clayson's book Ringo Starr: https://share.google/mEjJ4ljorGZFTVQmi

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

• Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod
• Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcast
• Threads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspod
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.