The making of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

Forty years ago, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure gathered together some of the biggest pop stars in the UK and Ireland to form the charity supergroup, Band Aid, who would record and release the now legendary song, Do They Know It’s Christmas?, in aid of the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia.

The song, released in December 1984, became an instant Number 1 in the UK and retained the chart top spot over that Christmas and beyond. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video and was the fastest-selling single of all time for over a decade.

The recording of Do They Know It’s Christmas? took place over one day, Sunday 25th November 1984, at SARM Studios in Notting Hill, and was filmed by director Nigel Dick. Whilst some of the footage was used for the iconic music video, much of what was recorded has remained unseen for four decades and some of it has never been seen before… until now.

The Making of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ unearths 75 minutes of that original footage, shot on 16mm film and newly restored and digitised.

It features rare and unseen moments in which stars, including Bananarama, Bono, Boy George, Duran Duran, George Michael, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Spandau Ballet, Sting and more, rehearsed and recorded their parts and interacted with each other during that 24 hours which would make musical history.