Classic Albums: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

This series looks at the writing and recording of some of the greatest albums of our era. Musicians, producers, and engineers are interviewed in the studio, and the master tapes are played, sometimes isolating particular channels, to highlight certain instrumental sounds or voices. Many of the musicians play live along with the tracks, demonstrating how they played the parts. In some cases, group members are reuniting after considerable time as they reminisce together. This is usually interspersed with some vintage clips and photos of concert performances. The BBC co-produced series began in 1997 with Ringo Starr as narrator. Later episodes have no narrator. The first seven episodes were licensed to VH1 in the US, then periodically more were released. Some have been shown on the BBC network, ITV, Sky Arts, VH1, A&E, PBS, and Biography Channel. One or two were repackaged by VH1 as 'Ultimate Albums'.

Series details

• Title: Classic Albums
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: Music
• Premiere date: 1997-04-14
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: Sky Arts
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 53 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 13796
• IMDb ID: tt5955168
• TVDB ID: 80133

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1997-04-14; final listed air date 1997-07-22.
• Season 2: premiered 1999-10-26; final listed air date 2000-02-03.
• Season 3: premiered 2001-11-01; final listed air date 2001-12-10.
• Season 4: premiered 2002-10-26; final listed air date 2003-05-04.
• Season 5: premiered 2004-12-29; final listed air date 2005-01-15.
• Season 6: premiered 2006-05-17; final listed air date 2006-11-06.
• Season 7: premiered 2007-05-01; final listed air date 2007-10-03.
• Season 8: premiered 2008-04-14; final listed air date 2008-10-27; episode order: 3.
• Season 9: premiered 2010-10-29; final listed air date 2011-05-06.
• Season 10: premiered 2011-05-06; final listed air date 2017-12-08.
• Season 11: premiered 2018-09-14; final listed air date 2020-02-14.
• Season 12: premiered 2021-04-23; final listed air date 2021-10-08.

Source and licence

Adapted from Classic Albums on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.