Radio Times

Review by:

David Butcher

If you haven’t quite got yourself in the whole Jubilee mood yet, this should do the trick. It’s a sweet, heartening film about Gary Barlow’s travels around the Commonwealth to gather music for his Jubilee song.

He wrote the song with Andrew Lloyd Webber – we see the two of them jamming together (if a peer of the realm can ever be said to jam) at the start of the film as they
devise the melody. Then Gary sets off for Kenya, Jamaica, Australia and the Solomon Islands to meet musicians whose voices and instruments he can layer on the track, including some drummers in Jamaica who make their instruments from rubbish.

It’s a joyous experience for him and for us. Apart from anything else, Barlow is a funnier, more genuine TV presence than most TV presenters, with a gift for touching encounters with virtual strangers. But the film is also gorgeously shot and edited, so that it’s both laugh-out-loud funny and properly uplifting.

About this programme

Documentary following Take That's Gary Barlow on his mission to record a song for the Queen in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee, featuring contributions by musicians from around the Commonwealth. Prince Charles gives the singer a few suggestions before he embarks on his trip, which includes visits to a children's choir in Kenya, Rastafarian drummers in Jamaica, pan-pipers in the Solomon Islands, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Australia and Gareth Malone's Military Wives choir in the UK.

Cast and crew

Cast

Gary Barlow

Crew

Director

Ben Winston

Executive Producer

Ben Winston

Producer

Mark Jones

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