Radio Times: Review by:; David Butcher

The Jubilee may be over but any excuse will do for a trawl through the archives accompanied by sort-of-experts holding forth. The clips and quips cover 60 years of the monarchy’s uneasy dealings with pop. It’s a wide brief: from Prince Charles shaking a tailfeather with the Three Degrees to Roddy Llewellyn’s bizarre jaunt into the pop world in 1978, while he was romantically linked with Princess Margaret. But the really extraordinary nugget of trivia here is that Elton John’s reworked Candle in the Wind for Princess Diana is the biggest-selling single worldwide since the pop charts began.

About this programme

Documentary investigating the royal family's love-hate relationship with pop music, from John Lennon's gag about rattling jewellery at the 1963 Royal Variety Performance and the Sex Pistols preaching anarchy in the year of the Silver Jubilee to today's pop stars lining up to be seen with the young princes. Veteran singer Tommy Steele talks about being one of the first rock 'n' roll stars to perform in front of Her Majesty, former Three Degrees member Sheila Ferguson recalls what Prince Charles said to her at a concert in the run-up to his 30th birthday, and Queen guitarist Brian May recalls playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Golden Jubilee party.