Wham! 10 Days in China: A Rare Look at a Pivotal Moment in Pop History

Welcome to Global Breakouts, a series where we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films making a splash internationally. The industry is more global than ever, with breakout projects appearing in pockets of the world all the time. In this edition, we’re looking at Wham! 10 Days in China, a BBC feature documentary that has a rare one-day theatrical release on 1,000 cinema screens around the world.

When Wham! became the first Western pop group to play in communist China in 1985, their goal was not just to introduce Chinese audiences to their music. They were on a mission to generate a whirlwind of press attention that would catapult them to success in the U.S. The band was accompanied by a film crew and Oscar-winning director Lindsay Anderson, who captured the moments when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley played their historic shows in Beijing and Guangzhou.

The planned documentary did not turn out as planned, however, and was quickly shelved. Now, new footage from that trip captures the moments when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley played their historic shows in Beijing and Guangzhou in Wham! 10 Days in China. The film follows the pop duo and also shows how Chinese audiences reacted to their first taste of a major Western pop phenomenon.

“Everyone knew the rushes existed and that they were effectively buried in a warehouse, and everyone knew that the whole trip happened and that it was intriguing, but no-one really knew what went on,” says Mike Christie, the director of Wham! 10 Days in China. “It’s one of those unicorn projects that everyone has wanted to make.”

The rushes come from footage shot by Lindsay Anderson, the British New Wave filmmaker. His credits include If… and This Sporting Life. Anderson himself appears in the footage and it becomes evident that he had little connection with Wham! or the project, and there’s friction. One cringe-inducing scene shows George Michael literally cold-shoulder the esteemed director.

Christie and the Wham! 10 Days in China team started out with the footage from these two documentaries, but obtained the treasure trove of original rushes when Ridgeley and the George Michael Estate (GME) got behind the new project.

“We knew these cans existed, but no one knew what was in them,” Christie says. “It took seven months of restoration and projection and capturing to get the actual rushes into the edit suite. We suddenly realized that we were actually cutting a whole new film from rushes and we weren’t relying on anything else.”

It was Christie’s approach to the project that won over Ridgeley and the George Michael Estate. The director wanted to pan out and tell a wider story, offering different viewpoints on Wham!’s journey east.

“We had George and Andrew’s personal perspective, the band’s perspective, the press perspective, the documentary [makers’] perspective and the Chinese perspective,” the director explains. “The approach we were proposing worked because it was looking at the bigger picture rather than just endlessly focusing on George and Andrew. Suddenly it stops being a celebrity vehicle.”

Today, Trafalgar Releasing is behind a one-day cinema release of the film across 1,000 screens in the UK and U.S. among other territories, a rare feat for a BBC documentary. On TV, the film will bow on BBC Two in late August, and the UK pubcaster is getting in the Wham! mood by scheduling a night of Wham! and George Michael programming to accompany the doc.

The film covers the trip’s rougher edges, including the band’s battles with the British tabloid press. Christie says the team wanted to step outside of the realm of the perfectly manicured music doc.

“How comfortable were we showing George having a massage, you know, pretty naked? How comfortable were we with things that were just backstage? How comfortable were we having Andrew and George at the press conference, being outspoken?,” he questions.

“Andrew and GME held true to the authenticity of it. I think in a day and age where we see very carefully manicured public images of celebrities and documentaries that seem to not really look behind the curtain, this was an incredibly honest account of what happened.”

What shines through, even when they’re at odds, is the bond between the two Wham! stars. “What we’re appreciating is the authenticity, the quality of the performances. The other thing you get from the film is actually seeing George and Andrew’s friendship unfolding before your eyes.”

A quick cut to Wham! playing a sell-out show in America shows that the China trip had achieved its goal. Soon after, the band would split. The new film captures 10 days that became a pivotal part of their story and a bona fide moment in pop history.