Archive Producer

BAFTA nominated 2024

Feature length

Netflix and cinemas across the UK

Ventureland, 2023

In 1982, the best of friends and still teenagers - George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as WHAM! set out to conquer the world.By June of 1986 they played their very last gig at Wembley Stadium having done exactly that. Now for the very first time, told in their own words, the amazing story of how in four years they dominated the charts around the world with timeless and classic pop songs. Hit after hit - Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Freedom, I’m Your Man and of course Last Christmas.

Their time in the spotlight was white-hot, becoming the very first western pop act to play in China. It was a time that both encapsulated and epitomised not just their youth, but also those of the many millions of fans that adored them. WHAM! is a feature-length documentary that captures this magical time, from director Chris Smith (Tiger King, Sr.) and producers John Battsek (The Deepest Breath) and Simon Halfon (Supersonic) With unprecedented access to both George and Andrew’s personal archive including remarkable and never-before-seen footage, alongside rare, candid and previously unheard interviews, WHAM! charts their incredible journey from school friends to superstars.

“…the film, which creates a dialogue between recent interviews with Ridgeley and older archive recordings of Michael, pays tribute to the close bond between the two Bushey Meads school friends who found themselves living the dream. But it also explores the cost to the then closeted Michael of the teen heart-throb persona he was forced to wear along with his canary-yellow Fila tennis shorts.” **** The Guardian

Dir. Chris Smith, Prod. John Battsek & Simon Halfon