Paul McCartney on Bonham, Moon and Ringo as drummers

rockandrollgarage.com

Paul McCartney on Bonham, Moon and Ringo as drummers

By Rafael Polcaro

Rock and Roll Garage

Published on 12/29/2025

Besides being one of the most successful and influential songwriters and bassists of all time, Paul McCartney plays many other instruments. 

He is also an excellent drummer and recorded the drum parts on many of his solo songs and with Wings over the decades.

Active in the music business since the early 1960s, McCartney had the opportunity to meet and work alongside some of the greatest drummers who ever lived, including, of course, Ringo Starr, as well as The Who’s Keith Moon and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. He has expressed particularly interesting views on each of them.

Paul McCartney on John Bonham, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr as drummers

Paul McCartney has already revealed that his top three favorite drummers are Ringo Starr, followed by John Bonham in second place and Keith Moon in third. He once explained why he believed they were so special and why Ringo was different from the others. “The best compliment I got from that was when I was out in L.A. in 1974 visiting John when he was doing his ‘Pussy Cats’ album with Nilsson. (…) But I remember Keith saying, ‘Say, who was that drummer on Band on the Run?’ (grinning). That was the biggest accolade I could get. I mean, my favorite drummers are Ringo, Bonham and Keith. Moony had more flash, and Bonham was a bit more flash, but Ringo is right down the center, never overplays.”

“We could never persuade Ringo to do a solo. The only thing we ever persuaded him to do was that rumble in ‘The End’ on Abbey Road. He said (sourly), ‘I hate solos.’ I agree with him. Those moments in a concert where everyone goes off for a drink. You’re left with this drummer going dabadubba dabadubba, with lights flashing, are a total yawn. A quarter-of-an hour later, the band return, out of their skulls (laughter) to play the last number. The poor drummer left sober as a judge,” Paul McCartney told Musician magazine in 1988.

Why Ringo Starr was so special according to Paul

As Paul said, Ringo was not a “flashy” drummer, which made a lot of people think of him as a player that wasn’t that good. However, he said that he was the perfect fit for The Beatles and called him a “powerhouse”.

“We just fell in love with Ringo’s drumming. Ringo was in another band and we used to go see this other band. We said: ‘God, that drummer is good’. One night, Pete (Best) couldn’t do it and Ringo sat in for him. We all just went: ‘Ooooh’, it was like ‘Oh my God! What is happening?”

“There is something funny going on’. Behind us was this powerhouse who was like taking care of the job. We went: ‘oh dear’. Even if you’re very ill, show up. Don’t let Ringo sit in for you,” (he joked) in an interview with Howard Stern. Ringo replaced Pete Best on drums in 1962 and was a fundamental part of the group’s sound.

Paul McCartney agreed that John Bonham’s drums sounded like cannons

John Bonham and Paul McCartney were friends and had the chance to record together. He played in the demo “Beware My Love” (1975) and in two tracks of the 1979 album “Back To The Egg”, that are called “Rockestra Theme” and “So Glad To See You Here”. McCartney thought he was a really powerful drummer and agreed that his drums sounded like cannons sometimes.

“John Bonham was a good friend of mine and I was a great admirer of his. I really liked the power of John. I remember (someone) asking him once ‘How do you want your tom-toms to sound?’ He said: ‘Like cannons!’ That is true. If you listen to something like ‘Kashmir’. There’s a power and he was a very powerful guy,” Paul McCartney said in an interview (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). The Beatle also said over the years that it was fantastic to play with Bonzo, that he was a great friend and a “ballsy drummer”.

Curiously, when asked by the Brazilian newspaper Estadão in 2019 to list the lineup of a dream band, his choice for the drums was Bonham. Besides the studio work, Bonham had the chance to perform live with Paul in 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Also were part of that show were Pete Townshend and John Paul Jones.

Keith Moon asked Paul McCartney to join The Beatles

Keith Moon and Paul McCartney were also close friends and had the chance to spend time together on several occasions. In fact, McCartney was one of the last people to see The Who drummer alive. The Beatle organized a party on September 6, 1978, to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly’s 42nd birthday. At the time, he had bought Holly’s publishing rights and had produced the biopic “The Buddy Holly Story”. Moon attended the celebration with his girlfriend and was found dead the next day at the age of 32.

Curiously, although Moon and Ringo Starr were very good friends, according to The Who’s biographer Mark Blake in the book “Pretend You’re in a War”, Moon asked McCartney to join The Beatles in 1966. His relationship with his bandmates at the time was not good, but he later heard from Paul that they were “not looking for a drummer”. Thirty years later, Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey, would become The Who’s drummer.

The Beatles song that saw John Lennon and Paul McCartney pay tribute to their heroes

faroutmagazine.co.uk

The Beatles song that saw John Lennon and Paul McCartney pay tribute to their heroes

Ben Forrest

Sun 28 December 2025

(Credits: Far Out / Eric Koch for Anefo)

The Beatles went against the grain of popular music in a multitude of ways, and while many of their contemporaries were trying their darndest to hide the influences they were lifting their sound from, the Fab Four always wore their inspiration on their sleeve, paying open tribute to the artists that first inspired them.

Motown master Smokey Robinson once claimed that The Beatles were “the first really popular white band who came right out and said, ‘We grew up and were very influenced by black music.’” On the face of it, every rock and roll musician was indebted to ‘black music’, given the roots of the genre within the world of blues, but it is true that the Merseyside mop tops were among the first to advertise that fact. 

Throughout their revolutionary tenure, in fact, The Beatles never made any effort to conceal the source of their musical inspiration. Whether it was their various covers of Chuck Berry, Little Richard or, indeed, Smokey Robinson, or the multitude of references and knowing nods they weaved into their songwriting, there was never any doubt over what the band’s listening habits consisted of. 

Even as the band progressed, transforming from the fresh-faced teeny-boppers of their early years to the moustached psychedelic experimenters of the Sgt. Pepper era, the group never lost sight of the pioneering outfits who first inspired them all those years ago. On their final record, Let It Be, in fact, the band paid faithful homage to one of their earliest inspirations, The Everly Brothers.

While nobody, in their right mind, could listen to ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and claim that it sounds just like ‘Wake Up Little Susie’, the influence of Don and Phil is pretty undeniable when you revisit some of the Fab Four’s earliest efforts.

“You look at anyone’s career and there was always someone influential in the beginning,” McCartney once recalled in the anniversary edition of Let It Be. “I was Elvis. I was Little Richard. George was Carl Perkins, John was Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry. We all had our alter egos, and we each had a few of them. And we were The Everly Brothers.”

When it came time to record Let It Be, then, the band decided to pay homage to that rock and roll fraternity on McCartney’s track ‘Two of Us’. Lyrically, the song is a fairly run-of-the-mill McCartney love song, dedicated to Linda Eastman, whom he would marry only a few months after the song was recorded. Sonically, though, the song was indebted to the iconic harmonies of the Everly Brothers.

At one point in the song, in fact, McCartney tells Lennon to “Take it Phil,” identifying his songwriting partner as being the Phil to his Don – even if that line is sometimes wrongly thought to reference the song’s now-disgraced producer, Phil Spector.

‘Two of Us’ certainly isn’t the only example of The Beatles referencing their musical inspirations within their own discography, but it is telling of just how enduring the influence of The Everly Brothers was on the band that they would maintain their appreciation for the duo from the earliest origins of the band right up until their final album.

Paul McCartney tops 'Billboard' Boxscore, plus The Beatles drop new holiday yule log

digital.abcaudio.com

Paul McCartney tops 'Billboard' Boxscore, plus The Beatles drop new holiday yule log

by Jill Lances 

ABC AUDIO DIGITAL SYNDICATION

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Sir Paul McCartney performs at The O2 Arena during his 'Got Back' world tour on December 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Paul McCartney has landed on top the Billboard Boxscore for November thanks to his Got Back tour.

The Beatles legend tops the chart after bringing in $51.7 million from sales of 150,000 tickets for 11 shows. The latest leg of the tour kicked off Sept. 29 in Palm Desert, California, and wrapped Nov. 25 in Chicago.

This is the second time McCartney’s Got Back tour earned him the #1 spot on the list. The tour previously topped the Billboard Boxscore in May of 2022.

McCartney’s Got Back tour, which initially launched in April of 2022 and has included shows in 2023, 2024 and 2025, has brought $410.7 million overall, with 2.4 million tickets sold.

In other news ... The Beatles are helping fans get in the Christmas spirit with the YouTube release of The Beatles Holiday Yule Log (Merry Crimble) featuring classic Beatles tracks. The video features an image of roaring fire, with Christmas stockings hung on the mantel for McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr. There’s also a turntable with pictures of the band members and presents wrapped in Beatles wrapping paper.

According to the description, “this video is made to be left on all holiday long, whether you are relaxing, seeing friends and family, or simply letting it play in the background while you do nothing at all.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paul McCartney Addresses 'Wonderful Christmastime' Encouraging Witchcraft: 'I Am the Head Wizard'

people.com

Paul McCartney Addresses 'Wonderful Christmastime' Encouraging Witchcraft: 'I Am the Head Wizard'

McCartney's Christmas classic was released in 1979

By Ilana Kaplan

Staff Editor at PEOPLE

December 24, 2025

NEED TO KNOW

• Paul McCartney reflected on "Wonderful Christmastime" encouraging witchcraft
• "I like the idea of Christmas songs purely because they only come around at Christmas!" the Beatles vocalist writes in a "Vevo Footnotes" video
• "Wonderful Christmastime" was released in 1979

Paul McCartney is reflecting on his most festive hit.

In a "Vevo Footnotes" video shared on Thursday, Dec. 18, the Beatles vocalist reflected on the online "theory" that the video for his 1979 Christmas classic "Wonderful Christmastime" encourages witchcraft.

"There is a theory online that the song is about people practicing witchcraft, getting found out and trying to cover it up," McCartney, 83, writes. "Thank goodness they found me out. This is completely true and in actual fact."

He continues, "I am the head wizard of a Liverpool coven. Either that...or it's complete nonsense."

McCartney then adds that "you know it's the latter."

Paul McCartney in the "Wonderful Christmastime" music video in 1979.

Credit : Paul McCartney/YouTube

Per a 2022 interview he did with PaulMcCartney.com, he clarified that the lyrics were "the mood is right" and not "the moon is right," which fans may have misheard.

"The thing is about this stuff, it’s so easy to convince half the people in the world. You do have to be a little bit careful!" he said at the time.

In the Vevo Footnotes video, McCartney reveals he was trying to showcase the excitement of the holiday season.

"When I was writing 'Wonderful Christmastime' I was trying to capture that party aspect," he writes of the video. “I’m thinking about Liverpool Christmas parties, that’s really all I’m doing with that song."

Adds McCartney, "‘The mood is right, let’s raise a glass, the spirit’s up’ — you know, all the stuff you do at Christmas. Particularly with my old Liverpool family parties.”

Paul McCartney in the "Wonderful Christmastime" music video in 1979.

Credit : Paul McCartney/YouTube

Directed by Russell Mulcahy and filmed at the Fountain Inn in West Sussex and The Hippodrome Theatre in Eastbourne, the music video features members of McCartney's band Wings.

In the video, McCartney also addresses how popular the track has become over the years.

“Sometimes people will go into a shop and hear the song a little too much, but I don’t care!” he writes. “I’m happy!”

In December 2024, the music legend surprised fans with a rare performance of "Wonderful Christmastime" in Manchester, England, featuring backing vocals from children who attend the You Should Be Dancing Theatre Academy.

According to Rolling Stone, McCartney has only performed "Wonderful Christmastime" live roughly a dozen times throughout his career.

Prior to his 2024 performance of the track, the last time McCartney had played it was during a trio of concerts in England in December 2018.

He also previously joined in a rendition of the song alongside Jimmy Fallon and the cast of Sing during a 2016 episode of The Tonight Show.

BONUS :

He Photographed Paul McCartney – and Upset the Beatle

beatlesblogger.com

He Photographed Paul McCartney – and Upset the Beatle

by BeatlesBlogger

Posted on December 19, 2025

When you see an iconic image like this one it is often fascinating to hear the backstory as to how it came about.

Photographer Chris Floyd has a fantastic tale to tell about working with Paul McCartney and the process of capturing an image of him for the ages:

If Floyd’s photographs looks familiar, that’s because another from that same shoot eventually made it’s way (some 12 years later via Paul’s own company MPL) onto the cover of Paul Du Noyer’s 2015 book, Conversations With McCartney:

As well as the YouTube above, Chris Floyd has written in detail about the session too, both in his book Not Just Pictures, and also at his substack.com page. His article there is well worth a read. It’s got some great additional information and images, plus two very surprising postscripts which add delightful new elements to the tale!

‘A Song Reborn’ – A New Beatle “Making Of” Film

beatlesblogger.com

‘A Song Reborn’ – A New Beatle “Making Of” Film

by BeatlesBlogger

Posted on December 19, 2025

The Beatles have released a new short film on the “making of” their Anthology song, ‘Free As A Bird’:

A Song Reborn is directed by Oliver Murray, who did a similar thing in 2023 for ‘Now And Then’:

Murray also compiled the trailer for The Beatles Anthology 2025 now on Disney+:

And he wrote and directed the new 50 minute Episode 9 of the Disney+ series, so Apple is obviously sending quite a bit of work his way. Hopefully soon we’ll get the Oliver Murray take on the making of ‘Real Love’, with even more previously unseen footage?

The Best Music Books of 2025: Cameron Crowe, Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne and More

variety.com

The Best Music Books of 2025: Cameron Crowe, Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne and More

By Jem Aswad

VARIETY

Dec 16, 2025

We say this every year, but any list of the year’s best music books is even more of a losing proposition than best albums or songs, primarily because of the time investment — so any such list is doomed to being “some of the best music books.” With that inevitable caveat, although this year lacked a jaw-dropping must-read along the lines of Cher’s “The Memoir” or Elton John’s “Me” — which are arguably the most continually satisfying music memoirs of the last decade — there’s still plenty to dig into.

What we music-memoir junkies are usually seeking is, if not the dirt, then at least great anecdotes, especially ones that we haven’t read before. Which brings us to a second caveat: A couple of books in this tally aren’t necessarily compellingly written and would have benefited from a skilled editor, but the stories in them largely deliver the goods. However, that is most certainly not the case with the first on this list…

“The Uncool” Cameron Crowe

“The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told” Bill Janovitz 

“The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership That Rocked the World” Peter Guralnick

“Wings” Paul McCartney / “The McCartney Legacy Volume 2: 1974-1980” Allan Kozinn / Adrian Sinclair

If anyone ever felt that that 1970s/ Wings-era Paul McCartney was insufficiently documented, they’re drinking from a firehose this year. While Tom Doyle’s 2013 book “Man on the Run” is a concise and compelling overview that should suit most fans just fine, these two imposing tomes fall under the “everything you could ever want to know and then some” category. Like his first volume (covering 1969-73), Kozinn’s doorstop goes into near-daily detail about McCartney’s recording sessions, tours, business and life. While the attention to detail is formidable in its execution, this era covered the peak of McCartney’s ‘70s popularity although not the peak of his creativity (that was in the previous volume) so these graduate-school-level deep-dive details on albums like the treacly 1978 set “London Town,” or mediocre peripheral efforts like his brother Mike McGear’s solo album, can sometimes strain one’s attention.

More digestible is “Wings,” an oral history of those years told via interviews with dozens of musicians and friends, as well as McCartney himself and his late wife and Wingsmate Linda, who died in 1998. It is no understatement to say that she was unfairly Yoko’ed, and while her skills as a keyboardist were rudimentary, her singing in particular remains an essential component of McCartney’s music at that stage, and her personality emerges vividly in these pages — her commentary is often more engaging and revealing than that of the man himself.  — Jem Aswad

“Ozzy Osbourne: Last Rites” Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres

“Night People: How to Be a DJ in ‘90s New York City” Mark Ronson

“Yoko: A Biography” David Sheff

Sheff has walked this road before: He wrote the famous expansive Playboy interview with Yoko and John Lennon at their Dakota apartment just months before Lennon’s assassination, and even titled his own memoir “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction,” after a song from “Double Fantasy.” Yet over the years, he befriended Ono and came to a rare understanding of her life and art: Her family’s Tokyo home being destroyed by U.S. bombers and their ensuing poverty; her work with avant-garde art groups in New York before meeting Lennon; her broken marriage to American film producer Anthony Cox; her custody battle and the subsequent loss of their daughter, Kyoto, for over 25 years. And not least the ongoing nightmare of Ono’s demonization by Beatles fanatics who saw her as the cause of the group’s breakup — even after Lennon admitted to conceling Ono’s credit for co-writing songs such as “Imagine” (which was rectified in 2017) due to his own fragile male ego. While Ono’s stature as an artist has largely been rehabilitated, Sheff brings hue and shading to her story. —A.D. Amorosi

“Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores that Changed Cinema” Steven C. Smith

“Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story” Barry Mazor

“Queen & A Night at the Opera: 50 Years” Gillian Gaar

“Waiting on the Moon” Peter Wolf

“Bread of Angels: A Memoir” Patti Smith 

“John Williams: A Composer’s Life” Tim Greiving

“Giant Steps: My Improbable Journey From Stage Lights to Executive Heights” Derek Shulman with Jon Wiederhorn

Beatles Biopic Casting: What We Know So Far

ultimateclassicrock.com

Beatles Biopic Casting: What We Know So Far

Allison RappPublished: December 12, 2025

Andreas Rentz, Getty Images / Stuart C. Wilson, Getty Images for BFI / S

In April of 2028, the world will receive not just one Beatles biopic, but four of them.

The brainchild of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event will roll out over the course of four separate weekends, with each film focusing on a different Beatle.

Both of the two remaining Beatles and the estates of the late ones have given the project the green light, though they are keeping a bit of distance.

"[Mendes] had a writer — very good writer, great reputation, and he wrote it great, but it had nothing to do with Maureen and I," Ringo Starr said to The New York Times earlier this year, referencing his marriage to his first wife, Maureen Starkey, and explaining that he'd been through the script for his own biopic "line by line" with Mendes. "That's not how we were. I'd say, 'We would never do that.' But he'll do what he's doing and I'll send him peace and love."

Meanwhile, both Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan, the actors set to play Paul McCartney and Starr respectively, have spent time with the Beatles in real life.

"He's an extraordinary man," Mescal said about McCartney, speaking to IndieWire in September, "like to spend any time — it's a crazy sentence to say that I've spent time with that man, let alone play him."

And these are just the people playing the Beatles themselves. There's a whole other cast of characters who are slated to be a part of this project, including the Beatles wives, family members and employees. In the below gallery, we're taking you through every cast member we know about so far at the time of this writing.

Beatles Biopic Casting: What We Know So Far

Due April 2028, these are the thespians who will bring the Fab Four's individual stories to life.

Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp

Larry Ellis, Daily Express, Hulton Archive, Getty Images / Kate Green, Getty Images for BFI

Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney

"I'm obsessed with the Beatles at the moment," Irish actor Paul Mescal, who is set to play Paul McCartney, said to Rolling Stone in September of 2025. "It's part of my job, but it's also the way that my brain is wired. I'm excited about listening to music, writing music, absorbing music, going to shows, all of these things — they start with an intensity with the job and then kind of become my personality for a bit." Mescal has two BAFTA Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award to his name, plus nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Hulton Archive, Getty Images / Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images

Harris Dickinson as John Lennon

English actor Harris Dickinson has actually met McCartney, which is perhaps the closest he will come to getting to know his character, John Lennon. "My dad's a northerner, from near Liverpool, so he was very impressed," he told The Times in September 2025. Dickinson has appeared in productions like Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) and Babygirl (2024). In the same Times interview, Dickinson admitted that he'd been in touch with Tony King, an old friend of Lennon's, who advised him not to impersonate the Beatle so much as create a "now" version of him, "like Austin Butler did with Elvis."

Tristan Fewings, Getty Images for BFI / Keystone, Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr

Another Irish actor is slated to portray a Beatle: Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Keoghan has appeared in Dunkirk (2017), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), Saltburn (2023) and more. Like Mescal, Keoghan has spent some time with his character subject. "I met [Starr] at his house and he played the drums for me," he told Jimmy Kimmel in May of 2025. "He asked me to play, but I wasn't playing the drums for Ringo. ... My job is to observe and take in the mannerisms and study him. But I want to humanize him and bring feelings to it, not just imitate." Starr's son, Zak Starkey, had this piece of advice to offer Keoghan when speaking with NME in June of 2025: "Get a big rubber nose."

Brendon Thorne, Getty Images / Keystone, Getty Images

Joseph Quinn as George Harrison

British actor Joseph Quinn has been featured in Gladiator II and Stranger Things, but this role as George Harrison may top all the others. "My mum's from Liverpool. She's a very Scouse lady. I grew up spending Christmases and stuff there – I love my Liverpudlians," he told Esquire before his casting was made official. "My mum was singing Beatles songs when I was at primary school, so if that was to happen, there would be another level of meaningfulness there."

Antoine Flament, Getty Images / Evening Standard, Getty Images

Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney

The critically-acclaimed Saoirse Ronan, whose credits include The Lovely Bones (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Lady Bird (2017), Little Women (2019) and many more, has been cast as Paul McCartney's first wife, Linda. Paul and Linda were married in 1969 — she was a photographer and the first woman to have a photo on the cover of Rolling Stone — and were together for nearly 30 years before she passed away from breast cancer in 1998.

Tommaso Boddi, Getty Images / Central Press, Getty Images

Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono

Much has said and written about Yoko Ono, Lennon's second wife and the woman to which he was married when he was murdered in 1980, some of it with misogynistic and racist undertones to it. But one thing is undeniable: you simply cannot tell the story of Lennon's life without her. Japanese actress Anna Sawai, who has been working in film and television since she was 11, has been cast as Ono. She also has a musical background, having risen to fame in Japan as one of the lead vocalists of a girl group called Faky.

Andreas Rentz, Getty Images / M. McKeown, Express, Getty Images

Aimee Lou Wood as Patti Boyd

Patti Boyd was one of the '60s It Girls, helping to usher in a new sense of style and overall vibe for women of the time. Boyd met George Harrison on the set of the 1964 Beatles film A Hard Day's Night and they were married two years later. (They divorced in 1977, with Boyd leaving Harrison for Eric Clapton.) Aimee Lou Wood will take on this role — you may recognize her from White Lotus.

Stuart C. Wilson, Getty Images for BFI / Larry Ellis, Daily Express, Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Mia Mckenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey

Ringo Starr met his first wife, Maureen, a teenage hairdresser from Liverpool, at the Cavern Club in 1962. They were married from 1965 until 1970. She'll be played by Mia Mckenna-Bruce, winner of a BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Eamonn M. McCormack, Getty Images / Michael Fresco, Evening Standard, Getty Images

David Morrissey as Jim McCartney

David Morrissey has spent a lot of his career on stage with esteemed companies like the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre. He's also appeared in two seasons of The Walking Dead and numerous feature-length films. Morrissey will portray Jim McCartney, Paul's father, with whom he had a very close relationship.

Anthony Devlin, Getty Images / YouTube, @TheBeatleCavern

Leanne Best as John Lennon's Aunt Mimi

Here is the most touching casting of the entire film series: Leanne Best as John Lennon's Aunt Mimi. (Lennon's mother died when he was 17, and prior to that, he spent most of his childhood living with his aunt.) If you recognize Leanne's last name, that may be because she is the niece of Pete Best, who was the Beatles' original drummer.

Jeff Spicer, Getty Images / Evening Standard, Hulton Archive, Getty Images

James Norton as Brian Epstein

In 2024 there was a film called Midas Man, an entire production about Brian Epstein starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. The reviews were mixed, with The Guardian describing it as "uneven but well-meaning." Now, English actor James Norton has a chance at the crucial role of the Beatles' manager.

Joe Maher, Getty Images / Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Harry Lloyd as George Martin

You may recognize Harry Lloyd from a few episodes of Doctor Who, or perhaps from the first season of Game of Thrones. Here, he'll play the Beatles' producer, George Martin. Often referred to as the "fifth Beatle," Martin produced every single one of the Beatles' albums with the exception of Let It Be.

The Beatles, Sony Pictures / Pace, Getty Images

Bobby Schofield as Neil Aspinall

Neil Aspinall started out as a school friend of McCartney and Harrison's and went on to be head of the Beatles' Apple Corps company. He'll be played by Bobby Schofield, a native of Kirkby, England which sits just outside Liverpool.

The Beatles, Sony Pictures / Pace, Getty Images

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill as Mal Evans

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill is slated to play Mal Evans, who worked for the Beatles as their road manager and personal assistant from 1963 up until their breakup in 1970. (Before that, he was a bouncer at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.) Tragically, Evans was shot and killed during an encounter with police in 1976.

Kate Green, Getty Images / YouTube, @carlwilbon6202

Arthur Darvill as Derek Taylor

Arthur Darvill, who is set to play the Beatles' press officer Derek Taylor, has a background in musical theater having appeared in both Broadway and West End productions like Once and Oklahoma! Interestingly, his musical background stretches to childhood — his father, Nigel, played organ for the likes of Edwin Starr, Fine Young Cannibals and UB40.

Monica Schipper, Getty Images / Frederick R. Bunt, Evening Standard, Getty Images

Adam Pally as Allen Klein

Adam Pally is best known for his comedy roles in things like Happy Endings and The Mindy Kaling Project, but for this series he'll be acting a bit more serious as Allen Klein, the Beatles one-time manager. Of course, if you know anything about the history of British invasion bands, you know that Klein was notorious for improperly handling the finances of both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to his own advantage.