Broadcast
On television
From a regional Granada slot in 1962 to a worldwide satellite broadcast in 1967 — the appearances that turned a Liverpool band into a living-room fact.
17 October 1962
People and Places
Granada TV Centre, Manchester
The Beatles' television debut: a live regional Granada broadcast in which they performed Some Other Guy and Love Me Do from Studio Four. The programme went out to the north and north-west of England only, a fortnight after Love Me Do's UK release.
Granada had already filmed them at the Cavern on 22 August 1962 for Know the North, but that footage was not shown at the time. They returned to People and Places on 29 October (broadcast 2 November) and 17 December 1962, and again on 16 January 1963.
19 January 1963
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Alpha Television Studios, Aston, Birmingham
The group's first appearance on a fully networked ITV pop show. They mimed Please Please Me, recorded on 13 January and transmitted on 19 January at the close of the first half. They were bottom of a seven-act bill.
Publisher Dick James helped secure the booking. Thank Your Lucky Stars, made by ABC Weekend TV, was then ITV's principal national pop showcase and a more important break than earlier regional slots such as Discs a Gogo. The Beatles returned to the series several times through 1963 and 1964.
4 October 1963
Ready Steady Go!
Television House, Kingsway, London
First appearance on Associated-Rediffusion's Friday-night pop show, then the hippest music programme on British television. The Beatles performed and Paul McCartney judged a mime contest, choosing 14-year-old Melanie Coe — later cited as a model for She's Leaving Home.
The 20 March 1964 edition, with It Won't Be Long, You Can't Do That, and Can't Buy Me Love, drew the series' highest ratings. Further spots followed on 27 November 1964 and, as an interview-only visit by Lennon and Harrison, on 16 April 1965, by which time the show had switched to live performance.
13 October 1963
Sunday Night at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The Beatles topped ATV's flagship variety bill, watched by an estimated 15 million viewers. They opened the show with a fragment of Please Please Me and closed it with From Me to You, I'll Get You, She Loves You, and Twist and Shout, as crowds gathered outside on Argyll Street.
British newspapers used the scenes of screaming fans to popularise the word Beatlemania in the following day's coverage. Compère Bruce Forsyth introduced the bill. Although the group's following had been building through 1963, this was the moment Fleet Street treated them as a national phenomenon.
4 November 1963
Royal Variety Performance
Prince of Wales Theatre, London
Seventh on a 19-act bill before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, The Beatles played From Me to You, She Loves You, Till There Was You, and Twist and Shout. ITV recorded the show and broadcast it on 10 November to more than 21 million viewers.
Before Twist and Shout, John Lennon said: "For our last number I'd like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you'd just rattle your jewellery." He later said he had considered a stronger wording and lost his nerve. Paul McCartney introduced Till There Was You with a joke about Sophie Tucker being their "favourite American group."
18 April 1964
Two of a Kind (The Morecambe and Wise Show)
ATV Elstree, Borehamwood
Filmed on 2 December 1963 and held back until 18 April 1964, the appearance paired Britain's biggest group with its favourite comic double act. The Beatles played This Boy, All My Loving, and I Want to Hold Your Hand, then joined Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise for Moonlight Bay.
Eric Morecambe called Ringo "Bongo" and mistook the group for the Kaye Sisters; the Beatles wore boaters and striped blazers for the finale while Morecambe donned a collarless jacket and a Beatle wig. Moonlight Bay later appeared on Anthology 1. By transmission the group had already begun filming A Hard Day's Night.
9 February 1964
The Ed Sullivan Show
CBS Studio 50, New York City
The Beatles' American television debut, seen by about 73 million viewers — then a record for a US entertainment programme. They performed All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want to Hold Your Hand live from Broadway.
Sullivan had booked them after seeing airport crowds in London. I Want to Hold Your Hand was already number one on the Billboard Hot 100. A second set of songs taped the same day was held for the 23 February edition. The theatre is now the Ed Sullivan Theater.
16 February 1964
The Ed Sullivan Show (Miami)
Deauville Hotel, Miami Beach
The second Sullivan appearance was broadcast live from the Napoleonic Room of the Deauville during the group's Florida stay. They played She Loves You, This Boy, All My Loving, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me to You, and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
The booking followed their Washington Coliseum concert and two Carnegie Hall shows. Heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, training in Miami for his fight with Sonny Liston, met the group during the visit. Technical problems with the hotel feed were reported, but the broadcast went out as scheduled.
23 February 1964
The Ed Sullivan Show (pre-taped)
CBS Studio 50, New York City
A third consecutive Sullivan slot, assembled from the 9 February taping and shown after The Beatles had returned to England. The songs were Twist and Shout, Please Please Me, and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Three straight Sundays on the highest-rated US variety show completed the first phase of the American campaign. Capitol and Sullivan had staggered live and taped performances so the group remained on air while they resumed British commitments. The February 1964 run is still cited as the peak of US Beatlemania on television.
6 May 1964
Around The Beatles
Rediffusion Wembley Studios, London
An ITV special produced by Jack Good and staged in the round, taped on 28 April 1964 and networked on 6 May. The Beatles opened with a comic Pyramus and Thisbe scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream, then mimed a set that included Twist and Shout, Roll Over Beethoven, I Wanna Be Your Man, Long Tall Sally, and Shout.
Music was pre-recorded in stereo at IBC Studios on 19 April. Paul played Pyramus, John Thisbe, George Moonshine, and Ringo the Lion. The show's title referred to theatre-in-the-round seating modelled on the Globe. Several IBC tracks later appeared on Anthology 1; the US ABC network ran a version on 15 November 1964.
1 August 1965
Blackpool Night Out
ABC Theatre, Blackpool
A live ABC variety hour hosted by Mike and Bernie Winters, used to promote Help!. The Beatles played I Feel Fine, I'm Down, Act Naturally, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday (McCartney with a string quartet), and Help!. Lennon played organ on I'm Down.
They had first appeared on the summer series on 19 July 1964. The 1965 Yesterday performance was an early television outing for the song with musicians from the recording. I'm Down, with Lennon at a Vox Continental, became one of their most circulated live clips. The 1964 edition's video is believed lost; audio survives.
15 August 1965
The Beatles at Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium, New York City
A 50-minute television documentary of the 15 August 1965 concert, the largest Beatles show to that date with 55,600 in the baseball stadium. BBC1 aired it first on 1 March 1966; ABC in the United States showed it on 10 January 1967.
Ed Sullivan introduced the group. Some songs were later overdubbed in London because the original stadium mix was poor. Sid Bernstein promoted the concert. Footage restored for Ron Howard's Eight Days a Week drew on the same cameras. Support acts included Brenda Holloway, the Young Rascals, and Cannibal & the Headhunters.
16 December 1965
The Music of Lennon–McCartney
Granada TV Centre, Manchester
A Granada special, produced by Johnny Hamp and filmed on 1–2 November 1965, honouring the Lennon–McCartney catalogue through other artists' versions. The Beatles themselves mimed Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out. Granada showed it on 16 December; the rest of ITV followed on 17 December.
Guests included Cilla Black, Peter and Gordon, Lulu, Esther Phillips, Marianne Faithfull, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, Henry Mancini, and Peter Sellers, who recited A Hard Day's Night as Richard III. It was their only studio-TV appearance tied to Rubber Soul and the December 1965 double A-side; promotional films covered Top of the Pops.
25 June 1967
Our World
EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
The first live global satellite television programme. The Beatles represented the BBC, performing All You Need Is Love from Studio One to an estimated 400 million people in some 25 countries. The broadcast caught them adding live vocals and overdubs to a backing track recorded on 14 June.
Guests in the studio included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, and Graham Nash. George Martin produced; the single was rush-released on 7 July 1967. Lennon wrote the song specifically so its message would carry across language barriers on a worldwide hook-up.
26 December 1967
Magical Mystery Tour (BBC1)
BBC1 (filmed in Kent, Devon, and West Malling, among other locations)
The Beatles' self-directed television film had its premiere on BBC1 on Boxing Day, in black and white, at peak family viewing time. The colour original was not seen on that channel; BBC2 transmitted a colour print on 5 January 1968.
Reviews were harsh, and the BBC switchboard took complaints. McCartney appeared on The Frost Programme two days later to defend the film. The UK soundtrack was issued as a double EP; Capitol in the United States compiled an LP that later entered the group's core catalogue. Public standing recovered with the Lady Madonna single in 1968.
8 September 1968
Frost on Sunday
Twickenham Film Studios, London
David Frost introduced The Beatles performing Hey Jude — their first live-for-camera appearance as a group since 1966. The promo was taped on 4 September 1968 before a studio audience that joined the coda; Frost on Sunday transmitted it on 8 September. A second camera set-up the same day produced the Revolution clip.
Frost called them "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world" when he introduced the clip, which he had taped on the studio floor at Twickenham. McCartney sang live to a pre-recorded backing; the others mimed, with a studio crowd joining the coda. The single had been released on 30 August 1968 as Apple's first Beatles A-side, backed with Revolution.
30 January 1969
Rooftop concert
Apple Corps, 3 Savile Row, London
The Beatles' last public performance: a 42-minute lunchtime set on the roof of their Savile Row headquarters, filmed for the Get Back / Let It Be project. They played Get Back, Don't Let Me Down, I've Got a Feeling, One After 909, and Dig a Pony, with Billy Preston on electric piano, until Metropolitan Police officers asked them to turn down the volume.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed the cameras; the audio was recorded in the basement studio. It was not a television broadcast at the time. Extracts appeared in the 1970 Let It Be film; Peter Jackson presented the complete concert in Get Back (2021) and as a standalone cinema/IMAX cut. McCartney's closing "Thanks, Mo" addressed Maureen Starkey.