Giles Martin on reviving ‘The Beatles Anthology’: it shows how human they really were

Giles Martin has opened up about breathing new life into "The Beatles Anthology", as the landmark project returns with a restored television series and a new compilation album.

In a conversation with NME, the producer  and long-time Beatles collaborator, discussed the updated "Anthology" collection, the newly completed Episode Nine of the documentary series, and how modern technology is allowing unheard Beatles material to surface with striking clarity.

The original "Anthology" project debuted in 1995, arriving alongside an eight-part documentary and the first new Beatles songs since John Lennon's death. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr worked with Jeff Lynne to complete Lennon's demos for Free As a Bird and Real Love. Two follow-up albums, "Anthology 2" and "Anthology 3", arrived in 1996.

This month marks the release of a refreshed edition of the television series, restored and remastered by Apple Corps' production team in partnership with director Peter Jackson's Park Road Post in Wellington. The updated cut includes an entirely new Episode Nine featuring previously unseen material from the band's archives.

Alongside the visual restoration, The Anthology Music Collection, originally curated by the late George Martin, has been reissued as three double albums. These have been newly remastered by Giles Martin, who has also compiled a fresh set titled "Anthology 4", featuring 13 previously unreleased demos and session recordings, as well as new mixes of "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love".

"My dad brought me into the project," Martin said. "Even then, he would remind me that he hadn't worked on anything Beatles-related since 1970."

Martin noted that the technology developed for Jackson's 2021 documentary Get Back has allowed engineers to revisit difficult live recordings and recover details long thought lost.

"The improvement is incredible," he said. "The difference with Shea Stadium and the Washington Coliseum concert is night and day. What was released back then was rough — hardly any drums. Now we can restore that."

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He added that the goal was not to artificially modernise the material, but to let listeners experience the band more intimately. "I've always believed you can take people back to the place they were — or to a place they never had access to. Technology helps bring them closer to the moment. Everything we do is about revealing the humanity."