All language subtitles for WHAM Last Christmas Unwrapped 2024 1080p NF WEB-DL DDP5 1 H 264-Kitsune

Well,
what a wonderful joyride.

Wham! really was
as joyous as it sounded.

And at number one
for the second week...

Still at number one, Wham!

"Club Tropicana," Wham!

It was
a golden chapter in our lives.

What an
amazing adventure.

What do you think
of Wham!?

1984 was when
Wham! were achieving

everything George had planned.

Things could
hardly have gone any better for us that year.

I thought it would
be great to finish it off with a Christmas song.

It would be
impossible to consider yourself the biggest success ever

without having a number one
at Christmas.

Suddenly this melody
came into my head.

"Andy, Andy, you got to
come listen to this."

It's such an iconic song.

The message is universal.

So intelligently,
timelessly classic.

George insisted
that he play

everything himself
on that record.

Talk to me about
"Last Christmas."

Heartbreaker.

We were convinced
that Christmas number one,

that crowning glory,
would be ours.

Everything was ready.

So tell me about
the video for "Last Christmas."

The video is cinematic
in the extreme, I'd say.

We wanted to do
a video basically

to take that idea from,
like, say,

The Four Seasons
or The Big Chill,

of all those people
meeting once a year

and place a romance
in that situation.

The video
really did convey a sense of Christmas

together with friends,

and they were good friends

before we went away
to Saas-Fee 40 years ago

and have remained such
ever since.

Coming back here 40 years
after making the video

is something rather more like
a pilgrimage.

It's you!

Hello, stranger.

Wham! was about life
and living and fun.

And this group of friends
is very much about that.

Group hug!

Coming back the second time
with most of the guys

that were in the video
has made it so special.

Almost everybody that
was on that shoot was a friend.

So that's why it looks
so genuinely

like a real Christmas.

Because we were friends.

You can see that the people
know each other.

All of us have come together,

and it just feels like
we saw each other last week.

So it's really nice
to be here with them.

Peps, do you think
something's missing?

- There is something missing.
- What?

- My shades.
- Your ski goggles.

My ski goggles.

Well...

- No!
- Yeah, well...

You didn't.
My gosh!

- Ooh!
- Wait till she puts them on.

As I recall,
I tripped on that in 1984.

There is an
incompleteness to it,

being here without George,

but the essence
of these friendships remains unchanged.

The thing with George
is he really loved his friends.

That's why so many of us
were around him all the time

in all the videos
and working with him.

Hearing we were coming back here,

it was quite surreal.

It's like, how can we relive
that extraordinary moment?

But we are.

Yes, we did this ride
40 years ago.

I don't remember going up.

You had to
go up, Peps.

Whoo!

Do you really want
to go faster?

Doesn't it make you
feel like James Bond?

I've always felt like
James Bond.

The funniest times
we had were when we were younger

because life gets serious
as you get older.

So I know that we always

look back at the Wham! years
as the fun time.

Our life was going to clubs
with friends,

dancing, hanging out.

The music
was the story of our time.

So it was just opening up
the diary of our lives

and "it" being called Wham!

Now, you're... Which is George
and which is Andrew?

I'm George. That's Andrew.

Where did you two meet first?

- School.
- School, yeah,

when we were about
12 years old.

I was introduced
as a second-year student

into Bushey Meads
comprehensive,

and Andrew was appointed
to take care of me.

He explained that his name was
Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.

I shortened it to "Yoghurt,"
which he didn't like very much,

but then it was
an easy step to "Yog,"

which he didn't mind too much.

And he was--

He was "Yog" thenceforth.

I was
a year above the boys,

and I remember
this curly-haired boy, glasses,

walking, brushing past me
to rush

'cause they couldn't wait
to get in the music room.

A few years later,

when I bump into Andrew,
I think we're about 17,

and then he says, "you
should come and meet Yog."

And I was going, "Who's Yog?"

And he opens the front door,

and he's the boy
with the curly hair and glasses.

He had grown up.
He's all smiley.

And we ran straight into
George's house,

run upstairs to his bedroom.

And we all sat on the bed,

he had posters
around his bedroom wall,

and talked about music.

That was our
instant connection.

We just loved each other
from then.

I remember
George and I

going to the Beat Route
nightclub before Wham!

and him nudging me, going,
"Spandau Ballet are there,"

and grabbing hold of me
and saying,

"Let's do our dance
in front of them,"

'cause he wanted to get
their attention.

The first time
I ever saw Shirlie was,

she was doing "Top of the Pops"
with "Young Guns."

And I was at home
with my mum and dad,

and I remember sitting
on the floor

with my back up
against the arm of the sofa.

I was completely taken in

by the young blonde girl
in a white dress.

First date we had
at Camden Palace.

Shirlie had to bring
along a wingman,

and the wingman was George,
wasn't he?

- Yog. Yog.
- Yeah, Yog.

And he came along,

and I spent all night
trying to get rid of him.

I don't know
why I was doing that.

I was bought into this special friendship

of Shirlie, Andrew, and George,

getting a phone call
one day saying,

"Would you like to come along
and audition for a band?"

and then realizing
it was, like,

one of the biggest bands,
you know?

And it was like,
"Who? What? Wham!?

Really? Wham!? Really?"

I was the new bug

welcomed into the fold
of Wham!, you know?

- Can I just say...
- Yeah.

...we were a bit worried
because we thought

Pepsi was a professional.

And we was kind of
staring at her,

thinking, "Is she gonna be
okay with us?

"'Cause we're just making
this up."

I've never taken it for granted.

I feel really grateful to be
part of this incredible bond

that the three of them have.

The most incredible
thing about Wham!

and those short four years
was the travel that we all did.

- Yeah.
- I mean, we went everywhere.

In the '80s, though,

we only liked the sunny places
and beaches,

and suntans
had to be topped up.

I mean, he wasn't
a natural outdoorsman, was he?

But he would have loved this.

He looked good
in the snow.

Good memories, good memories.

George really was
the instigator, I think,

of having his friends
around him.

I think he had the insight

that it's quite
a lonely business and you travel a lot,

so he wanted all the people
he knew really well around him.

Who hasn't got one?

Here we go.

Just you two and me.

There'd be a core
of the friends

that would have been
our friends for some time.

Pat and Cheryl
would be there as a rule,

and Johnny and Dave,

who I met at college
when I was 16.

And, well,
we've knocked about ever since together.

Pat Fernandes, gorgeous, vibrant thing.

Johnny Fowler,
incredibly funny.

Cheryl, well, hysterical.

Dave Ridler,
you can't ignore him.

They would arrive and it was
like, "no, here we go.

"Okay. Here's trouble."

Certainly by the time
Yog and I

got there on the first evening,

they were nearly all
drunk as lords.

So, yeah, I think it was
a fairly swift realization

that this was gonna be
good fun.

I can remember just laughing
and laughing and laughing.

- Yeah.
- But they were trouble.

- I set out--
- They were trouble?

They were... Mostly.

Like the holy trinity?

- Unholy.
- Yes. The unholy--

We were enjoying it.

- You lot had been here
most of the day, hadn't you? - We had, yeah.

And we went...
Do you remember we went--

In the bar.
It was skinny dipping.

There was no swimming about it.

- It was frolicking.
- No, it was absolutely swimming.

There was splashing and...

And Cheryl swam
right into a load of vomit,

- I can tell you.
- Disgusting.

I thought it was a lily pad.

I thought,
"what a beautiful thing."

We did
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,"

and Cheryl and Pat
were in that.

I first met George and Andrew
through Shirlie.

We all used to go out
dancing together.

She may have been
about 16 or 17.

She worked in a hairdresser

where one of my old
school friends worked.

So I actually asked her
if she wanted to be in Wham!

I said, "no, I'm doing my
apprenticeship in hairdressing.

It's really important."

I don't know
if she regrets that.

Damn.

Back in the day,

I used to hang around
with Boy George,

who lived just down the road
from me, and I drove.

So, I would drive,

and he'd get me
into all the clubs.

And that was it.
That was how I met Yog.

So, yeah, I think
she got talking to George,

and then, next minute,
she's in our gang of friends

because George is...
was, more the merrier.

He was always,
"The more friends we've got with us, the better."

It was a golden
chapter in our lives, Wham!,

and our friendship
was just that, as well.

Yog and Andrew
were never big superstars.

To us, it was kind of,
"Well, they're just our friends."

They were just two guys
from Bushey.

I first encountered Wham!
right at the beginning, in 1982.

I was employed
by Smash Hits magazine,

and I reviewed the singles.

There was something
about the Wham! thing

that was very true to
where George had come from.

To me,
that's being a serious artist.

And then they became huge.

After a year of sellout
concerts and hit records,

not to mention the
undying hero worship

of their predominantly
young fans,

Wham! may not be altogether

too surprised
to be receiving

this Best British Group
award tonight.

1984 was really the moment

when Wham! were achieving

everything George had planned.
It was taking off.

They're on a par
with the other great groups.

Everyone looked at Wham!
and Spandau

and Culture Club and ABC.

These were the top groups.

And in my mind,
'cause I was their manager,

and in George's mind,
'cause he was George,

Wham! were the top
of those four.

George and Andrew
were in America doing a concert tour.

What do you think of Wham!?

I love them!

Wham! mania appears to be
at fever pitch in Reagan land.

It was absolutely essential that they broke America.

I want to get Andrew's
autograph so bad.

I think... God.
He is God.

That's my song right there.

It was, like,
early '80s.

MTV was a big deal.

That video was coming on
every second.

We was dancing around.
You know, we were kids,

so it made us happy.

I was blown away
at how beautiful this man was.

He was so beautiful.

Each song
was enlarging the audience

to build a bigger and bigger
fan base all the time.

Things could hardly

have gone any better for us
that year.

Although I didn't
actually expect it to be as big as it was,

I thought it would be great
to finish it off with a Christmas song.

It would be impossible
to consider yourself

the biggest success ever
in the music business

without having a number one
at Christmas.

Every major artist
always seemed to have got that number one.

It became obsessively important
with people

to have a number one
at Christmas.

It was a dull,
boring Sunday in 1984.

We were just passing time.

I remember Andrew
was watching the football,

and I'd just got
one of those 4-tracks that you could have at home.

And suddenly,
this melody came into my head,

and I thought, "God, that would
be great for Christmas."

So I went upstairs.

Yog just disappeared.

He recorded the skeleton
of "Last Christmas,"

the keyboard rhythm,
the basic drum track,

and the chorus.

Came back around about
an hour later

in a state of high excitement
and said,

"Andy, Andy, you've got to come
and listen to this."

"I've written
a Christmas song.

"It will perfectly
round off the year."

And I went
and I played it to him.

My God.
That's it.

He knew
he'd absolutely nailed it.

Bafflingly brilliant,
stroke of genius.

Where would you like me?

My name is Chris Porter.

I was the engineer
on "Last Christmas."

I first met Wham! on their
very first studio recording,

a song called "Wham Rap!"

About four or five hours
into the first session, start of the recording,

two boys walked in, in shorts,

literally wearing shorts

full of fun, full of laughter.
And I thought,

"These are our artists?
Really?"

That was the beginning.

Well, Andy's guitar
is on 10, really,

and Hugh's is on 11.

Just Hugh's
wasn't loud enough then.

Yog had
a very clear idea

of how he wanted
"Last Christmas" to sound.

It was very much defined by
how he had recorded the demo.

The best way to do that
was to record it himself.

I don't think
he wanted anyone else involved in it.

I don't think he wanted
any musicianship

or any interference between
his idea and its execution.

He recorded it
as he had it in his mind's eye,

acutely in his mind's eye.

I was an interface
between his creativity,

his natural creativity,

and the equipment
that we needed to use

to make these things happen.

So, we would have started off,

Literally the first thing
that would have happened on the session,

after we'd
set up the Christmas lights,

- and we'd settle down...
- Unwrap me present.

...would be the LinnDrum,

program the LinnDrum.

George insisted that he play
everything himself on that record.

It was something which
he'd said he was gonna do.

So we imported...
We hired in the equipment,

and he sat down
at the beginning of the day,

programmed the LinnDrum,
and we set off from there.

Haven't seen one of these for years.

I mean, it's almost violent,
isn't it?

Yeah. Well, that is
the LinnDrum, isn't it?

- I mean, it's very New Order.
- Yeah.

So, you've got...

kick drum, snare,
hi-hat, shaker.

And the hi-hat is really,
really low.

And this is the bed.

The bass was actually
the last thing to go on,

but although it's very
transparent in what it does,

it's very important.

Just pulsing through.

You know, he had great rhythm,
as we all know.

But he could play.
He had great feel and...

Yeah.
A bit of variation here.

You've got the sleigh
bells coming in.

This is instant Christmas,
of course.

Now, keyboards,
really interesting

in that we start off
with just one keyboard.

George wasn't a great
keyboard player by any means,

so the part is very simple.

It's a four-finger part,
literally these two fingers

on each hand
playing those notes.

George would not
have played it like a pianist 'cause he isn't a pianist.

So I would probably
play it one-handed...

...like that.

But he would probably do it
like two and two, alright?

And keep the pinkies
out of the way

as much as possible, like this.

He'd do...

But you've got the same chord.

And...

And...

Yeah. Happy, joyous.

It's great to hear this again
after so many years.

The genius is...

it is so much more than
the sum of its parts.

- Yeah.
- The... The...

It evokes Christmas

like virtually nothing else.

It's got a reverb on it
and a delayed reverb,

mostly a delayed reverb
which repeats and bounces.

- Yeah.
- So it's giving you even more

- of this sleigh bell rhythm.
- Yeah.

- Even without
the sleigh bells... - Yeah.

- ...it has that sense
of locomotion. - Yeah.

That's just such
a simple backdrop.

Again, very few instruments.

And it's just a platform
for the voice,

which performs so much
of the work

that might be done
by instruments.

He wanted his voice
to be the lead instrument,

the important instrument
in the track,

so nothing to detract
from that.

Hi. Hi.

George's songwriting has been a huge inspiration for me,

and especially
as I'm getting older,

I think, with my singing,

sometimes you don't
have to say too many things.

Sometimes three words
with your voice is enough.

And, for me,
George's songwriting

was so intelligently,
timelessly classic.

They were universal
and timeless lyrically.

I'm hearing one of the
greatest singers of all time. That's what I'm hearing.

I've been listening
more and more to this, and he sounds so young.

And his voice is so pure.

"Happy Christmas."

You don't have to work
too hard.

You don't have to give it
too much expression.

You can lay back.

You can draw the listener in
by not shouting at them.

Singing is the most personal
thing in the world.

It's like standing naked
in front of people.

You can tell he's baring
his soul.

It's like...
It's like a diary entry.

It's like hearing someone's
private moments when he sings.

He means every single note
that he sings.

I always loved the way
he'd go "Me," and it's so...

It's properly "Me."
You've been breathy

up until then,
and he goes, "Me."

It didn't feel like he was
trying to outsmart you with his lyrics,

and I think that's
such a fine balance to be relatable as a songwriter

and write songs
that everyone can relate to,

but also be deeply honest.

You know,
there's a self-confidence

in George's voice.
He knows who he is.

He just flies when he sings.

My goodness.

To hold a note
that smoothly for that long,

it's just... it's incredible
It's an incredible thing.

That particular verse,

as I said, you get the feeling

of the party being over,
you know?

It's the end
of a Christmas night,

and there he is
with his disappointed,

you know, his disappointment
in love.

He makes you feel it
through his lyrics just by being honest.

He lets you know...
He lets you in.

He lets you in and...
You know?

For me, I love a miserable
Christmas song.

Um--

I don't love happy
Christmas songs, if I'm honest,

'cause I find Christmas
is beautiful,

but there's a melancholy
at Christmas

that I can't help
but lean into.

Because I've had
such a lucky life

and such beautiful
family Christmases

that I always spend
my Christmases thinking about,

you know, all the people
out there who don't have that.

Not all
Christmas songs are sad, but "Last Christmas" is sad.

"Last Christmas
I gave you my heart,

and the very next day
you gave it away."

I mean, damn.

The message is universal.

Um... heartbreak is everywhere.

It's a growing-up song
and it's a love song

and it's a loss song.

And it's all those things,
but most of all,

it's got a fantastically
singable melody.

It just seemed
to have arrived, fully formed from somewhere.

You can't believe someone else
hadn't written it.

There's something
kind of organic about it.

I think my thoughts
when he played it to me

was, "Damn this guy.
He gets it right every time.

"Can't he just slip up
one day?"

But, no, George gets it right
and does it right.

And then I said, "What are you
gonna do for a video?"

and he had that all worked out.

George, he said,
"We're going to go to the Swiss mountains

and we're gonna have
a gang of people

and there's gonna be
a dinner party."

You know, as always happened
with videos,

he wasn't directing it,

but there was
a huge amount of him going into the direction.

I'm Andy Morahan.

I directed the "Last Christmas"
video back in 1984.

One of the managers
called me and said,

"George wants to do a video
set in a Christmas kind of location

for this new Christmas single"
that was coming out.

It was kind of
early September, October.

It was almost
impossible to find snow at that time of the year.

I literally was batting
around Europe

and got a call from one
of my location scouts saying,

"I think it's gonna snow
in Saas-Fee."

We went to a place
called Saas-Fee,

which was one
of those lovely towns

where they don't allow cars
so the snow is all crisp and...

It was unbelievable.

I remember opening the curtains

and seeing the same view
of the mountains

that you see at the beginning
of the video and just thinking,

"My God."
It was amazing.

It was essentially
those of our friends

that were free to come
and shoot for a few days.

Andrew said,
"You get paid," so we were on the flight.

You know,
it was as simple as that.

I don't think
I ever got a call.

I think it was just assumed
that, like,

"Come on, we're off."

And I was like, "No. Snow.

Cold. No." You know?
Caribbean girl. No, no.

I'd never,
ever experienced snow like it.

There we are.

- I do believe that is--
- Is this it?

- That's it.
- Wow.

- The trees--
- No way.

Look how big the trees are.
Hold on.

Go, go!

Go!

Well done!

- You did it!
- Whoo, whoo, whoo!

I carried the logs.

Shirl and Peps
put snow on my shoulders.

- Now...
- And then I--

- See? Get that?
- And then I put--

I put one
on his head, actually.

- Hold on.
- Same wobble.

- Yeah.
- Hasn't changed

- in 40 years.
- This is what I did.

Yeah,
but I got the votes on it.

No!

Shirl! No!

Do you know why Yog
had his hat on when he came over the fence?

Someone threw a snowball at him
and ruined his blow-dry.

We gathered
a load of snowballs up

and built, like, a cannon stack
of snowballs

and then started slinging them.

When we were down there,
I threw a snowball at you

- and it hit you right
in the eye. - Yes, you did.

- God.
- She was very specific...

- I did.
- ...it was you.

Yeah.

I think being back
there in Saas-Fee,

it's in some ways
an homage in itself to the song.

I feel quite blessed being here.

We fall right back
into that thing of friendship.

By involving
their friends,

it made it relaxed,
it made it fun.

All the kids who
want to have fun get on a coach

and go to the back
of the coach and have fun.

And this literally
was like that.

George is fighting
his bad hair day there.

The memories are flooding back,
as they say.

The way we filmed it
was letting the cameras roll

and letting them, you know,

pretty much kind of ad-lib
the whole thing.

Whilst the majority
of the cast

were played by our friends,

the love interest was played
by model Kathy Hill.

I'm Kathy Hill.

I'm the girl that broke
George Michael's heart.

Not nice.

My favorite scene
is coming down the hill with him

'cause he just kept falling
every single time,

so we'd have to walk up again,

and in the end,

we just fell on the floor
and he sat on me and we just laughed.

And I've still got the scarf,
which I will never part with.

That's a treasured possession.

I love it.

Kathy was just...

We were just in awe.
She was just so beautiful

and so poised
and so professional

and everything we weren't.

It was very different
to any other job I'd done

because everybody
was just having a laugh.

They all knew each other,
on holiday.

Yeah, it was
very different. Yes.

I think
it may have been slightly daunting for Kathy

because we were quite
a close group of friends.

But whilst we were close,
we weren't closed.

So I think Kathy soon felt
comfortable with us all.

- Hello.
- Kathy!

Nice to see you!

My gosh!

My gosh, look.
How fabulous are you?

We've got the star
of the video.

The story of the video is pretty simple.

So, "Last Christmas,
I gave you my heart," you know?

So that implies he had
a relationship with that girl

who now is in a relationship
with Andrew, who never knew.

So there's a kind of triangle
going on there.

The Christmas
dinner scene is the first point

where the viewer is led
to understand

that something has gone on

between the character
Kathy plays

and the character
that George plays.

We wanted to have this device
of something that kind of

connected the triangle
of the relationship.

That is done
by the use of a brooch,

a diamante brooch,
which happened to be my grandmother's.

The brooch was, I think,
just something

I'd worn for some promo shots.

And I think
it was just a pretty easy spot for Andy

to work as the love token
that George

would have given to Kathy
the previous year.

It was all going
swimmingly well

until between the first
and second day shoot.

The brooch happened
to go missing.

I had everything with me,

and it was still pinned
to the shirt.

And everybody
was looking for it.

But the shirt was in my bag,
and I thought everything had gone back.

Everyone was panicking
a little bit.

I don't know if Andrew

was even aware
it had gone missing,

but from the production side,
it was a significant moment.

Everybody was
searching frantically,

and they kept asking me.
I said, "No, no, I've given it back."

And then there it was
in the bottom of my bag.

Thank God.

There we go.
Yeah! Ooh!

Oy! What's going on there?

Johnny, you were supposed
to be my boyfriend.

It looked like
he was going in for the kiss there.

Shirlie's flirting.

The production team,
in their wisdom,

had chosen to provide us
with real wine,

right to the brim.

And then the assistant director

came and said, "No, no, no,

"it's got to look like you're
halfway through the meal,

not just starting it."

So we had to have
half-empty every single glass,

and there were dozens of them.

So, yeah, it got things off
to a flying start.

So, what's suddenly
come back to me

is that all these scenes
had a kind of shelf life

in terms of timing.

You know, you'd start off
and they'd relax and they get going.

You had a great middle period

when you're picking up
good stuff.

Normally descended
into mayhem and chaos.

The scenes
around the table didn't have to be acted

because we were
having great fun.

I think at one point
I put some clown's nose on.

There were loads
of different props

and sort of silly
Christmas party hats.

And it had all the flavor
and atmosphere

of a Christmas party.

And it did have casualties,
of which I was one.

Unfortunately,
we were being served real wine.

Andrew and his two mates
were absolutely rat-assed

down the other end
of the table.

Actually, he is...
He is plastered.

He is, totally. Totally.

I don't think that many of us

were that sober
during most of it, really.

You don't give
young people booze

and expect them
not to drink it. - I know.

We'd been
laughing so much

that my eyes had puffed up
a wee bit

and I didn't really look

like I could take part
in the further filming.

So it was suggested
that I sit it out.

The last scene is
where the house party

is lying around
in the living room area

and winding down
for the evening

reflectively and satedly,
except for me.

I was like,
"Don't touch my hair!"

If you think
about it, in those days, you know,

to do a totally narrative video
for a pop band

that didn't have
any performance in it

in terms of singing the song,

it was pretty extraordinary.

It feels like, you know,
an old favorite movie.

It'd been great fun,

and we knew that we had
the last piece of the jigsaw

with the video to go with our
prospective number-one track.

And then Band Aid sprouted
from nowhere.

The Ethiopian
famine appeal

will be boosted by sales
of a special pop record.

Over 25 stars sang for nothing
at today's recording session in London,

and all the proceeds
will go to famine relief.

To me,
it didn't matter what it was.

To me, it was simply a device.

We could have all just
counted up to 100,

so long as we were all there.

"Play that. That's fine."
You know?

When Bob Geldof
of the Boomtown Rats

saw the TV pictures
from Ethiopia,

he decided
he had to do something.

And he found
his rock music friends felt the same way.

So George Michael of Wham!,

Sting of The Police,

Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet,

Bananarama,
and a score of other stars

gathered to record
a Christmas song with a message

from which all the profits
will go to Ethiopia.

The "Last Christmas"
video shoot was very close to Band Aid.

We all flew back
to London together.

We literally touched down
in Heathrow,

and George went
straight to that recording.

Yog realized
once he got to the studio

and was in the company
of major artists

of the recording industry

that our hopes and aspirations
of a Christmas number one

were disappearing
in front of his eyes.

He came straight back
from making sure

his record would be number one

to doing something
to make sure it wouldn't be.

That actual line itself, the...

is hard for me
to sing powerfully.

If you wanted to kind of change
the notation a little bit

so it started off a bit higher
or something.

I could do that if you want.

I always get really shy
when there's loads and loads of other pop stars about.

I just tend to clam up a bit.

But it's been good.

The song's really catchy.

It's a major threat
to our fourth number one.

- Or our possibilities.
- Your fourth number--

What's your next single?

It's called "Last Christmas."
It's a Christmas single.

Is it
very Christmassy? - Very.

Well, I can't ask you
to sing a bit.

You'll get mortified.

You can't ask me
to sing a little bit? - Yeah.

- I'll sing you a little bit.
- Alright.

- It goes--
- Right.

And that's it. I'm not giving
you any more than that.

We genuinely were convinced
that 1984,

that Christmas single,
that crowning glory would be ours.

It was whisked away

from in front of our noses.

That was what was
so ironic about the Band Aid

"Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Everyone else
was just thinking, "How fantastic it is.

"It's gonna be great.
It's gonna be number one."

It's gonna be this, that.

And I had all
those same feelings about it,

but I just had this little
bastard ego thing

that I just had to keep
squashing that was going,

"Shit, shit, shit,
shit! Shit!"

He knew
he'd just done his fabulous song,

and he was prepared
to knock that on the head,

prepared to give it up
for this other thing.

It definitely would have been
number one had it not been for

"Do They Know It's Christmas."

Not only did he give it up,
but it was number two,

and he gave us all his cash.

Some good news
this morning from Wham!

Even though
they're at number two

and they haven't
made number one for Christmas,

they are donating
all the royalties

of their record worldwide
to the Ethiopia Fund.

So, that's numbers
one and two,

totally in aid
of the Ethiopia Famine Fund.

He gave all his royalties from
"Last Christmas" to Band Aid.

That's amazing.

Whilst we'd been
stymied in our quest

for a Christmas number one,

George's ambitions
remained undiminished.

Both he and I understood
that his future would lie as a solo artist.

Tonight at Wembley Stadium,

George Michael
and Andrew Ridgeley

take the stage
for the last time ever as Wham!

When it came to an end,

it was simply because
I was no longer...

Well, neither of us
were teenagers anymore.

And the image had to be
two young guys,

you know, having a good laugh,
having a good time.

There were lots
of reasons for us splitting,

but none of them were to do
with our relationship,

which was what was...
It was the best part of it.

I went abroad
shortly after Wham!

But we saw each other

as much as sort of
circumstances would allow.

His life had changed a lot,
as well.

There really were very few

that had the global success
that he did.

The opportunity for him
to spend time with his friends

was reduced naturally
as a consequence,

but he made sure
that he did at Christmas.

So we all would see each other,

you know,
pretty much as an annual event.

Christmas was an amazing time for us.

You know,
the generosity of George.

He would get us together.
He would buy us gifts.

He would want to sit
around the Christmas tree.

George loved Christmas.

I mean, George was
obsessively Christmas,

I mean, laughably Christmasy.

I mean, you really could
tease George about Christmas.

His house was
always beautifully decorated,

and whenever he met you
at the door,

the first thing he would say to
me is, "Come and see my tree."

He was like a child
about his Christmas tree.

And he would always have
a party Christmas Eve.

That was the highlight
of Christmas,

to be honest with you.

One of my strongest
memories of Christmas

is us all being together
on Christmas Eve

and thinking, "Yeah,
let's go carol-singing."

We had, like, the...
We had a beatbox

with, like, Christmas songs

with a tin, you know,
raising money.

It would have surprised
people had they recognized

the assembled cast,

but I think Yog used to
slightly disguise himself.

I think George liked that,

you know,
going to somebody's house

and them not knowing
who the strange man was

- in the long brown wig.
- Yeah.

And then the penny would drop,
and they'd be like...

And then we'd move on
very, very quickly

when they realized it was
George and Andrew.

It was a nice thing.
It was kind of a yearly thing.

It was our thing.

- But Yog was Mr. Christmas.
- Yeah.

He liked taking
everybody on the carol singing.

sending around
those huge hampers.

Come on, sing for me.

"Happy Christmas."

- Come on.
- When I look back,

what Yog did
was incredible really

because he knew we had
a tight group of friends.

And he worked really hard on
keeping those friends together.

Hello!
Happy Christmas!

And he knew
that if he wasn't there

and doing
those things, like having the Christmas parties,

the friendship group
would dissipate.

I'll have one of those.

First time you ever see
George serving.

At last.

Here's yours, Santa.
Here's your present.

Hey, Santa!

I went and bought it myself.

And it shows
as soon as he left us

and passed on that it did
dissipate and it did go.

Having the news
that he passed away at Christmas

was one of the worst
experiences of my life.

That is really hard
to talk about, though.

You know, to...
To lose...

To lose such a close friend,

someone that, you know,
you care for an awful lot,

that you have
a particular, um...

Particular friendship with
and a particular bond,

it was
a truly desperate moment.

He was essentially
my other half.

I never conceived of a future
without him.

Receiving that phone call
on Christmas Day was just extraordinary.

I mean, I howled like a wolf.

I fell to my knees,
and I howled like a wolf.

Took me a long...
Well, quite a few years

to even not stop
dreading Christmas.

But I think
when someone passes away,

you know
that they wouldn't want you

to not enjoy that time
that they loved.

So, with that spirit,

you eventually realize
you've got to enjoy this time

'cause that was his time

and he wouldn't have wanted
to ruin it.

Last year, Princess Catherine
put on a lovely carol concert

at Westminster Abbey,

and my son Roman wrote
a lovely speech about George.

And Jacob Collier
sang "Last Christmas."

George was a man of
great kindness and compassion,

giving so much
to those in need.

George was also my godfather.

He was there
from the day I was born.

He helped inspire
not only myself,

but so many others.

His past Christmas
and my children's Christmas, as well.

That's what's amazing.
And it will be for their children.

The song lives on.

That song embodies Christmas
for people in this country and worldwide.

That's a song you hear
every single Christmas, all the time.

And even though the lyric
is sad,

I can imagine
so many joyful moments

have been shared to that song.

You know, I've been in pubs
at Christmastime in the UK

and that song comes on and
everyone's kissing each other

and dancing and smiling
and having an amazing time.

Yeah. Special.

There's a growing
sense of "Last Christmas"

establishing itself
more broadly

as a piece of Christmas,
as a part of Christmas.

And it's been extraordinary
to see how many

major artists have covered
the song year after year.

That song is so huge.

I was so happy to record it.

I mean, I jumped at the chance
because that's one of my favorite Christmas songs.

The thing about
George Michael's voice, I can feel it, you know?

He really means
what he's saying, you know?

I'm kind of similar
in my own music.

I'm honest with my emotions.

When I sing a lyric,
I mean it, you know?

I really mean what I say.

And so we we we were bound
to connect someway, somehow.

There is something
about this song

which transcends everything.

It's your own feelings,
your own thoughts.

And I think that's another
reason why it stays so current.

You see an enormous number
of people

making versions
of "Last Christmas" around Christmastime...

...almost as if
it was part of their lives.

In the year after Yog's death,

there was a fan initiative
across the social media channel

to get "Last Christmas"
to number one.

But whilst it didn't
happen for us that year,

our fans didn't give up.

The fans and the people
have the power

to download your record
over and over and over and over again.

So, yeah, I mean,
it's a blessing to have streaming

'cause, streaming,
people have the power.

For the first-ever time
in the history of this song,

Wham! and "Last Christmas"
is your official Christmas number one today.

"Last Christmas" is number one!

It only took 39 years

for this Christmas classic
to top the charts.

Thirty-nine years,
but Wham! finally have their Christmas number one.

Andrew Ridgeley from the band
joining us right now.

How do you feel, first time
at Christmas being number one?

Does it feel like
a relief in any way?

Does it feel like a big moment?

It is a big moment,
and it's a big moment for me

and for everyone involved
with Wham! and George Michael.

You know,
when Yog wrote this track,

he wrote it with
number one in mind. That was the goal.

Everyone wanted
that number-one status.

And 2023 was that year.

This year's Christmas
number one was streamed

a record-breaking
13.3 million times.

It's also made history,
going into the record books

for the longest-ever journey
of a song

to make it to Christmas
number one.

All those millions of times,
millions of people make a decision to stream it

because the public were
thinking about George Michael.

It makes it more special,
doesn't it, that the people chose it?

It's sad that he's
not here to see that.

But how amazing, you know?
And how amazing for his family and everyone around

to be able to celebrate that.

We all know George
and how he talk and how he spoke

and what he would have said.

And he would have been
really pleased,

quite cool about it,

and would have probably
just said, "Told you so."

Yeah, maybe it was a song
whose time eventually came.

Forty years ago,
I was just the driver

for the group Wham!

Today I'm the mayor,
mayor of Saas-Fee.

And I'm 40 years older.

And I still like Saas-Fee.

And I still like their music.
That's all.

Forty years ago, a film company
brought Wham! to our village

to film their
"Last Christmas" music video.

Today we celebrate
"Last Christmas,"

them, and Saas-Fee.

- Andrew...
- Thank you.

...Pepsi and Shirlie
back to Saas-Fee.

I think he would
have loved to have been here

at this point in our lives.

It is a delight
to be back here in Saas-Fee.

We are only missing
our dear friend George,

who would have been
absolutely thrilled to have been here with us

to have joined in a celebration

of his wonderful song.

It makes me feel very grateful
and thankful for

that which Wham!
meant to people.

It just really leaves me

to dedicate
this wonderful sculpture

to my dear friend George,

our much-missed
and beloved friend.

So, if you will allow me
and the ladies...

I hold it.

There have been a few little things

that have gone wrong
while we've been here,

you know,
like de-robing the statue.

That was George.

I mean, he would find
that so hysterical.

He would have loved all of that.

It was so crazy, but not,
so simple and lovely.

There was an essence
of him there.

He was there.

When you've loved
someone and they've loved you,

that doesn't disappear.

And here we are honoring
a song that he wrote

that was so amazing.

What year was it?
What year--

- Hang on.
- What year did we shoot--

- 1984. Shirlie.
- 1984?

Yeah, 'cause it's 40 years...

There's been a lot
of reminiscing,

but lots of fresh jokes.

And it's really special,
very, very special.

What a beautiful thing.

Well, I think the thing
that has really been missing,

and it is really sad,
is that Yog isn't here.

- Yes.
- But I know he would absolutely love this

and he'd be loving
all the banter between you guys.

Well, last year I saw a medium.

And she said,
"He will be with you in the mountains."

- This was in November
last year. - Wow.

And I had no idea what
she was talking about.

Like, "With me
in the mountains?"

And, yeah, look.

- I'm here in the mountains...
- In the mountains.

...re-filming "Last Christmas."

So, let's--
Yeah, let's have a toast to George.

Andrew, do you want to lead the
way on the toast?

- Yes. To our beloved chum.
- Our lovely Yog.

- Yeah.
- To Yog.

- Cheers, Yog!
- To Yog!

- Cheers, Yog.
- Cin cin, mate.

Cheers, mate.

Always with us,
especially at Christmas.

He's here.

I feel him very deeply.

I just...
I don't know. It's that thing.

You've just got to be
really open and positive

when you've lost someone
that they are around you

'cause even if--
If it helps you cope,

it's what you should do.

But I think he was around us
in the mountains,

and that's why when we were
up the mountain,

he threw all
the Christmas trees over.

Fair to say, though,
they didn't get the required--

He's here.

He had...
He had to stay on.

Cheers!

Here's to Yog!
We love you!

- We love you, Yog.
- Cheers, darling.

Cheers.
Cheers, everyone.

His music
was his children.

It was his purpose.

So the fact that we're
still here honoring it

and generations,
younger generations

are gonna know the song,
I think he would love that.

Cheese!

One more!

That Wham!
and "Last Christmas" has reached so far

and touched so deeply
so many people is remarkable.

His music still vibrates
through the universe.

Amazing to write a song

that you know it's gonna be
around for every Christmas.

He was a genius.