0/5

Airdate: Abba the Movie

Oh. My. God.

Yes, SBS are bringing us ABBA The Movie as part of its Eurovision weekend! This little pearler was filmed in Australia during their 1977 tour. Part documentary, part “drama” it includes actor Robert Hughes chasing the Swedish band around the country in pursuit of an interview. He’s best known as “Mr Kelly” in Hey Dad.

In the trailer for this cult film you can also see a much younger Tom Oliver, “Lou” from Neighbours.

Movie: Abba The Movie – ABBA hit the European music scene in 1974 when they won the European Song Contest in Brighton with the song ‘Waterloo’. Their greatest fan base seemed to be Australia, so in 1977 they toured the major cities, and they became a phenomenon. Ashley Wallace, a midnight-to-dawn country music disc jockey is ordered by his radio station to do a two-hour special on ABBA during their visit to Australia. As Ashley doesn’t have an interview lined up, and the group’s bodyguard is not very understanding, Ashley has to travel to most major cities in Australia to try to get an interview with them. Directed by Lasse Hallström. (From Australia, in English) (Docu-drama) (1977) G CC WS

Airs 9:30pm Saturday May 24 on SBS.

Featured songs:

* “Tiger”
* “S.O.S.”
* “Money Money Money”
* “He Is Your Brother”
* “Waterloo”
* “Mamma Mia”
* “Rock Me”
* I’ve Been Waiting for You”
* “Why Did It Have To Be Me?”
* “When I Kissed The Teacher”
* “The Name of The Game”
* “Get On The Carousel” (unavailable anywhere else)
* “I’m A Marionette”
* “Fernando”
* “Dancing Queen”
* “So Long”
* “Eagle”
* “Thank You For The Music”

Kindly link to this site when sourcing or posting in messageboards, thanks!
David Knox is an occasional blogger for SBS.

7 Responses

  1. Nothing wrong with loving this annie! The atrocious special on 7 is another story. I’m a big fan of ABBA and this movie is retro gold!

  2. You spoke too soon, Herman. Seven screened ABBA’s All-Time Greatest Hits last night. Fan site ABBAMAIL wrote:

    ABBA’s All-Time Greatest Hits, an abomination of a television special produced in the UK and shown on Australia’s Channel 7 a few years ago is back!

    With a new host. The original host [Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson] now works for & rival Channel 10 so plastic 7 entertainment wonder-boy Jesse Bland, er Jesse Tobin, will now “host”.

    Set your TV recorders to AVOID this show…

    FYI, ABBA’s all-time greatest hit, according to Hit Song Science, was Mamma Mia. The special was repeated pretty much to air the Mamma Mia movie trailer at the end.

  3. Didn’t Seven screen this a few years back during one of their occasional ABBA love-in periods? With the Mama Mia movie coming out soon it looks like a appropriate time for another one of those…

    I’m still amazed that Lasse Hallstrom went from ABBA videos to the Oscar nominated A-list director he is today.

Leave a Reply