New BBC 'imagine...' documentary on Pet Shop Boys confirmed for Spring 2024

[Harry]

if Chris were to say he was straight I would be like, thats interesting. if Neil said he was straight I would think he was kidding.

A friend of mine holidayed with Chris in Ibiza in the late 90's. He (Chris) is not straight.

I would love to hear more about this!

[Nickname]

if Chris were to say he was straight I would be like, thats interesting. if Neil said he was straight I would think he was kidding.

A friend of mine holidayed with Chris in Ibiza in the late 90's. He (Chris) is not straight.

Is Chris gay?

One classic joke of this forum in the early '00.

[Nickname]

Have you realized we have been listening the whole story about why they call themselves PSB again and again like we knew every about it and now it wasn't strictly too.

- The pet shop never exited.
- The owners were friends of other friends from Chris. Not really direct friends.

[NikacP0kac]

I am so happy Decide is finally more than a Hotspot B-side - now it has a special place in their canon as an epic outro to a wonderful documentary.

[oakey]

I also think this document was, as usual, too much focused on 82-88 period. Some people say it's for general audiance and it has to be that way. Some other might claim it was a chance to show their music from a different angle instead of talking endlessly about West End girls.

^^ this

Difficult to follow that a documentary like this is aimed at 'the general audience'. I would think this is a niche production aimed at musos who know all about the West End girls/Bobby O story, but who am I. If this was televised in the Netherlands, hardly anyone would watch it apart from die-hard electronic music fans. But then again it's not the UK where they are probably more of a household name.

It would have been interesting to also include people they sort of fell out with: Bobby Orlando himself, Stephen Hague, David Cicero or Julian Mendelsohn.

But who knows, an extended version as a bonus on the Dreamland bluray would be very nice.

[S-sense]

This docu obviously had A life in Pop as an Inspiration/template. Some guests were already inrerviewed there and even Chris played live, and
ashamed at the end, last Time too. The best bits were the lyrics read by Neil, them being more them than ususal and the behind the scenes scenes.

Why did they focus on their origin Story and imperial Phase so much? That might be boring even for the general public after all these years.
A missed Chance really.

[TallThinMan]

I think the origin story is unusual, unlikely and therefore interesting. I never tire of hearing more about it.

I wonder whatever happened to the friends in Ealing who had the pooch shampoo parlour/pet shop? To my knowledge, they’ve never emerged to declare “that was us”.

My sister lived in London in the 1980s. She had a friend named Brian who lived in Ealing who had dinner with Neil and Chris once. Annoyingly, I have no idea how this came about or what the connection was.

Small world.

[debbieveda]

I wonder whatever happened to the friends in Ealing who had the pooch shampoo parlour/pet shop? To my knowledge, they’ve never emerged to declare “that was us”.

I found this, about the shop…the boys are number 5 x

https://usvsth3m.tumblr.com/post/10049 ... ck-history

[Harry]

I think the origin story is unusual, unlikely and therefore interesting. I never tire of hearing more about it.

I wonder whatever happened to the friends in Ealing who had the pooch shampoo parlour/pet shop? To my knowledge, they’ve never emerged to declare “that was us”.

My sister lived in London in the 1980s. She had a friend named Brian who lived in Ealing who had dinner with Neil and Chris once. Annoyingly, I have no idea how this came about or what the connection was.

Small world.

I live in Ealing now. I love that there is a Pet Shop Boys connection here, as well as lots of connections with Doctor Who, which is my other obsession.

[Patrick Bateman]

I also think this document was, as usual, too much focused on 82-88 period. Some people say it's for general audiance and it has to be that way. Some other might claim it was a chance to show their music from a different angle instead of talking endlessly about West End girls.

They could at least make an clear annoucement that the new albums is out on 26/04, display its cover, play "loneliness" etc.

The production was great, but the script is the reason why I give it 4/5.

Thought there was a good balance between the imperial period and everything else. It wasn't a chronological review of their entire career but we had plenty of content (both visual and auditory) from the last three decades too.

It's a profile of them as artists, so will invariably focus on what formed them and, as a pop group, their most successful period.

[TallThinMan]

I wonder whatever happened to the friends in Ealing who had the pooch shampoo parlour/pet shop? To my knowledge, they’ve never emerged to declare “that was us”.

I found this, about the shop…the boys are number 5 x

https://usvsth3m.tumblr.com/post/10049 ... ck-history

Oh wow, great find!

[le petit corbusier]

By the way, James Ford totally looks like Mark Ruffalo.

[Sandy Shaw]

I think the origin story is unusual, unlikely and therefore interesting. I never tire of hearing more about it.

I wonder whatever happened to the friends in Ealing who had the pooch shampoo parlour/pet shop? To my knowledge, they’ve never emerged to declare “that was us”.

My sister lived in London in the 1980s. She had a friend named Brian who lived in Ealing who had dinner with Neil and Chris once. Annoyingly, I have no idea how this came about or what the connection was.

Small world.

A couple of years ago, one of the original ''pet shop boys'' from the shop made a comment on Facebook indicating who he was and later also accepted my friend request. They were gay men (almost inevitably).

[glennjridge]

I wish they would just push out the album…. if memory serves me correct hotspot leaked onto YouTube just a few days before release. I suspect the same thing will happen in a few days. Why not head it off at the pass and release it now I say.

People will just buy it… Whereas a lot of people can’t contain themselves and will download it from YouTube and maybe never get around to buying it

[Dog]

I wish they would just push out the album…. if memory serves me correct hotspot leaked onto YouTube just a few days before release. I suspect the same thing will happen in a few days. Why not head it off at the pass and release it now I say.

People will just buy it… Whereas a lot of people can’t contain themselves and will download it from YouTube and maybe never get around to buying it

My memory is that Hotspot didn’t leak…? I’m not sure why they would blow four months of brilliant build up by shoving it out early.