This episode, we’re enormously privileged to welcome award winning filmmaker and author, David Leaf, to discuss his latest book, SMiLE: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson. This celebratory work takes us to the very heart of Brian Wilson’s lost musical masterpiece; its traumatic unravelling in 1967, and the road to a triumphant rebirth in 2004 as an ecstatically received live concert experience and studio album.

David affords us some fascinating, behind the scenes insights into his 2001 television special recorded at Radio City Music Hall, An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, his Grammy-nominated documentary, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, and talks candidly about some of the life experiences that shaped Brian’s exquisite artistry.

Brian Wilson’s epic journey through the music of SMiLE is a dramatic and inspirational story, and we’re so lucky to learn about it from someone with such a uniquely close and personal perspective, who was critical to bringing SMiLE back to life, and to whom Brian Wilson himself said, ‘I can’t do this unless you’re there with me every day’.

Our dedicated webpage for this episode has some additional background, images and links, with some suggestions for further reference;

https://dec4podcast.com/2025/04/09/david-leaf-smile-the-rise-fall-resurrection-of-brian-wilson/

Our leading contributor, Gary Wells, joins us to explore two tumultuous decades in the lives of the Beach Boys, through the lens of Malcolm Leo’s 1985 BAFTA nominated biographical documentary, The Beach Boys: An American Band.

We learn about some of the key people on both sides of the camera, and of Malcolm Leo’s established method of sourcing a wide variety of music and interview clips (long before the easy accessibility of digital archives) to create an intimate, first-person narrative.

The Beach Boys: An American Band is a fan’s movie; if you already love the Beach Boys, you’ll love them even more after immersing yourself in this documentary. But, it’s worth noting that it was far from the complete story even then, and there have been 40 more years of eventful Beach Boys history since.

Main episode on all the usual platforms, and at our website;https://dec4podcast.com/2025/03/05/gary-wells-the-beach-boys-an-american-band/

It's a great thrill and privilege this episode to welcome multi-talented actor, writer and music artist, Andrew Mackintosh, who carved his own special niche in British television history as Detective Sergeant Alistair Greig, a key character in over 300 episodes of one of the most successful and influential television dramas of all time, The Bill.

In this clip, Andrew remembers his friend and fellow cast member, Kevin Lloyd, whose character, DC Tosh Lines, was one of the most popular characters of all...

Find the complete conversation on your favourite podcast platform, with some additional background at this episode's webpage;

⁠https://dec4podcast.com/2024/09/17/a-conversation-with-andrew-mackintosh/