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What to expect from a docuseries exploring how Madness rose to fame

- HANNAH DAVIES

BEFORE WE WAS WE: MADNESS BY MADNESS

FROM THURSDAY 20 JUNE, ITVX FACTUAL

They are Camden Town’s finest, with a string of hit albums and singles under their baggy trousers. But how did Madness go one step beyond to become one of the best-loved bands of the 1980s?

This is the question at the heart of Before We Was We: Madness by Madness, a docuseries launching on ITVX this week. Featuring interviews with past and present members of the ska-pop group, the threeparter charts how they went from running amok on the streets of north London to achieving long-lasting success.

Here, frontman Graham ‘Suggs’ McPherson, now 63, guides us through the episodes…

EPISODE ONE

Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, the series reveals how several members of the group were caught up in petty crime during their teenage years while Suggs narrowly avoided being taken into care.

‘My dad was a heroin addict, and my mum wasn’t around much because she worked nights singing in clubs,’ explains Suggs. ‘I had to go down the West End and find her if I wanted my dinner.’