The MAN behind the MUSIC

Robbie Williams' turbulent life and career are shown through a different lens in a new documentary

-  VICTORIA WILSON

ROBBIE WILLIAMS
NEW FROM WEDNESDAY 8 NOVEMBER, NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Robbie Williams’ rise to fame was meteoric. In 1990, aged just 16, he found instant celebrity as a member of chart-topping boy band Take That. After quitting the group in 1995, he went on to become the most successful UK solo artists of all time, with 14 UK No.1 albums and a record 18 BRIT Award wins under his belt.

From those early days, Robbie’s life has been captured on camera and 30,000 hours of footage exists that he has never seen… until now. Netflix’s new four-part documentary series Robbie Williams follows the Angels, Let Me Entertain You and She’s the One singer on a trip down memory lane as he watches this archive material, reliving the dizzy heights of stardom but also recalling his battles with addiction and his mental-health struggles.

The series is directed by Joe Pearlman, who helmed the critically acclaimed films Bros: After the Screaming Stops (2018) and Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now, which won Authored Documentary at the National Television Awards earlier this year.

In an exclusive interview, Joe reveals what he learnt about the 49-year-old star while filming the series…

Why did you want to make the documentary?

For me, Robbie Williams was this cultural figure who was always in the papers and being talked about – but I’m not sure I knew too much about him and he just seemed like an intriguing character.