A few of you might remember my complaining last year that there was no 40th anniversary celebration of Wham!’s historic trip to China in 1985. Well, it looks like we might be getting a treat in 2026.
In 1985, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of the duo Wham! became the first Western pop act to perform in communist China. It’s a much talked about publicity stunt by Simon Napier-Bell to make Wham! a household name worldwide.
According to a press release, Zinc Media Group plc announced the completion of a new feature-length, 90-minute documentary produced for Sony Music Entertainment telling the story of WHAM!’s historic 1985 tour of China:
Wham! 10 Days in China uses newly restored and previously unseen archive footage alongside new interviews with Andrew Ridgeley to reveal the full story of the first Western pop act to perform in communist China. The concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou marked a significant cultural moment as Western pop music was introduced to Chinese audiences for the first time.
With the restored footage and exclusive interviews with Andrew Ridgeley and members of the touring party, the documentary will be a long-awaited look at the unseen footage.
The new documentary is directed by Mike Christie (Nick Cave’s Veiled World, New Order: Decades).
“The existence of this footage has been a mystery for years, spoken about in fragments but never truly seen. The story of the tour is intensely dramatic and finding a way to tell it in a form that the Wham! collective felt was finally worth pursuing has been a real honour.”
In the 1980s, a Wham! in China documentary was released. In fact, there are two versions of the original Wham! in China documentary. Oscar-winning filmmaker, Lindsay Anderson, was originally hired to create the documentary. Because of conflicts, Lindsay Anderson’s version has been rarely seen, except for a screening of Wham in China: If You Were There in May of 2024. More information on the conflict is available in the previous link.
When George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! went to China in 1985, director Lindsay Anderson was charged with the documentary for this historic event.
For the first time, Anderson’s documentary of Wham! in China, If You Were There, will be screened for the public on May 25 and May 31, 2024. Unfortunately, tickets have already sold out.
The 79-minute documentary is described as the following:
In 1985, at the height of their success, WHAM! were invited to be the first western pop group to tour Communist China since the Cultural Revolution. Accepting the offer, the duo made an unlikely approach to Anderson, asking him to direct a documentary record of the tour. However, the collaboration ended awkwardly when his cut of the film was rejected by the band. The film was subsequently re-edited to incorporate more concert footage and released as WHAM! In China: Foreign Skies. Anderson’s cut, titled If You Were There… has never before been screened publicly, making this a not-to-be-missed, potentially once-only opportunity to see it.
Thanks to Andrew Ridgeley, and to Chris Organ and David Austin of George Michael Entertainment for their co-operation in connection with this screening.
According to The Guardian:
The exact sequence of events leading to Anderson’s dismissal are not easy to discern from his papers. Napier-Bell wrote that the first cut of the film was “achingly boring” and that Michael thought a second version appeared to be “scornful” of Wham!.
“It should have been possible for Lindsay – or any director with an ounce of compromise in him – to have adjusted it to what Wham! needed as a promo tool,” says Napier-Bell today. “But he obviously felt it beneath him to compromise with two upstart kids. He was always a difficult old bugger, full of guilt at his own public school education, but suffering from the superiority it had given him.”
Jazz Summers, a former Wham! manager along with Simon Napier Bell, has a new book entitled Big Life (Amazon Ad).
The Daily Mail has an excerpt of the book, which details how Summers made the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” video shoot look bigger than it was and how George Michael usually only responded to the name “Yog” when drunk.
Jazz Summers, a former Wham! manager along with Simon Napier Bell, has a new book entitled 
(Amazon Ad) in 2006.