Ex-Channel 4 News anchor turns love of A Hard Day's Night into a fantastic BFI Film Classics book

When Johnny Marr says he loves your new book you know you are onto a winner.

Former anchor of Channel 4 News Samira Ahmed is talking to the Harrogate Advertiser in the run-up to her appearance at Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival on October 24.

Published by Bloomsbury, A Hard Day's Night is that rarest of things in the vast catalogue of writing about the Fab Four – something different.

Even Johnny Marr of The Smiths says he loves the book.

It may only be 128 pages, standard in the BFI Film Classics series, but this fascinating exploration of the band’s debut movie is full of new research, new interviews and a new way of looking at the film.

Afterall, the book is the work of someone who made global headlines in 2023 when she uncovered the earliest known complete concert recording of the Beatles at Stowe School in April 1963.

"When I did that special report on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row about the Beatles at Stowe, the response was so good and audiences seem to like the way I told the story,” said Samira, a fan of the Beatles since she was a child.

"A Hard Day’s Night is such a masterpiece, I couldn’t believe there hadn’t been a BFI book about it.

"Although I’m writing about the film and The Beatles, it’s also a social history of the times and the people and what the film means culturally.”

The Harrogate Advertiser points out that everyone in A Hard Day’s Night now appears old-fashioned, except for John, Paul, George and Ringo who appear to have been beamed in from the 21st century.

Having watched this 1964 movie more than 50 times and talked to everyone from director Richard Lester to John Boorman whose 1965 film Catch Us If You Can owed a large debt to A Hard Day’s Night, Samira argues this wasn’t merely down to the direction or script.

"The Beatles were incredibly charismatic and intelligent as people.

"They were completely anti-deferential but remained warm-hearted.

"Only they could have made what is an arthouse film so mainstream.”