WHAM! director on how Netflix film differs from other George Michael docs

The pair became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than 30 million records worldwide from 1982 to 1986 when they eventually decided to go their separate ways, when George became keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than a teen audience. Sadly, George Michael passed away on 25th December 2016.

Over the years we've seen numerous documentaries Michael's life, most recently Channel 4's George Michael: Outed, which looked at his 1998 arrest that led to his public coming out.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes,com, WHAM! director Chris Smith revealed how the Netflix film differs to other depictions of George, admitting that he "intentionally" focused on Wham! as a group rather than on Andrew or George individually.

"I didn't look at the later documentaries that exist. We were focused on the period from 1980 to 1986 when Wham! existed. So for us, it was like looking at the material and trying to find a way to tell it that felt reflective of the experience that they shared," he explained.

"I think at the beginning going into it you never know how these things are going to unfold or how many people you're going to talk to, but pretty quickly we realised that there was an opportunity to tell the story through the friendship of these two kids, and that kind of became the focus."

He continued: "Yeah. This movie is about Wham! And it's about that time period. So it wasn't about everything that happened after. It was really just about that. I mean there can be many other films on their lives going forward, but this was the one that we were focused on."

Smith, who previously directed Netflix's Fyre and produced the Tiger King series about Joe Exotic, added: "I think it's a beautiful story about friendship and I never thought in my life that this would be something that I would cover, but in a way there's something really life affirming about this story. There's a lot of things in the world that feel like the wheels are falling off, so it's nice to see a story like this."

WHAM! Will be available to stream on Netflix from Wednesday 5th July. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out our lists of the best series on Netflix and the best movies on Netflix, or see what else is on with our TV Guide.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.