New documentary on Take That on Netflix

[PuppyMonkey]

Just binged the whole three episodes in one night. The archive material is amazing, bloody loved the whole thing

Jason Orange, where are you now?
🔥

Ooooooooooh, thanks for the heads-up! I will take a look at this tomorrow.

Cheers @PuppyMonkey 😘

I remember my grandparents very sweetly bought me a Take That watch, I was secretly devastated when I opened it and it was a Jason watch 😭 I liked Robbie best then Gary, Mark at a push but Howard and Jason were always at the bottom of my pile 🫣
I was very appreciative of the watch but never wore it!
now I think Robbie is a massive twat and would wear my Jason watch with pride!

I loved it and just watched all 3 episodes back to back. As a teenager I was Team Robbie! The shine disappeared after I watched his Netflix docu - the one where he laid in bed in his undies and talked about how rubbish his life is. Just seemed so self indulgent.

Really enjoyed watching this - very nostalgic!
Back in their early days TT performed at my school & I was completely obsessed after that! They were a huge part of my teenage years - I had a huge crush on Mark back then but agree Jason phwooar!

loving this.

Just listening to Pray takes me back to being 13, in my bedroom reading Just Seventeen after a Dewberry bath and trying to learn the dance moves. I can literally touch my teenage years by listening to their songs.

when they split up I’d never seen them live as my parents wouldn’t let me. I wrote pages of angst ridden diary entries about how if I couldn’t even see TT go can I achieve any of my dreams. Well, when I got to see them a decade later that made me so so happy. You never know where life will take you even when things seem impossible 😂

One of the highlights for me was Mark describing the dance moves and how they make you feel, like the 'Pray' moves open you up (after they had all been feeling closed down for ten years after the band split), and the 'Never Forget' moves open you up to the world and the sky. It's lovely to hear that description of how the song feels when you're the one actually performing it on stage.

At their best they are all really beautiful men. With no offence to Boyzone and Westlife who I also like, it feels like Take That just had that bit extra as a boyband compared to what came after them - they could dance as well as sing, they've got songwriting skills (I loved the one Jason was singing on, I think, the Circus tour!), it was all just more authentic and less synthetic.

Very happy in retirement according to an acquaintance of my DP who met him in a restaurant in London a couple of years ago!

Binge watched this today, really enjoyed it. Always been a fan. Agree Robbie was/is a self obsessed prat but they were all so young coping with the fame and fans.
In the last episode someone probably Gary says to keep Jason they needed to get Robbie back. Then Robbie just does the one album and tour. Then Jason leaves.
So was it about Jason not feeling right as a 4 piece or without Robbie or that he knew it was time for him to leave.
I felt for Howard not knowing what to do on his own, not feeling right without being part of the group and worrying about it ending again.

Thanks whoever mentioned the Boy Bands Forever three-part doc also currently running on iPlayer, I hadn't noticed it was on and it's also really interesting, has interviews with Robbie and Nigel Martin-Smith mainly in the first episode, although they're talking about a lot of other bands as well as Take That. Without being critical of any of the other bands - they were all so young dealing with a huge amount - I think you can see in comparison that TT members had a bit more emotional maturity and intelligence that perhaps helps to explain why they've lasted so long. It also stands out that, even though Robbie was such a prick particularly to Gary, they all really seem to have genuine respect and affection for each other. Whereas when I watched the Boyzone doc recently, Shane in particular seemed to have real venom and aggression towards Ronan. I'm struck by what a sad watch that was compared to TT, they'd obviously been through some incredibly difficult things including Stephen's death, but also Mikey seemed pretty depressed.

Does anyone have a view on why Robbie looks so different now? It feels like more than just getting older. Has he had his nose thinned? Some kind of plastic surgery? I can't quite put my finger on it, and obviously he was the youngest so it makes sense that his face would have changed the most, but something isn't the same. He did have quite a distinctive turned-up nose before so I'm thinking maybe it's that?

Robbie Williams really is one big bundle of neuroses and undiagnosed mental health conditions isn't he?

I loved it. I thought the final episode was particularly good. The Gary v Robbie reminded me of when you watch Long Lost Family, people harbour small geievamces

I loved it. I thought the final episode was particularly good.

The Gary v Robbie reminded me of when you watch Long Lost Family, people harbour small grievances, don’t try to resolve it and then it all blows up. I think Robbie was worse BUT Gary accepted himself that he had an ego and was controlling and the manager was on his side and making the others feel rubbish. Thats before you get to Robbie’s addiction so I can see how some of those behaviours came about.

I always thought Howard as a fill in but the doc made me realise that TT need a calm member to balance it out.

I had forgotten that I had a crush on Jason Orange until 5 mins into the doc and tbh it is now a bigger crush than ever. Good on him for the ‘private word’ with Nigel and asking for shared credits on the newer album. I like that he went out with Catherine Tate too! I hope he has found his peace.

You need a little patience.

I wondered this, he’s text book ADHD!!

I was more of an indie girl back in the 90s but enjoyed this documentary, I think all the boys were exploited and not looked after. Gary was only treated marginally better as he could write a few songs.

I think the gap when they broke up all gave them a chance to reflect and mature. Robbie is still self obsessed but the rest of them all seemed pretty balanced.

Mark Owen is lovely.

I’m pretty sure Robbie has talked fairly recently about being diagnosed. I imagine it’s tough to medicate if you throw his addiction issues into the mix.
Mark had some problems with drink and his marriage too.
There really should be better support in the industr. On the Boybands Forever documentary, Scott from Five was in tears saying he had been basically in the middle of a breakdown. He needed help and didn’t get it.

I remember Mark on Celebrity BB. From what I remember he was dressed very scruffily, chain smoked and appeared very down/ depressed.

Yes, I remember how shocked he was when he won, almost like he didn’t realise people remembered him, as if he wasn’t famous.

@Girliefriendlikespuppies , Gary was only treated marginally better as he could write a few songs. That's not fair. He's written many songs.

Yeah as someone who really wasn't into 5ive because the whole bad boy thing is not my vibe, I was very struck in that doc by how vulnerable the ones interviewed seemed! And also how much it seemed to be a manufactured persona for them (although that may have been less true when they were teens). Scott saying he just wanted to be at home with his girlfriend Kerry and didn't want to sleep around. Sean turning up for the original audition in his tracksuit looking all hard, and then crooning some super marshmallowy ballad in a beautiful voice. Ironically it was sensitive-looking Ritchie who actually seemed like the hardest nut of those three.

For those of us who don't know much about the symptoms of ADHD, what is it about Robbie's interviews that makes him seem like a classic case?

Robbie is impulsive, full of nervous energy, lacks concentration and is easily distracted. He also lacks self awareness and comes across as very sensitive.

He self medicated this to an extent with drugs and alcohol.

He said he left school with no qualifications as well.