Saturday TV Choice: Eric Clapton at the BBC (BBC Two, 8.15pm)
Are you feeling wonderful tonight? If so, you may be interested in tuning into BBC Two’s latest musical evening. It’s dedicated to old Slowhand himself, Eric Clapton, to help celebrate the fact he turns 80 on Sunday 30th.
He’s now been happily married to his second wife, Melia McEnery, since 2002, but he’s faced his fair share of issues and controversies over the years, more or less from the moment he was born.
Drugs, booze and dalliances with a staggering list of the world’s most beautiful women are as much a part of his legend as the hits which raked in the millions, and gave the guitarist luxuries this working-class boy could once have only dreamed about.
And there has been tragedy too – including the much-publicised death of his four-year-old son Conor in 1991.
“There is no room for anger in this situation,” he said later. “I was lucky to have him because he got me sober… it was the reality of his existence that made me stop drinking and taking drugs.
“I spent four years with him as a sober human being and still am and I am grateful for the fact that I had that time with him.”
Clapton’s early life was marred by problems. His mother Patricia was just 16 when she gave birth to him following a wartime fling with a Canadian soldier who soon returned home.
Patricia left England to marry another Canadian, handing young Eric over to her mother and stepfather who raised him as their own – he didn’t discover the truth until she returned for a visit nine years later when she rejected him again.
It was around this time he became fascinated with music, spending hours learning how to play a cheap guitar; by the time he began playing professionally in his teens, he was already highly regarded for his technical brilliance. He was particularly attracted to the blues thanks to its origins in suffering and heartache – something he already knew plenty about.
He would later state: “The blues are what I’ve turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life.”
The evening begins with a new programme featuring clips of his performances from the Beeb’s archive. That’s followed at 9.15pm by a chance to see Clapton’s performance during a 1977 edition of the Old Grey Whistle Test. Recorded at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush, it features his versions of such songs as I Shot the Sheriff and Knocking on Heaven’s Door.
Arguably the programme of the night comes at 10.20pm – Life in 12 Bars is an acclaimed documentary profile from 2018 in which he offers a warts-and-all look at his life and career. Finally, at 12.25am, there’s another trawl through the archive with The Rock ’n’ Roll Years.
Although Clapton has been proved to be a controversial figure at times, there’s no doubting his power as a performer. And if for no other reason than that, we wish him a very happy birthday.