26th January 2019

If you haven’t seen this fascinating documentary by now, where have you been?

Bros: After the Screaming Stops is being shown again tonight (Saturday January 26) on BBC 2 at 10:45pm after being a surprise hit on BBC Four twixt Christmas and New Year.

This was meant to be a serious and enlightening documentary about 80s pop icons Bros (who split in 1992).

For those that don’t know Bros, identical twins Matt and Luke Goss, (and for a few years friend Craig Logan, who bizarrely wasn’t mentioned in the documentary) dominated the charts with hits ‘I Owe You Nothing’ and ‘When Will I be Famous’.

Their female fans were affectionally known as ‘Brosettes’ and copied their idols by wearing ripped denim, bandanas and Grolsch bottle tops on their black chunky shoes.

In the documentary we were treated to a unique glimpse into the separate lives of Matt and Luke, both of whom now live in America, Matt in Las Vegas and Luke in Los Angeles, but who were coming together again as they embarked on a comeback tour to the UK.

They are no longer close but what’s fascinating is that the documentary seems to have brought them back together as it was reported that they spent their first Christmas together this year after being apart for so long.

The documentary turned out to be not only comedy gold with some great one-liners from Matt Goss “I made a conscious decision because of Stevie Wonder not to be superstitious.” and “The letters H.O.M.E. are so important because they personify the word home,” but also incredibly moving and poignant.

After the documentary went viral, mainly for the comedic reasons, the brothers have come out to say how proud they were of it and that it was the truth (they did not get involved in the editing process in any way), and “whether people laughed or cried, what mattered was they felt” ….and that all that was good.

In 90 minutes, we saw tears, tantrums, walkouts, interspersed with moving scenes such as when they are rehearing a song about their late mother. Matt repeatedly can’t get the words out and the mood changes as the brothers share their grief with each other. It shows us that love is still there and you sense their vulnerability.

It also becomes apparent how the factory-like music scene back then did not care about their mental health. Their beloved sister died suddenly in a car crash and the twins were back at work the next day. Hardly time to grieve.

So, whilst the film has been likened to classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, mainly because of the ‘words of wisdom’, intense awkward moments between Matt and Luke, but also the poor supporting musicians; the vulnerability and deep desire to be liked and taken seriously (think David Brent) are all there.

You can’t help but like them.

It also fleetingly makes you wonder if they have played an absolute blinder in their comeback plans. They were warmly welcomed at the NTAs on Tuesday.  

But the proof will be in the ticket sales of their UK tour this year!

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