POPULAR MUSIC - SUPER TROUPERS - 30 YEARS OF ABBA

April 2004 was the Fifth Anniversary of Mamma Mia, the hugely successful musical based on ABBA’s songs. It was also the Thirtieth Anniversary of Waterloo winning the Eurovision Song Contest and propelling the group to superstardom. For the first time since the band split in 1982, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-Frid and Agnetha were to appear in public together, attending the performance of Mamma Mia in London’s West End and celebrating the show’s huge success. But would Agnetha - the so-called ‘new Garbo’ - leave Sweden for the first time in twenty years to join the others?

Centring on the run-up to this occasion and capturing the excitement of the event, this film remembers the ABBA phenomenon. It features new interviews with all four band members; film shot with them in Sweden and London; digitally-remastered archive footage going back to pre-ABBA days and including highlights of ABBA on tour and on stage; and the sounds of no less than twenty-six of their hit records. The enduring popularity of their music is awesome and, on April, they were presented with a special award to mark record sales of over 360 million.

Agnetha is seen rehearsing the role of Mary Magdelene in the Swedish stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar before the formation of ABBA. She is also seen in the recording studio working on her first album for seventeen years, My Colouring Book. There is 1960s footage of Anni-Frid singing Baby Love on Swedish television. Still amazingly glamorous at sixty, her star quality shines through as she makes her entrance on to Mamma Mia stage, despite getting one of her stiletto heels stuck! There is footage of the young Benny and Bjorn in the early days of their respective careers in The Hep Stars and the Hootenanny Singers, and both give tantalising glimpses into life with and after ABBA as they talk in interview. These are just a few of the memorable moments included in Super Troupers - 30 Years of ABBA.

Record producer and pop Svengali Pete Waterman is the link man and there are contributions from Owe Sandstrom, who designed the outrageous costumes that were one of ABBA’s hallmarks - including the jumpsuits and spandex costumes that helped Agnetha acquire the tag the “sexiest bottom in pop music” - and sound engineer and producer Michael B. Tretow, often referred to as the fifth member of ABBA. Both Sandstrom and Tretow have died very recently.