Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

Idris Elba's How Clubbing Changed The World (2012x40)

Air date: Aug 24, 2012

Actor and international DJ Idris Elba counts down the defining moments of the greatest cultural phenomenon of our generation in a programme featuring some of the biggest names in dance music. Twenty-five years after the birth of rave, a new generation of British DJs and producers are at the forefront of a global musical revolution. From trance to dubstep, the sound of British producers has now become the most sought-after commodity for the biggest pop stars on the planet. Reaching far beyond the sweaty dance floors of the Hacienda and the Ministry of Sound, this programme reveals how British nightclubbing transformed our nation and influenced societies across the world. With personal insights and club-raising anecdotes from David Guetta, Armand van Helden, Paul Oakenfold, will.i.am, Nile Rodgers, Goldie, Pete Tong, Katy B, Skream and former Home Secretary Michael Howard, amongst many more, this entertaining and thought-provoking film celebrates the British success story that has conquered the world. From sun-kissed holidays on the party island of Ibiza to the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, and from illegal warehouse raves to Labour's 1992 adoption of D:Ream's Things Can Only Get Better, clubbing has touched everyone's life whether they know it or not. This is an international story, going beyond the music to look at clubbing's influence on everything from real estate to drug use, fashion, politics and the drinks industry. How Clubbing Changed the World explores how clubbing went from a counter-cultural movement that defined a generation to a multi-billion-pound business, and reveals how, 25 years on, Great Britain is still king of the underground.