The BBC explores The Last Five Years of David Bowie’s career in must-watch documentary

Francis Whately explores the themes of The Next Day, Blackstar and Lazarus in fascinating film
Reflection: new BBC documentary looks at the final years of David Bowie's incredible career
BBC/BBC Studios/Jimmy King
Ben Travis7 January 2017

2016 will perhaps forever go down as the year we lost countless heroes too soon.

One of the first to go was David Bowie – and it was the one that seemed to shake the public's foundations the most, coming out of nowhere just days after the release of his now final album Blackstar.

The loss of an icon so suffused with creativity was devastating for many – and gave a cryptic and enigmatic end to the legendary musician.

Shining a light on the latter years of Bowie’s career is this must-watch documentary David Bowie: The Last Five Years.

David Bowie - in pictures

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The brand new 90-minutes film comes from Francis Whately, who four years previously delivered the fascinating doc David Bowie: Five Years about the musical birth of the Starman himself.

What emerges is a vital look at Bowie’s fruitful resurgence after a near ten-year absence from music.

In January 2013, he made a surprise return with single Where Are We Now? , which led to the arrival in March of his penultimate record The Next Day – his first LP since 2003’s Reality.

Both artful and direct, it pointed towards a new future for Bowie, while making direct and daring allusions towards his own past – the recycled cover image of the Heroes artwork, those references to Berlin.

While it brought Bowie back into his rightful place in the spotlight, his most special new material was to come.

Even before his death, Bowie was wowing fans with Blackstar – a dense, jazz-fuelled record of mysterious depth that had all-new meaning following his sudden passing.

And then there’s Lazarus – the musical he worked on extensively, currently showing in London with the original New York cast. A theatrical sequel to the Man Who Fell To Earth, its themes are striking: alien Thomas Newton is trapped somewhere between life and death, unable to live freely, knowing his time is done, but unable to die.

Exploring the themes of his final works deeply with input from his key collaborators, The Last Five Years is another incredible insight to the fierce creativity that Bowie harnessed right until the end.

BBC Two, 9pm, Saturday

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